oberlin: the uncommon transfer questions

earthrotation (

earthrotation) wrote in

oberlin,
@ 2006-07-10 12:04:00

the uncommon transfer questions

Salutations,

I am a prospective (spring quarter) transfer student, and I've been perusing the Oberlin posts for a while, trying to get a feel for the school, and simultaneously avoid asking any repetitive questions. Anyway, currently Oberlin is my top choice for a transfer school, and before I spend the money and time getting on a plane and visiting, I want to make sure I am relatively confident in my decision.

Rather than ask questions that are only applicable to my own life, I figured I would ask a few open-ended ones that would be more beneficial to other prospective transfers. I believe the following questions will paint a good picture of the Oberlin student body, in which I am primarily interested. (My primary gripe with my current school is the lack of an interesting student body.) Also, I don't believe any of these have been asked before.

1. At Oberlin parties where drugs and/or alcohol are present, do the intoxicated spend most of the time talking about drugs and/or alcohol, or more stimulating topics? (This is sort of a general way of gauging the intellectual atmosphere.)

2. Do you feel that there is a strong sense of community at Oberlin?

3. Have you fallen in love, once or more, with either a person or a cause since coming to Oberlin?

4. What is the literary value of the campus graffiti (in terms of wit and humor)? Not spray-paint graffiti, necessarily, but things scrawled on desks, in corners, lockers, stencils, and so on.

5. How ambitious is the student body from an extracurricular perspective? If I wanted to form, say, an absurdist improv robo-pop group, would it be easy or hard to find partakers? Produce a film? Create a graphic novel? Start a national revolution? &c.

The last question is what I suffer with most at my current school--Finding people with the same eclectic interests as me. The most encouraging thing I ever heard anyone say about Oberlin was that everyone there was “completely and totally insane.” That was extremely exciting to me.

[Note: I decided to post in the general Obie community page rather than the questions journal, simply because I believe this page gets more traffic, and also because these questions seem more useful than the usual What-kind-of-tupperware-should-I-bring questions. If I'm mistaken just let me know and I'll delete & repost.]

Thanks in advance!

(Post a new comment)

magicekim
2006-07-10 05:30 pm UTC (link)

1. It can really vary. Oberlin parties tend to run from impromptu gathering of people in a dorm room on a Friday to an attempted all-campus shindig. Most parties have had alcohol present, but I don't recall the conversation centralizing on the intoxicant du jour (except if something is up with the keg and people are complaining). I'd say the intellectual atmosphere remains the same, although those who have tipped back a few may be a bit more vocal than usual. I would never classify Oberlin as a "party school" if that helps to answer your question.

4. There are actually some designated graffiti locations around campus. The men's restroom (and maybe the women's also?) in the basement of the library has paper all over for people to scrawl messages, sometimes even having a conversation. There are also large rocks in Tappan Square (a big park in the center of town) that people can post messages on (more billboard-like than graffiti, but y'know). The trays in the dining halls are also a forum. Some of it can be funny/clever/witty, others are your run-of-the-mill graffiti. I haven't seen much in the "For a good time call..." or "So-and-so wuz here" variety.

5. I think the above describes one of the defining characteristics of this school. Although I loved a lot of the classes here, I think my overall experience was about the extracurricular activities. The only difficulty that people have is actually generating the forward momentum to get their new activity rolling. If an absurdist improv robo-pop group is your desire, you might need to put in the grunt work to get it started but as long as someone starts it, it will likely happen.

</i>The last question is what I suffer with most at my current school--Finding people with the same eclectic interests as me. The most encouraging thing I ever heard anyone say about Oberlin was that everyone there was “completely and totally insane.” That was extremely exciting to me.</i>

I think you'll be fine. I wouldn't say I am completely and totally insane, but I was able to maintain my eclectic interests coming in and come out with some new ones as well.

(Reply to this)

getpeached
2006-07-10 05:34 pm UTC (link)

5. One of the main reasons that I considered NOT transferring FROM Oberlin (although in the end, I did) was the extracurriculars I was in. Specifically, becoming involved with the Sexual Information Center was one of the best things I have ever done. Extracurriculars are huge in other ways too - some classes even make them required components. The passion and dedication to extracurricular activities for self-betterment and genuine compassion for other people is something that I do not see in the school I am at now and it's one of the few things I miss about Oberlin. If you want to do something, odds are that you can find someone who wants to do it with you.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	I'm a prospective transfer tmbg126 2006-07-20 02:47 am UTC (link)
	Why did you transfer from Oberlin, if I may ask? (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

Re: I'm a prospective transfer

getpeached
2006-07-20 03:37 am UTC (link)

Are you thinking of transferring FROM Oberlin or TO Oberlin?

