<p>Just throwing this out there - if you have any questions about preparing for Oberlin and what to expect when you get there, feel free to ask!</p>
<p>And just some general advice - the first few weeks of college everyone will want to meet each other so take advantage of this! Try and meet as many people as possible and hang out with different people. Don't be shy to get to know people in your classes right away. Also, go out and meet upperclassmen and people in other dorms so you have a broad range of contacts. If you know your classes, get the books you need from the bookstore ASAP to grab any used copies (they're cheaper!) Barnes n Noble giftcards work in the bookstore if anyone wants to give you any presents. And don't expect the planned orientation events to be that great - they aren't - though I would recommend the conservatory concert. Go do your own socializing and go out and learn the campus rather than go to all those events that are scheduled.
Welcome to Oberlin! :)</p>
<p>My daughter is so excited to be attending Oberlin. She is a bassist and will be a double degree student. She just got her housing assignment today, and she was placed in Langston. She was surprised because she requested a first year dorm and expected to be placed in Dascomb, since it is close to the conservatory. She is concerned about the distance from Langston to the conservatory - given the size of her instrument! Also, she is wondering if there will be many other first years on that end of campus. What do you think?</p>
<p>I have a daughter at Oberlin who is a double bass major. Your daughter will be assigned a practice room in the conservatory where she and two or three others will store their basses. The three or four of them will each have their own key for that practice room and nobody else can use it. Unless she really wants to store her instrument in the dorm room (highly inadvisable given the size of most of the dorm rooms that the first years get), she will not often have to take her bass outside of the con building. It is possible to walk from one end of the campus to the other in 10 to 15 minutes and to bike in about three minutes, so getting around should not be all that difficult. Also, the campus is quite flat.</p>
<p>Just to echo: there's no reason why she should ever need to take her bass to her dorm. And the walk from Langston to the Con is 10 minutes at most--it's not a long way! There will be plenty of first-year students living on north campus; she won't have any trouble getting to know them.</p>
<p>By the way, one of the first things your daughter should do on arrival is to go to the Conservatory office above the bookstore, where they will give you forms to fill out for the practice room and the bass room and direct you to the security office across campus. Turn in the form and a key deposit (about $10 per key I think) and they will give you your keys. Then she can go back to the main Con building and leave her bass in a secure, climate controlled area while moving the rest of her stuff into the dorm. She can also get a standard full-height locker in the Con if she wants one for storing music, tuners, metronomes and other such accessories. Ask at the Con office and bring your own padlock. If she is arriving with her own flight case, she should also ask at the office for a place to store it.</p>
<p>My daughter had a bunch of friends in her dorm that liked to jam, so she did occasionally have reason to want her bass in the dorm. Once she got a slightly bigger room in second year, she brought her backup instrument to school as well and kept it in her room.</p>
<p>Well, bass parents are the nicest, coolest people I know! Thanks, BassDad for the info on how to get a storage room. She will certainly do that. She has already connected with others in "North" and is very happy with where she will be. (Actually, I was more concerned than she was.) She can't wait to get there!</p>