College of Arts and Sciences
Facts at a Glance
13 MacArthur "genius" fellows
75% of students study away
150+ shows on student-run radio station
100% demonstrated need met
Engaged Liberal Arts
Oberlin’s engaged liberal arts education extends outside the classroom and into the world. Through research, study away, winter term intensives, internships, and fellowships, students deepen their learning, applying the dynamism of intellectual inquiry to real world experiences. From learning sustainable agriculture at local farms to interning in start-ups, museums, and nonprofits, our students combine idealism with pragmatism in pursuing opportunities that cultivate their talents and empower them to do good in the world.
Photo credit: Yevhen Gulenko
Academics
The passion for knowledge drives an Oberlin education. We offer an expansive and rigorous educational program with more than 40 academic majors and more than a dozen interdisciplinary minors and integrative concentrations. Explore your interests and discover new ones as you choose from over 1,000 lectures, seminars and workshops offered each year, while working directly with accomplished and accessible faculty.
A Collaborative Education
At Oberlin, we believe learning happens best together, whether in scientific research laboratories, film and theater ensembles, or seminar discussions. Our commitment to interdisciplinary education goes hand in hand with our embrace of collaboration as a method to negotiate among different perspectives and lived experiences, and for contending with new and daunting challenges.
Explore Undergraduate Research
Learn more about the Oberlin Center for Convergence
Step Into a Community
Oberlin fosters a unique sense of community. The friendships and relationships Obies forge during their formative years on campus last a lifetime. These friendships begin on day one, often as part of peer advising cohorts and small first year seminars. Every first-year student has a Peer Advising Leader (PAL), a returning student trained to help new Obies make lasting friendships and develop the skills needed to excel academically.
Develop Your Passion
Oberlin students are enthusiastic, committed, and passionate for all that is good, true, and beautiful. In a community that thrives on creative risk-taking and collaboration over competition, our culture lays the groundwork for students to pursue their own visions. Faculty, professional staff, and peer mentors are there to help facilitate opportunities and make connections across students’ curricular and cocurricular journey.
Learn about Sophomore Opportunities and Academic Resources (SOAR)
Explore the Junior Practicum
College of Arts and Sciences Faculty
Oberlin professors are scholars and teachers. They devote their careers to making important contributions to their disciplines, and they are completely committed to teaching undergraduates. Our small class sizes offer opportunities for student/professor mentoring relationships that will last beyond your Oberlin years.
I love how impassioned Oberlin students are about everything. They arrive with high language proficiency. Those who don’t have the language skills learn very quickly.
Sergio Gutiérrez Negrón, Assistant Professor of Hispanic Studies
Launching from Oberlin
Every year since our founding in 1833, Oberlin has helped to cultivate compassionate, rigorous, pragmatic visionaries—people who make an exceptional impact on the world. Our alumni include 23 members of the National Academy of Sciences, nine Pulitzer Prize winners, three Nobel Prize recipients, and countless award-winning artists. In every field, in communities across the street and the world, our graduates help people find a way forward.
Photo credit: Amber Benford