Now That You’re an Obie...

Happy day-after-decision-day! If you’ve recently committed to Oberlin and are finding yourself overwhelmed thinking about what to expect, fear not. You’ve come to the right place :) 

I remember, about two years ago, starting to feel super anxious about going to college. I felt like I was at the precipice of a huge life change—which, to be fair, I totally was—and I had no idea how to prepare myself. So if that resonates with you at all, here are a few things I wish someone had told me as I was preparing to graduate high school and move to Oberlin.

1. Do some journaling. Or scrapbooking. Or vlogging (?). It doesn’t really matter what it is, but I would encourage you to spend a serious chunk of time documenting your life in this moment: how you’re feeling, what you’re curious about, what scares you, etc. You’ll want to be able to look back on this moment and remember what you were thinking about. 
2. On a similar note, consider setting some academic goals for yourself. College is a great opportunity to evaluate your relationship to your education. What are your strengths and weaknesses? Where do want to improve? What do you want to prioritize? What are you interested in? For me, I felt like I had spent all of high school way too stressed out about my grades, and I knew that I wanted to make extracurriculars more of a priority as I started college. 
3. Make a list of your favorite spots/traditions/foods/etc. in your hometown. Try to prioritize visiting them all before you move away (maybe with your friends and loved ones if that’s your vibe!). 
4. Don’t worry too much about packing. Trust me, it’ll all be fine. 
5. Once you get to campus, read the Campus Digest. There’s good stuff in there, I promise! It’s nice to be able to get a sense of all the different events happening and all the different things you can get involved with. 
6. Also, talk to everyone. I mean everyone. It never hurts to start a conversation and Obies are very friendly.
7. Meet with your advisor early on. They have a lot of good info that you need and you want to make sure you’re figuring out all of your degree requirements and stuff as soon as possible!
8. If you live close enough to home that you can visit often, wait until Fall Break to go home for the first time. It might be hard, but I think it’s an important part of getting settled in.
9. Consider auditing an ExCo in your first semester. ExCos are a great way to meet new people, and you get to learn about something fun at the same time! But I wouldn’t recommend taking it for credit in case you get super overwhelmed and need to step back midway through the semester. 
10. Join OSCA! This one is definitely worth its own blog post. Oh wait.... you should read more about my adventures in Oberlin’s co-ops here ;)
11. Don’t be afraid to drop classes and add new ones. After all, it’s called Add/Drop for a reason. I think a lot of people are overwhelmed by the idea of changing their class schedule last minute, but if it seems like a class isn’t going to work out, you should do something about it!
12. Last but not least, don’t be afraid to ask for what you need. The worst anyone can say is no! If there’s something you need support with, someone at Oberlin is prepared to help you. And it’s literally their job, so you should probably take advantage of it!

Okay that’s all I got. Good luck, you got this. Have fun and be safe and all that jazz! I’ll be seeing you on campus before you know it :)