I transferred because I was literally going stir crazy there. I felt isolated, immsensely depressed (Obies are already a moody bunch, which was just making it worse) and I hated Ohio with a burning passion rivaling the fire of a thousand suns.

I also hated the direction that the school was going in financially. Since I was getting shit-ass financial aid even though my family was in the midst of a whole bunch of drama, I was basically paying full tuition so Oberlin could a) cut programs I really believed in, b) build multi-million dollar stadiums for our crappy football team, and c) building new housing to keep more seniors on campus while simultaneously ignoring the already decrepit housing on campus. Basically, I was paying 40,000 a year and had absolutely no idea where it was going. So, I did what Oberlin taught me best: I protested by pulling out my money.

I'm at Northwestern and way happier, academically, socially, and economically. I miss Oberlin a little now and then, but NU was a way better fit for me.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	Re: I'm a prospective transfer tmbg126 2006-07-20 03:03 pm UTC (link)
	To Oberlin, from a similar small liberal-arts school in the midwest. Wow, thanks for your picture of Oberlin. I will keep that in mind when I apply/visit. I'm sorry for your bad experience, too. Cheers. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	Re: I'm a prospective transfer getpeached 2006-07-20 04:32 pm UTC (link)
	Don't let my Oberlin experience dissuade you from having yours. I know people there who absolutely love it and never want to leave. In fact, that's definitely the majority. Good luck transferring! (Reply to this) (Parent)

edify
2006-07-10 06:01 pm UTC (link)

1. i must say, it depends on the people with whom you party. i've been around many people who just chat about boring "dude, i'm so fucked up" type deals, and others talk about very interesting topics. there are definitely people who party too much, but you'll find that anywhere. the too much partying to acceptable partying ratio is definitely better than other schools, though. partying rarely ever gets in the way of academics.

2. yes and no. we're all united in our "obieness," but in that we vary a lot. when it comes down to it, an obie will stick up for an obie most of the time. we have our different groups that bicker, but we mostly get along.

3. yes with no elaboration.

(Reply to this)

dance4lyfe
2006-07-10 06:25 pm UTC (link)

1. I'm not a big one for parties/alcohol/drugs, so I can't speak on the note of parties, but I can tell you that the people I hang around with (well...most of them) talk about much more stimulating and controversial things. It's not at all unusual to find people deep in conversation with a professor or other student walking around or sitting in the De Cafe or dorm or library...really, anywhere you go.

2. I think that freshmen often feel a larger sense of community than others. Freshmen, in general, are much friendlier and open to meeting new people. That being said, though, I think as long as you're open to meeting people, you'll find yourself in conversations waiting in line and unexpectedly gain a friend; there aren't many people at Oberlin who are mean or aloof...though many who are socially awkward- you have to get past first impressions. All the same, most people at Oberlin only have one or two close friends (at the very most) and then maybe hundreds of decent acquaintances from various activities/classes/halls.

3. In freshman year, I think I fell in love with every single guy I met. I'd never met guys who actually seemed to care about girls (not just sexually) and could keep up a decent conversation about things other than sports. Then again, I also found out the majority of them were gay...which is only a problem when you're a straight girl looking for a straight guy. As far as causes, it's actually the opposite for me since coming to Oberlin. I've definitely picked up many hobbies from Oberlin, but found that political causes here are far too out there and are completely out of focus. The majority of "activist" things that happen here are petitions and camp-outs, which in my opinion are completely ineffective. Most of the causes here are a lot of talk and no action. Knowing Oberlin, though, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be getting a mean comment back about how I should be more active if that's what I think is useful. Just to give you a picture of Oberlin.

(Reply to this)

dance4lyfe
2006-07-10 06:25 pm UTC (link)

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4. A friend and I were just talking about this very thing today! The graffiti here is extremely random and varied. You have to be looking out for it usually (except for the bout of a few months when people kept writing "i love you" everywhere on campus). In the science center, there's a sign near the stairs showing a map of the chemistry area, and people have drawn hydrogens off it as though it were a chemical of its own. Things like that make my day.

