Oberlin College Top Questions

I'm going to pass on this section. I know what I'm talking about in the other sections, because I've kept up quite carefully on that stuff. I've read UNIGO's summary and the things that other reviewers have written and it rings true for what was 35 years ago and in terms of my encounters with more recent Obies so you can probably go by all that.

My classmates are smart, slightly neurotic, and moderatley judgemental.

Bright, interested, interesting, but not overacheivers.

Oberlin students think they are very liberal, but at times have difficulty accepting differences- especially political and social. Oberlin is a school of rejects, in that in high school, the students were often outcasts and misfits, but Oberlin gives them a chance to feel like a part of a group. As a result, some Obies are unwilling to accept fellow classmates who remind them of people with whom they went to high school.

I am from Afghanistan and I was respected, loved by my friend and Oberlin students the most. There is no discrimination. Some clothing is weird. But still everything goes well. Life works well. You wake and either move to your class or a breakfast. Then you have supper in one of Dining halls and you enjoy your time. You don;t have to prepare yourself. Most students especially international ones get nice scholarships and there is employment on campus. Don't forget Oberlin students are from political or business family backgrounds and they are the future of America and are hard working. Try to build long lasting friendships. It will help you.

Kids here are way too focused on fighting oppression. Lots of rich kids here. A lot of people say there's a lot of class discrimination here. I'm not sure I agree, as a fairly poor student.

HUGE LGBTQ community at Oberlin. It's fantastic. Many gays, many vegans, vegetarians, musicians, nearly everybody either plays an instrument, acts, plays a sport, or will go on to cure an incurable disease. But don't feel intimidated, all are welcome. Oberlin thrives and starves off its students acting as differently and away from the mainstream as they want.

Oberlin welcomes everybody no matter what your race, gender, religious views, financial background, etc., etc. Honestly--the atmosphere is incredibly open! You might only feel really out of place if you would describe yourself as extremely fundamentalist in your religious beliefs, really mainstream in terms of career aspirations, a huge jock, or if you're pretty conservative in terms of political philosophy. Even if you belong to one of these categories, it is definitely still possible to enjoy your time at Oberlin. I've known students from these "categories" who have done quite well.

I was impressed by how often you could pick out Obies outside of campus by the frequency of their use of the words "literally", "xenophobia", "heteronormal", and "juxtaposition". I am so tired of most Oberlin students. But, some Obies are my favorite people in the whole world. LEFT of center, good god.

It's a huge mix at Oberlin. I think there are more women than men, but its pretty even. I have friends from abroad, older, younger, gay, straight, bi, liberal, conservative, petty much every major out there, including Independent major. Some are on aid, some aren't. Some love stake, some are totally vegan. People are mostly leftys, and after Ohio residents from coastal cities or nearby areas (NYC, LA, the Bay Area, or Chicago), it influences their outlook. But I for one, coming from SF, welcomed the chance to be in a totally different environment, demographically, climatically, geographically. I learned a lot just from being there.

Oberlin students are very liberal and very socially aware but they do not tend to be nearly as radical as their stereotype makes them out to be. We have a lot of vegetarians and vegans -sometimes I feel like more than half the people I know are vegetarians- and a lot of concern for LGBT and environmental issues. Oberlin students are generally extremely nice, well adjusted, and down to earth. There is very little clique-ishness - I always feel comfortable introducing myself to the person next to me in class. No one makes a big deal about wealth. I have no idea what socio-economic background my friends come from. It would be safe to assume that we are all well-off (it is a private college after all) but the campus is almost completely free of designer label-like status symbols.

The student body is not quite as diverse as the college claims it to be, but it is an extremely open community and everyone is very friendly and accepting. Of course there is a very specific atmosphere on campus that may not be for everyone, but I'd find myself hard-pressed to think of one TYPE of person that wouldn't fit in, and I was very impressed when I got to campus freshman year with how open everyone was- and still is! I think it's more of an individual thing, althought you may find yourself in more than your share of debates if you are a raging conservative republican. I think that the most represented states on campus are New York and California, although most of my friends ended up being from the Midwest and the South, so I'm not sure it's really all that important... The most important thing about Oberlin's student body is that its priorities are in order. Students are passionate, and they're willing to pick majors and extracurriculars that truly interest them, that will truly benefit the world, no matter what this means in terms of being rich in the future.

The Student Body really makes Oberlin what it is. I've heard many times that we're the school's biggest asset and as corny as it may sound I tend to agree. Oberlin prides itself on its commitment to diversity yet it's something with which the school has constantly struggled. It gives out a lot of money in Financial Aid and admits a good number of students from lower income families but as tuition as grown this has been harder to do. Part of Oberlin Strategic Plan is to admit more full paying (i.e.rich) students. Racially things could be a lot better. Oberlin does make an effort to recruit minority students. As an African American male I found that I was a valuable commodity at Oberlin but valuable primarily because we're so rare. Oberlin has been admitting African American since 1835, one of the first schools to do so but in modern times it seems to have dropped the ball a little. The desire and commitment to diversity is there. All that's lacking is the diversity. As I mentioned above Oberlin is an accepting place if you're part of the LGBT community though our numbers are somewhat exaggerated. There does seem to be a large number of lesbians, especially on sports teams, but the gay male community seems a little anemic. This might be because Oberlin is a majority female school and a good number of those females are willing to experiment. Unfortunately, the same can't be said of most guys. Transgender people also have a small but strong community on campus. It's not perfect but I'd consider Oberlin one of the best places for Trans folk.

Diversity is stressed within Oberlin. I won't lie - there might be times where you feel alone, depending on who you are. Of course, this is only if you go by appearance - there are definitely students on campus that are just like you, but they might not look like you at all. This encourages students to approach others on campus and to interact with each other. It is a little tough for some students to accept all of this change at once, and there might be times where you encounter people who share a completely different viewpoint from you based off of their own background. (We're all human, after all.) However, even if the largest body is upper-middle and Caucasian, they are nowhere near overwhelming, and the college stresses diversity based off of several factors. Oberlin is definitely politically active, and know that most of the student body is indeed left. Again, Oberlin is a place where we all learn to grow as individuals, and this tests us to see how we go about in making it happen.

Oberlin is very diverse. Of recent, I feel like it has been getting slightly more homogenous in terms of economic background, with students being richer and richer, but I can't say for sure. Someone looking for a frat/ party school may not fit in to Oberlin right away. Most students don't care what they wear to class, but some people where onesies, and other people get decked out in 18th century garb on occassion. It just depends. A lot of Obies (oberlin students) are from California, New York, and Chicago. It's not too cliquey. A lot of students are politically active. mostly left. Not too many people are worried about money until after graduating, like me, for instance. I just graduated, and now I am just starting to worry about money. It depends on your background of course, but most people are more worried about other things than money. They want good opportunities and rich experiences. Money comes secondarily to that.

Oberlin has -people from every socio-economic group -A large number of people identifying with the queer spectrum -a large number of Jews -a large number of churches -a significant number of new yorkers and californians -a variety of clothing styles -lots of politically active liberals -a republican club -lots of coooooool club sports (like Quidditch!!!!!!!!) -sooo much access to organic and locally grown foods! -a HUGE amount of love