Can Oberlin ever change its image as a failed school?

[Anonymous]

Imagine sitting down and thinking to yourself, let me start some shit about Oberlin, a school that barely meets the DCUM snob threshold. Someone really needs attention today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Imagine sitting down and thinking to yourself, let me start some shit about Oberlin, a school that barely meets the DCUM snob threshold. Someone really needs attention today.

It doesn’t even meet the threshold. It’s a third tier school, not sure why op is talking about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also reject the premise and so think the entire thread is useless.

Also wondering about the degree of sockpuppetry. May just check with the mod.

All these puppet defenders. We get it you're blind, but us news isn't.

Oh, where did they call the school a failed school?

When they ranked it outside the top quartile.

Top quartile of what? More like top 5%. There are well over 2000 4 year colleges and universities in the US. Only in this space is a school that rejects far more students than it admits and has an endowment over $1B “failing” or bad. You guys are something.

[Anonymous]

OP, it sounds as though Oberlin isn’t the right school for your family. That’s fine, but I don’t understand your motivation in making this post. You’ve raised nothing new that hasn’t been posted here before and the bakery incident is old news at this point and water under the bridge.

I agree that the Ohio factor is huge (at least from my student’s perspective when we visited recently). If Oberlin were in NY or a more progressive state, my kid might have considered it. The college and conservatory are both equally impressive and have a lot to offer.

[Anonymous]

Oberlin definitely lacks bang for the buck.

Super woke, graduates don’t get good jobs, crappy location, sliding in comparison to Kenyon and Denison, costs too much for what it is.

“Failed” is not too far off.

[Anonymous]

No, at this point there is no chance for redemption. The Bud Light of the college world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did not read your post and came on here only to say your title makes the post, and the whole silly thread, not worth reading…

Same. Wrong premise. Nice try, MAGA.

[Anonymous]

OP, do you need more socks? You must be wearing all yours out on this thread.

Very odd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Imagine sitting down and thinking to yourself, let me start some shit about Oberlin, a school that barely meets the DCUM snob threshold. Someone really needs attention today.

It doesn’t even meet the threshold. It’s a third tier school, not sure why op is talking about it.

But that is the point, Oberlin used to be a 2nd tier or close to 1st tier school, those of us who graduated high school in 90s and 2000s know that, but something has changed.

Not OP, and not why you all are ragging on her, if I were an alum I would be concerned. I am someone who values higher education, especially in a place in which someone who looks like me (AA).could get an education years before I could at my Alalma mater (UVA), for example.

[Anonymous]

In Gary Shteyngart’s new book, he calls Oberlin the “college of fading repute.” He is an alumnus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In Gary Shteyngart’s new book, he calls Oberlin the “college of fading repute.” He is an alumnus.

He doesn’t actually name the college in his book. Just Swathmore and Colgate.

[Anonymous]

I think that using the word "failed" in the title of this thread was really, really extreme. I hate how in DCUM people are so extremely negative towards a school they don't like. If you don't like it, don't go there. But don't ruin it for the rest of us.

I am a moderate Democrat - I despise Trump. I think much of Oberlin is a freak show full of kids who want to be non-conformists like all of their other friends. They are constantly looking for something to protest and complain about. I have a few acquaintances who went there and I follow them on social media and constantly have to resist the urge to respond to their extremism and misinformation. These are the people who enable Fox News and give them all of the sound bites that ignorant Trump voters use to justify voting for Trump - they assume all Democrats are as out there as Oberlin types.

That being said, I worked with a younger colleague who graduated from Oberlin a few years ago. They definitely stood out in our corporate environment. But they were smart and capable and easily made fun of the more extreme aspects of Oberlin, making it sound like that attitude is not universal. I enjoyed working with them, as did the rest of my colleagues.

Additionally, as I said above, just because I think it is crazy and wouldn't let my child go near it doesn't mean it shouldn't exist. I wish they would tone things down a bit. But in general, they aren't really hurting anyone. So just leave them alone.

[Anonymous]

I find the Oberlin bashers weird and would be happy to send my kid there, but I will note that it has fallen farther in the rankings than just about any liberal arts college I can think of - in the 1980s, it was ranked #5. It certainly has more residual prestige than many equivalently ranked colleges.

https://www2.oberlin.edu/alummag/summer2011/features/rank.html

[Anonymous]

You’re working from the wrong premise. The college market is all about product differentiation. Every school wants a niche, otherwise it’s just a stats game. Oberlin attracts a certain kind of student, and that kind of student wants oberlin as is. They agree with the bakery lawsuit.

Remember the New Yorker article about Oberljn a few years ago? I recently re-read it and googled the students named in the article. They’re all in super-left jobs, came out as nonbinary, etc. Not my thing, but it’s clearly a valid path for those who want it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You’re working from the wrong premise. The college market is all about product differentiation. Every school wants a niche, otherwise it’s just a stats game. Oberlin attracts a certain kind of student, and that kind of student wants oberlin as is. They agree with the bakery lawsuit.

Remember the New Yorker article about Oberljn a few years ago? I recently re-read it and googled the students named in the article. They’re all in super-left jobs, came out as nonbinary, etc. Not my thing, but it’s clearly a valid path for those who want it.

Correct. I knew someone who went there who likely could have gone anywhere they wanted. They chose Oberlin. Now an activist with super left causes and non-binary so you are spot on. I think they are overly militant about it (they have alienated a number of lifelong friends who are very left but not left enough for them). But they found their people at Oberlin.