5. Most people I talk to have way too much to do and not enough time in the day. People at Oberlin try to take as much advantage of the plentiful activities here, to the extent that very few have time for keeping up relationships (unless they're both part of the same activities). There are so many things that happen over the schoolyear that you would not be able to go to everything or even 70% of everything. Besides lectures and concerts from the Con, there are exco's (experimental college classes worth 0-2 credit hours taught by mainly students in various things like swing dancing, yoga, aikido, steel drums, sexco, etc.) as well as tons of theater and dance shows, semi-improvised and completely improvised improv, and some activities in the town too. There's also bowling, pool, the 'sco, and many other things that are open a lot and are either free or very cheap. If you don't know what's going on, all you have to do is walk around and look at the many posters everywhere. You'll never be bored here, and if you really feel so inclined for making a robo-pop group, I'm sure you'd find plenty of people who'd be happy to robo-pop with ya. :) I mean, I have a friend who made a Navy exco where they sang authentic navy songs, role played as authentic navy captains, drank authentic navy grog, cooked authentic figgy pudding...and it was actually pretty popular.

<The last question is what I suffer with most at my current school--Finding people with the same eclectic interests as me. The most encouraging thing I ever heard anyone say about Oberlin was that everyone there was “completely and totally insane.” That was extremely exciting to me.>

People are completely and totally insane here, which made me excited coming here too! Naked belaying down the library during reading period, rallying for Pirates of the Caribbean to be played at the Apollo and National Pirates Day in full pirate garb, people walking around the streets on stilts and riding on unicycles, guys wearing skirts, girls wearing suits...all of these things are so common they've resulted in the commonly used phrase "only in Oberlin!"

If that's not enough to make you excited, I don't know what will. :)

(Reply to this)

	chanzi 2006-07-10 06:50 pm UTC (link)
	2. I completly agree with edify. There is a strong sense of obie identity, but that means differenet things to different people. I would say people's sense of community also tends to align with whatever smaller group they belong to, like a specific co-op. (Reply to this)

bourbonjockey
2006-07-10 06:56 pm UTC (link)

I don't know but you already sound like an obie to me.

I've been living in Madison this summer and the people are pretty cool here, but they just aren't like those in Oberlin. I've had the same feeling everywhere I go. The people that go to Oberlin are just special in a certain way.

I think someone said above that most obies stick up for each other. I think that's true, on campus people are pretty all over the place, most likely can find something to complain about something else, or rather question something else, but you meet another Obie outside of Oberlin and you feel like you've known them all along, they stick together.

Falling in love with a person or cause, I've had my fair share of both. I can say that I got my heart broke at least once, and fell in love with co-ops, indian music, scotch, and bicycles while at oberlin.

If you're looking for eclectic, then Oberlin certainly will suit you. Another thing that should be said is that Obies love their music, all kinds and they are passionate about it. Whether its hip-hop, rock, classical, jazz, broken circus music or hobo wolftheater pokerhand (i made that up but i'm sure someone is listening to it whatever it is) you'll find it at oberlin.

Absurdist improv robo-pop group, uh... yeah you're an obie, I'm sure you'd find some takers within a week. Oberlin has a great Improv scene too.

We might only have two bars, but I'll be goddamned if we don't use the hell out of them.

(Reply to this)

	sunsetscreamer 2006-07-10 10:00 pm UTC (link)
	1. hahahaha no this is more true of other groups like jocks or larpers 2. yah 3. yes, both. I've also done both OUTSIDE of Oberlin too though so its a moot point. 5. its extremily easy to start your own extracurriculars. getting funding for them can sometimes be another story. (Reply to this)

incendiaryfs
2006-07-10 10:39 pm UTC (link)

3. Have you fallen in love, once or more, with either a person or a cause since coming to Oberlin?
Yes, with some of my closest friends, my trust-them-with-my-life political demonstration affinity group members, and romantically. And all the romantically ones were crazy whirlwind hella romantic. And with causes: action-medicine, New Orleans, getting my friends & co-op to enjoy proper nutrition... and so many more.

4. What is the literary value of the campus graffiti (in terms of wit and humor)? Not spray-paint graffiti, necessarily, but things scrawled on desks, in corners, lockers, stencils, and so on.
My user icon hung out of my third floor Baldwin window for awhile alongside one that said "Riot Not Diet!" During the immigration protests a large memorial of crosses and chicken wire and pictures was hung up and stencils that said "No human is illegal" in Spanish showed up all over campus. Other graffitti I remember from this past year: "Lock up the cops and call the kids," "The beauty is in the streets" (in French), "Stalin is my homeboy," "Adventure as a form of protest," "Compost the State," and some stop sign modifications like "STOP polluting our air" and "STOP driving cars."

There were so many others. Jo! Sarah! Help me out here.

