<p>So I'm from Dallas, and it's a fairly big city. What I want to know is what is in Oberlin, Ohio? And if there is not so much, then whats in Cleveland in comparison to places like Dallas and the Twin Cities?</p>
<p>I sort of had the same issue when I was considering Oberlin, since I'm also from a city. However, I've found that I really don't mind the town of Oberlin. Yes, it is small, and there are aren't a lot of things, but the basic necessities are there, like convenience stores and some restaurants. It is a pretty cute little town. Close by, maybe 10 minutes, is a larger town with a mall and movie theater (Oberlin has a one-screen movie theater). Truthfully, you are so busy and the college brings in so much stuff that there is not really a need for there to be many extra resources in the town. I do think that a lack of things to do off campus can make for a lack of variety at times, but then...you could always take a trip. People don't go to Cleveland a lot, but there are still trips there. I don't know a ton about what all is there, but the art museum is really good.</p>
<p>My daughter mostly stays in Oberlin, by choice. When she needs to go further, for most things she goes to the cities and malls 10-20 miles away. Up until this past year she hadn't gone to Cleveland at all, but since then she's been there several times, for concerts & theater.</p>
<p>I'd guess she would make somewhat more use of Cleveland if she had a car. But then one needs a car to do much of anything in Dallas as well, as I recall.</p>
<p>Among other things, Cleveland has various areas that have shops & restaurants, such as Little Italy, The Flats, Coventry. A good symphony. Theater, concerts, malls,
sports teams. When I was there I spent about four hours at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.</p>
<p>A campus-centered college experience like Oberlin is likely quite different from a city-centered college experience. In one case the college offers quite a lot right on-campus. In that situation it's still a plus to have a city around someplace and accessible, to have another place to go & to fill in the "frills". But most decent-size cities will probably have enough for that purpose. </p>
<p>What I've noticed during kids' college-hunting is that a number of the colleges located right in major cities take advantage of this by themselves offering comparatively very little in campus life for their students. As a result students just fritter off into the city, and college life, and identity with college, suffers somewhat.</p>
<p>Twin cities are very, very cold. Oberlin is very cold too, though not as cold as Twin Cities. Dallas is very, very hot.</p>