Oberlin College Top Questions

There is a certain truth to each of those stereotypes, but that's certainly not the whole story. There is a group for every kind of person and there are lots of mainstream people at Oberlin.

They all contain a kernel of truth.

not anymore, but there are still a lot

To some extent, but Oberlin has everything, there are exceptions to all.

No. Folks at Oberlin, like everywhere, have complicated identities. Maybe many students are liberals. A few are radical. The students here also deal with issues relating to complicated identities and oppression. Racism, classism, heterosexism, sexism, etc all play out on a daily basis.

For the most part, yes.

Actually it is only mostly liberal and filled with skinny hipsters from New York and a select few individuals who don't seem to shower. Nonetheless, I'd prefer hippies to hipsters any day!

in many ways, yes, in many individual cases, no

For sure!

There are definitely a lot more people like that here than at other schools, but there there are a variety of students here and not all fall into or associate with that category.

We are definitely stereotyped as a liberal school, and that is true, to a certain extent. But I think that the focus of our liberalism is random and not truly tied in anything. We seem to focus a lot of forming "identities" and being accepting of those identities, as long as they don't compete with the other issues that seem to take over all discourse - like racism and sexism. Otherwise, honestly, the stereotypes I listed above seem to be quite accurate. It's disheartening how few people are truly individualists.

Obies are liberal, that's for sure. Obnoxiously so. The PC culture is pretty big, but there is also a pretty big backlash because of it. Generally, people can be awkward. People are really nice once you meet them, but for some reason some people have a lot of trouble making eye contact and smiling while meeting each other in passing. Also, sometimes it seems like people have a really hard time getting laid here. It also sometimes seems like everybody is getting some. Hard to tell there.

we ARE liberal...Oberlin is a liberal haven MOST people here probably do not identify as hippies BUT there are a lot of people who ressemble hipsters AND the idea that we are socially awkward is either true or we love the joke (depending on the person), or both. HOWEVER, the Conservatory is DIFFERENT from the college.... the Conservatory is NOT really considered liberal... BUT we ARE weird.... eating/living in a co'op is a large part of student life

in many ways, yes, but that does not mean that any one of the stereotypes is all-pervasive on campus; if you don't agree/fit in to any of the categories or stereotypes, that is completely cool and accepted. basically, if you look for students who fit the stereotypes, you will find them, but if you look for people who precisely DON'T follow the stereotypes, you will find lots of them as well.

Each of them is accurate for a lot of the people here. Of course none of them is true of everyone.

to some extent...but we got em all. Jocks, science and math nerds, a few conservatives here and there. But after coming here...you realize everyone in this whole world is weird, so who am i to judge stereotypes?

Pretty much. We are undoubtedly a bunch of weirdos, whether theater kids, athletes, science people, activists what have you, we are all very weird. Music is all around, con or not. That being said there are a lot of people who don't fit the 'Oberlin mold'.

There is some truth to all of them, but no one individual conforms perfectly to any of them.

Not at all. People here are fairly mainstream and I have found that as someone who is fairly out there in terms of political views and personal behavior, I am often times in a strange minority. Students here are of an average liberal-arts intelligence, which is to say, well-educated with little drive and not exceptionally brilliant. Fortunately, drug use is not as pervasive as Obielore might suggest. But neither is studying or activism, which is shitty.

They only represent a small fragment of the population. Most people at Oberlin are friendly, engaging, immensely smart and creative, and just fun to be around - without conforming to any one stereotype.