5. How ambitious is the student body from an extracurricular perspective? If I wanted to form, say, an absurdist improv robo-pop group, would it be easy or hard to find partakers? Produce a film? Create a graphic novel? Start a national revolution? &c.
Some of the first kids down to New Orleans were Oberlin students, with truckloads of supplies (like 50 pound bags of dry foods and hundred(s?) of loaves of bread from our co-ops) and incredible amounts of knowledge and time and energy to devote (some took off the whole semester to live and do work there); Oberlin students were ginormously responsible for some of the major steps in the hurricane housing reclamation process-- a few of the first people to live in the lower 9th ward since Katrina were Obies. There was/is a movement in New Orleans and Oberlin students were a big part of that. Note it was the students and not the college that did all that. The students here rock. They are good people.

It's hard to describe Oberlin contirbution to New Orleans because it was really these individual people who each individually did amazing things-- but a lot of these individuals did have this school in common. We were one of the few schools that sent vanloads for fall break, not just spring break. And many of us spent our winter term there, and others are there right now, and others have eben there since the first flooding. The best thing about this is how connected the campus stayed to the movement in NOLA, with our co-ops sending donations every time someone was driving south, more and more students going each time, speakers coming north, etc.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	incendiaryfs 2006-07-10 10:39 pm UTC (link)
	oh and this icon is some sweet Fairchild graffitti! represent! (Reply to this) (Parent)

adhesive_boy
2006-07-11 04:37 am UTC (link)

1. Depends on where you are and who you are with, I suppose.

2. Agreed with the people who said there is a sense of community as an oberlin student, but people vary within that group. I make fun of Oberlin all of the time amongst friends as being a place for overpriviledged, confused upper middle-class East Coast kids. At the same time, though, I would defend this place strongly in the face of criticism from other people.

3. No to a person, but I'm still in pretty high spirits about finding someone. Finding girls who could form intelligible sentences without giggling every three seconds was definitely a big deal after my dismal years in high school. As for a cause...no, but that's probably just because I'm an odd person.

4. uhh, sure, but I prefer the "METALLICA ROOLZ" and "UR GAY" type stuff. The grafitti here is too forced for me to find it that humorous. Plus, when you have people being obscene all the time as Oberlin kids do, it kind of takes away the effect of graffiti.

5. People do lots of stuff. Maybe the stuff isn't always the best idea or is able to sustain people's interest in it, but people are always doing lots of stuff. You shouldn't have much trouble there.

As for your other question: even if it takes awhile for you to find those elusive people who share your interests, they will be there. There are, however, lots of perfectly sane and "normal" people, both in the good and bad sense. There are also plenty of the extremes - idiots and completely brilliant people. It's not as crazy a place as it's made out to be but there is a definite spark that exists amongst people.

(Reply to this)

	(Anonymous) 2006-07-11 04:51 am UTC (link)
	our graffiti is way awesome (Reply to this)

bigtyper
2006-07-11 10:11 am UTC (link)

second of all, our graffiti is awesome. Some of it is temporary, and some of this temporary graffiti discussed the Ugandan Health crisis. I smiled at the appropriateness of seeing this on our bathroom walls. I also liked the "What's up God?" "Well, I have Nietzche in a headlock right now..."

first of all, if you start an absurdist improv robo-pop group, I will totally join.

I think everything else has pretty much been covered.

(Reply to this)

dynamint
2006-07-11 10:57 am UTC (link)

I'm going to do the short answer version, and preface it with the statement that I'm not particularly happy at Oberlin, but for various reasons I won't be transferring (I've finished two years).

2. No. It's very easy to fall through the social cracks, and it's a situation I've never found myself in anywhere else.
3. Yes, once, person.
4. I don't frequent the dedicated grafitti areas.

(Reply to this)

(Anonymous)
2006-07-14 06:18 pm UTC (link)

My friend and I are both replying to this as I type...
1. To echo a common sentiment, both. That said, dude, I'm so wasted right now. Actually, I'm not, but I think I may go find that bottle of wine. One set of friends and I sing jazz standards under the wisdom tree at the tops of our lungs when inebrietated; another set sits around giggling about how drunk they are (which is amusing, because they're big, scary guys and giggle convincingly). It takes all sorts, I guess.
2. Eh. It's what you make it. Oberlin can be a social wasteland, especially at first. Once you get past the kind of scary people, though, you realize that the majority of the campus is composed of nice, slightly odd people who are usually up for anything.
3. Person, no. But causes, yes. Oh, god, yes. Volunteer work and political action took over my life last semester.
4. Our graffiti is usually fun. It's not limited to two dimensional expression; there's stuff sometimes that you think is an art installation but is actually someone's very complicated, harmless and totally removable act of "vandalism".
5. The national revolution wouldn't fly, really. Everything else you mentioned would be relatively easy to do at Oberlin. And if you couldn't, finding someone who could wouldn't be a huge challenge.

(Reply to this)

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