Overview
Oberlin College Overview
Oberlin College, founded in 1833, is a four-year, highly selective liberal arts college and home to America's oldest continuously operating music conservatory. From its founding, Oberlin College has been a community of thinkers, scholars, scientists, musicians, athletes, activists, and artists - all of whom seek to make the world a better place. Students are united by a commitment to social justice and a willingness to confront social issues that many would prefer to ignore.
Outstanding among Ohio colleges, Oberlin College invented coeducation in 1837 and made interracial education central to its mission in 1835.
Oberlin College First Year Seminars
First Year Seminars limit enrollment to 14 first-year students. Oberlin College First Year Seminars are an introduction to liberal arts learning, designed to hone critical writing, thinking, and discussion skills and to acquaint students with the values that sustain this community of learning.
Topics of recent seminars have explored: the concept of peace, conflict, and violence; black women and liberation; origins and treatment of cancer; and the politics of public art and space.
But First Year Seminars are not required, as there is no core curriculum. Unlike other Ohio colleges, Oberlin College has distribution requirements that make students explore outside their comfort zone and study something unfamiliar and new.
Oberlin College students must earn nine credits in each of the three divisions (social sciences, humanities, and natural sciences and math), as well as nine credits designated as cultural diversity, which ensures that all students of Oberlin College graduate with some understanding of cultures beyond mainstream America.
Oberlin College: Helping Students Focus and Achieve Their Goals
Oberlin College's winter term allows students to focus on career aspirations or explore new interests on or off campus. Each January, students explore topics outside of regular course offerings, enabling them to devote their energy to a single project.
Oberlin College's Experimental College is renowned among Ohio colleges as a student-run organization that sponsors courses for limited academic credit taught by Oberlin students, townspeople, administrators, and faculty. Each year, a heterogeneous list of subjects is offered including crafts, special interests, community service, and academic subjects not found in the regular curriculum.
Oberlin College: A Leader in Sustainability
Oberlin College is a leader in sustainability, housing the largest photovoltaic-run building on an academic campus in the country. The Adam Joseph Lewis Center is a living laboratory for ecological design and a case study of how environmental commitment, the latest technologies, and life-cycle thinking can come together to create living and working spaces that minimize the negative impact on the world.
A student-designed energy monitoring system underscores this commitment to sustainability. The Farm to Fork program supports local farmers and artisans and is a leader in the Ohio colleges' community. Seasonal and regional ingredients are purchased from within a 150-mile radius of the campus and are served within 48 hours of harvest.
Oberlin College Research Opportunities
At Oberlin College, students tackle all types of research. Students are prepared and encouraged to seek out research opportunities, whether on their own or with a professor in this Ohio college's community. With projects on topics as varied as modern-day uses of the Book of Job, the transmission of the West Nile virus, and the effects of talk shows on political campaigns, there's a research opportunity to fit every interest.
Collaboration with faculty members can introduce students to new career paths and provide experiences comparable to those of graduate students. In fact, it is not uncommon for Oberlin College students to co-author articles with faculty and publish in scholarly journals.
Oberlin College produces more PhDs than any of the other liberal arts Ohio colleges and its graduates have been changing the world for the better part of two centuries. Oberlin College students become leaders in every field they pursue because of the skills of innovation, hard work, and social consciousness that Oberlin nurtures.
Popular fields for Oberlin graduates include higher education, business and commerce, health, music performance, public service, law, and education.
Oberlin College Art and Music
Oberlin College is a highly intellectual community, even compared to other Ohio colleges, but because of the zeal and zest of its students, there's never a dull moment to be found. Though located in a small town, Oberlin offers many amenities of a large city.
The Conservatory of Music sponsors over 500 concerts and recitals each year, and the theater and dance programs offer 50-plus productions. The Allen Memorial Art Museum is home to one of the highest rated college art museums in the country. The art rental program allows students to rent amazing, original works of art, many by artists such as Picasso, Monet, and Warhol.
Oberlin College brings over 200 speakers and films to campus each year. Varsity athletes compete on 22 NCAA Division III teams. Close to one-third of students participate in intramural sports and club programs. Oberlin College has over 150 student organizations that actively engage in interests ranging from politics and the environment to swing dance and journalism.
Present-day Oberlin College continues its tradition of high intellectual standards and social commitment to the Ohio college's community and beyond. From students instituting the first coed dorm in the United States in 1970 to recent efforts to address local poverty issues and global environmental concerns, Oberlin College is informed by its past while it continues to adapt to both present and future demands.
