Congratulations! We’re so glad that Oberlin chose you. Here are 100 reasons to choose Oberlin.
You will find your people here.
Oberlin professors will really get to know you as a person, not just as a student.
Your relationships with your Oberlin mentors will last a lifetime.
Our awesome environmental studies building and its “living machine.”
- So many opportunities to do research with faculty! (No grad students competing for them.)
- We have plenty of spooky basements to explore.
- You’ll always be learning from your friends.
- Thanks to our famous art rental program, you can rent a real Picasso to hang in your dorm room for $5 per semester.
- Halftime shows feature OSteel (our steel drum band).
- The swing in Tappan Square
- Your professors will invite you to the local coffee shop for intellectual deep-dives.
- When you’ve got the AUX, you can play an aria, and everyone will love it.
- Our president jumps out of perfectly good airplanes...for fun.
- On a nice day, you’ll hear bagpipes in Tappan Square.
- You can hear a folk band, an orchestra, and a jazz trio all on the same night.
- Our 13-acre solar panel array.
- Our athletes celebrate diversity and inclusiveness just as much as a win.
- You’ll have access to a powerful, inclusive alumni network that stretches from NPR to Google.
- Even the bathrooms here have interesting design elements and great acoustics.
- Our football locker room talk includes everything from stocks to politics to poetry.
- We have spring break and fall break.
- Our awesome environmental studies building and its “living machine.”
- You can see the entire “metropolis” of Oberlin from the Kohl Building’s beautiful skydeck.
- 500+ performances a year!
- Everything you might need is just a short walk away.
Our student orchestra performs at Carnegie Hall.
Winter Term: pick a project and Oberlin gives you January to pursue it.
Each year we make progress on our carbon-neutrality-by- 2025 goal.
Oberlin a cappella groups are awesome. And they will serenade you on study breaks, or even on your birthday!
- Glowing orbs in our buildings change color to let us know how much water and energy we’re using.
- The only Greek life you’ll find here is in the classics department.
- There’s always a crate of $1 vinyl outside the local record store.
- We think consent is sexy.
- Oberlin a cappella groups are awesome. And they will serenade you on study breaks, or even on your birthday!
- Cooking for 90 people in a student-run co-op prepares you to take on the world in ways you never expected.
- The Princess Bride was written by an Obie.
- At 11:30 p.m. you can walk past a lightsaber fight on North Quad, with the Star Wars soundtrack blaring from a dorm window.
- Impromptu jazz parties at 2 a.m. are normal, if not expected.
- You can drop in on a free yoga or spinning class.
- Organ Pump: lying on the Finney Chapel stage with the lights out, feeling the vibrations.
- People will call you by any name you ask to be called, and not think twice about it.
- There is definitely someone here who loves the same obscure, canceled TV show that you do.
- We’ve produced four Nobel Prize winners. You might be next!
- You can get fellow Obies interested in anything and everything.
- You can teach Spanish to local elementary school kids, who will think you are the coolest.
- You can play with an endless supply of kittens in a downtown art gallery.
- Our student athletes play hard and study harder.
- You can choreograph and produce a large-scale dance work (even if you’re not a dance major).
You can coauthor an article in a science journal with your professor.
You can form a cover band and rock out at the WOBC Cover Band Showcase.
The Cat in the Cream coffeehouse has live music nightly and cookies the size of your head.
You can join the circus (without running away).
- Classroom discussions hardly ever stay in the classroom.
- We’re about 10 miles from a Great Lake.
- Frank Lloyd Wright designed a house here, and you can visit it.
- You can join the circus (without running away).
- Oberlin was at the forefront of coeducation and race-blind admissions way back in the 1830s and has been proudly tackling the issues of the day ever since.
- You can vote for president in a swing state!
- You can paint a rock in Tappan Square and add to thousands of layers of art.
- The Apollo Theatre has $5 admission and free-movie Mondays.
- Our observatory is the perfect place to gaze at the stars and the moon.
- Organ Pump: lying on the Finney Chapel stage with the lights out, feeling the vibrations.
- Novelist Toni Morrison grew up nearby, and her gift of a “Bench By The Road” is a wonderful place to sit quietly and reflect.
- The Oberlin Dialogue Center is a welcoming, respectful place to work through challenging topics.
- The Feve is a local hangout responsible for students believing that tater tots are their own food group.
- Azariah’s Café in our main library is where books, computers, and java create a happy alliance.
- We have a Free Store with the coolest, weirdest, free-est stuff.
- The bandstand on Tappan Square: performances, classes, rallies, speeches...you can find it all here.
- We have a Quidditch team.
- Even when we agree, we find things to argue about.
The Oberlin Arboretum, is great for leisurely walks, hikes, or wildlife watching.
Teach a class or learn about any subject or interest through ExCo (Experimental College).
Our brand-new, state-of-the- art fitness center is super fun and welcoming to people of all fitness levels.
The Oberlin Jazz Ensemble will make your jaw drop and your feet tap.
- Professors from a variety of departments incorporate our world-class art museum into their teaching.
- Magical things happen wherever the college and conservatory intersect.
- The Oberlin Jazz Ensemble will make your jaw drop and your feet tap.
- The Oberlin-in-London Program offers Oberlin-quality classes in the center of one of the world’s most exciting cities.
- Peters Hall looks a lot like Hogwarts, just in case you didn’t get into Hogwarts.
- Our library has a collection of orb-shaped “womb” chairs that envelop you and lull you to sleep.
- Wilder Bowl: a central hub of outdoor activity. Frisbee? Dancing? Sleeping? Snowball fights? Making out? There’s room for it all.
- Student publications! The Oberlin Review, The Grape, The Synapse, Wilder Voice, and so many more.
- We have a Big Parade—an annual town/gown gathering with music, floats, dancing, and costumes.
- You can wear anything you want, and people will compliment you on your style.
- The College Archives in Mudd Center: a treasure chest of history.
- The Saturday morning farmers’ market in town.
- There are tons of places to be seen, but also tons of places to hide.
- Kulas Recital Hall: Should be re-named Cool-est Recital Hall. Accommodates a wide range of musical performances and makes you feel like more than a spectator.
Sculpture that commemorates Oberlin’s stop on the Underground Railroad.
Food from cupcakes to Korean, Chinese, Thai, Mexican, and Middle Eastern.
Easily maintain or fix your bike at the Bike Co-op.
- Our dorm lounges have Steinway pianos.
- Our athletics facilities aren’t just for athletes. They bring students together with the greater Oberlin community.
- We have the coolest sci-fi residence hall.
- We have an old-school letterpress studio that anyone can use.
- You can bring a car if you like, but you really won’t need one.
- WOBC: A student and community-run radio station that actually answers the phone and plays your requests.
- Rando Bando: where you form an impromptu band from names pulled out of a hat.
- We have an annual Drag Ball that celebrates queer history and creative expression.
- We will accept you exactly as you are and make you feel like family.
- Your friends will drag you out of bed at 1 a.m. to sled down Mount Oberlin (our very own 30ish-foot-tall hill).
- The Preying Manti, our women’s and trans Ultimate Frisbee team that won the national championship in 2019, leads on and off the field.
- You’ll be surrounded by people who are compelled to seek truth and meaning in all aspects of their lives.
- You can speak your mind. You can change your mind. Your mind will change.
You can speak your mind. You can change your mind. Your mind will change.