First, a PSA. CSA is hosting Asian Pop Night this Friday at the 'Sco. It's from 10:00 - 12:00 and there will be lots of Asian music (not just Cpop). There will also be free bubble tea. You should definitely come, and not just because I'll be there.
* * *Last time I said that I'd signed up to host a prospie. She came last Sunday night and stayed till Monday lunch. And she was awesome. One of my friends had a prospie as well, and they were both going to a slam poetry session at the 'Sco half an hour after my prospie was supposed to arrive. It's not hard to guess what I did with my prospie once we'd brought her things to my room.
Luckily, she liked the poetry slam. She even stayed longer than I did. Then she came back to my room and got to experience some of the joys of women's hall. By this I mean she got to see us all greet a returned comrade in arms who had been in Amsterdam for the past four days, learning about a computer programming language.
The next day, she went to classes, and unfortunately had to leave before lunch at Pyle. I did, however, give her a brief tour of the co-op, then wished her good luck picking a college.
Anyway, the point of this post is to say why she was such a good prospie. It was because of two things: she was happy to do things and to just hang out with me and the rest of the people on women's hall, and she knew what questions to ask. The first is easy--there's so much to do, and it's fun to meet students and find out what they're like. The second is a bit harder. I know that I definitely didn't ask enough questions when I was a prospie. So, for your reading pleasure, here is a list of five very good things to ask:
- What does that mean?
If someone uses a word that you don't understand, ask about it. In this way, you will learn about things like co-ops and ExCos and other fun things. - What dorms have you lived in and what did you think of them?
This is a good way to learn about where to live if you do end up choosing Oberlin. I didn't know anything about dorms, because I didn't ask. If I had asked, and therefore known, I would have lived in Asia House freshman year. In reality, I didn't even know that I could live in Asia House as a first-year. - How much time do you spend studying?
This is an ingenious question that I never thought of. People will give you honest answers, and this is a really good gauge of what classes are like and what finals week is like. - How much sleep do you get a night?
This is an even more ingenious question than the previous one, because it really gets to the heart of the issue and tells you even more than how much studying is necessary. - What do you think of the [insert department here] department?
If you're interested in a department, ask. Even if the person you ask isn't a major in that department, they'll be able to point you in the direction of someone who is, and they'll be happy to talk for a long time about the pros and the cons.
