Can Oberlin ever change its image as a failed school?

[Anonymous]

Posts like this are so weird and really say so much more about the poster than the school. We toured Oberlin recently and didn’t find it extremist or overly woke at all. It came across as having a very chill friendly midwestern vibe. Really nice kids. We actually saw more protest activity at CMU a few days later lol. They seem to have mended relations with the bakery and honestly, as a parent, I could not care less about a lawsuit from years ago when a different administration was in place.

I do think it’s a bummer that it has dropped in the rankings, but it is still a great school with an engaged student body and I would happily send my student there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Posts like this are so weird and really say so much more about the poster than the school. We toured Oberlin recently and didn’t find it extremist or overly woke at all. It came across as having a very chill friendly midwestern vibe. Really nice kids. We actually saw more protest activity at CMU a few days later lol. They seem to have mended relations with the bakery and honestly, as a parent, I could not care less about a lawsuit from years ago when a different administration was in place.

I do think it’s a bummer that it has dropped in the rankings, but it is still a great school with an engaged student body and I would happily send my student there.

Umm yes "they say" the poster's opinion. Nothing weird about that. We human do communicate using words at times. Not novel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Posts like this are so weird and really say so much more about the poster than the school. We toured Oberlin recently and didn’t find it extremist or overly woke at all. It came across as having a very chill friendly midwestern vibe. Really nice kids. We actually saw more protest activity at CMU a few days later lol. They seem to have mended relations with the bakery and honestly, as a parent, I could not care less about a lawsuit from years ago when a different administration was in place.

I do think it’s a bummer that it has dropped in the rankings, but it is still a great school with an engaged student body and I would happily send my student there.

Umm yes "they say" the poster's opinion. Nothing weird about that. We human do communicate using words at times. Not novel.

No, I agree with the PP. Seems this particular forum attracts people with very specific axes to grind with very specific schools. It’s weird.

[Anonymous]

It's still a good school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Posts like this are so weird and really say so much more about the poster than the school. We toured Oberlin recently and didn’t find it extremist or overly woke at all. It came across as having a very chill friendly midwestern vibe. Really nice kids. We actually saw more protest activity at CMU a few days later lol. They seem to have mended relations with the bakery and honestly, as a parent, I could not care less about a lawsuit from years ago when a different administration was in place.

I do think it’s a bummer that it has dropped in the rankings, but it is still a great school with an engaged student body and I would happily send my student there.

Umm yes "they say" the poster's opinion. Nothing weird about that. We human do communicate using words at times. Not novel.

No, I agree with the PP. Seems this particular forum attracts people with very specific axes to grind with very specific schools. It’s weird.

All these words to convey that others think differently than you? We calm that "weird" now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Posts like this are so weird and really say so much more about the poster than the school. We toured Oberlin recently and didn’t find it extremist or overly woke at all. It came across as having a very chill friendly midwestern vibe. Really nice kids. We actually saw more protest activity at CMU a few days later lol. They seem to have mended relations with the bakery and honestly, as a parent, I could not care less about a lawsuit from years ago when a different administration was in place.

I do think it’s a bummer that it has dropped in the rankings, but it is still a great school with an engaged student body and I would happily send my student there.

Umm yes "they say" the poster's opinion. Nothing weird about that. We human do communicate using words at times. Not novel.

No, I agree with the PP. Seems this particular forum attracts people with very specific axes to grind with very specific schools. It’s weird.

All these words to convey that others think differently than you? We calm that "weird" now?

*call

[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.

This! Desperate MAGAs have to recycle old news. They're running out of ways to divert attention away from Epstein.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the bigger problem might be that it's in Ohio and Ohio has changed a lot over the years. With the increasing divide between blue and red states, Ohio is going more towards MAGA-land. Attending a small outpost of wokeness in the middle of enemy territory isn't appealing. We're not in the 1960s anymore.

One of my family members teaches English to immigrant children near the "pet-eating" town in southern Ohio. He is legitimately distressed about how local people speak about his pupils and their families. 100 years ago, our immigrant families were the ones people didn't want around and jeered at. So we know America can and should do better.

My brother-in-law (a PoC) worked in Ohio for over a decade and got a chance for a corporate relocation and now won't move back. He got tired of the casual racism among other issues.

The most overtly anti-black coworker I've had, has family origins on a farm near Oberlin and his relatives are townies.

I think Ohio is fine for white suburbanites. I think parts of Cleveland and Columbus would be comfortable. But I would really think twice before moving there.

No. The problem is Oberlin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oberlin College has long had a reputation—depending on who you ask—as either a progressive utopia or a cautionary tale of ideological overreach. Once known for its academic rigor and historical legacy (it was the first college to admit women and Black students), in recent years it's been increasingly caricatured as a radical, activist-heavy institution disconnected from academic seriousness.

Add to that the ongoing slide in national rankings, some PR disasters (like the Gibson’s Bakery lawsuit), and the perception that ideological purity sometimes trumps open discourse, and the school’s image problem seems deeply entrenched.

So here’s the question: Can Oberlin change that image? Should it even try?

What would it take—leadership change, a new marketing strategy, curriculum reform, a hard look at admissions priorities? Or is this just who Oberlin is now, for better or worse? And does the broader higher-ed landscape even reward this kind of ideological niche anymore?

Curious to hear thoughts from alumni, students, and others.

??? wtf is this thread? do you have a grudge or something - did they reject your DC? people are just writing all kinds of nonsense in these random threads.

ofc oberlin is not a failed school.

[Anonymous]

Brainwashed Communists go down with their state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the bigger problem might be that it's in Ohio and Ohio has changed a lot over the years. With the increasing divide between blue and red states, Ohio is going more towards MAGA-land. Attending a small outpost of wokeness in the middle of enemy territory isn't appealing. We're not in the 1960s anymore.

One of my family members teaches English to immigrant children near the "pet-eating" town in southern Ohio. He is legitimately distressed about how local people speak about his pupils and their families. 100 years ago, our immigrant families were the ones people didn't want around and jeered at. So we know America can and should do better.

My brother-in-law (a PoC) worked in Ohio for over a decade and got a chance for a corporate relocation and now won't move back. He got tired of the casual racism among other issues.

The most overtly anti-black coworker I've had, has family origins on a farm near Oberlin and his relatives are townies.

I think Ohio is fine for white suburbanites. I think parts of Cleveland and Columbus would be comfortable. But I would really think twice before moving there.

No. The problem is Oberlin.

For a lot of families that would happily have their kids go to Oberlin, a MAGA state is a dealbreaker. Oberlin would have a lot more kids wanting to attend if it was in a blue state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Posts like this are so weird and really say so much more about the poster than the school. We toured Oberlin recently and didn’t find it extremist or overly woke at all. It came across as having a very chill friendly midwestern vibe. Really nice kids. We actually saw more protest activity at CMU a few days later lol. They seem to have mended relations with the bakery and honestly, as a parent, I could not care less about a lawsuit from years ago when a different administration was in place.

I do think it’s a bummer that it has dropped in the rankings, but it is still a great school with an engaged student body and I would happily send my student there.

Umm yes "they say" the poster's opinion. Nothing weird about that. We human do communicate using words at times. Not novel.

No, I agree with the PP. Seems this particular forum attracts people with very specific axes to grind with very specific schools. It’s weird.

All these words to convey that others think differently than you? We calm that "weird" now?

NP. You need to understand there's relentless troll who starts these threads and sock puppets.

Oberlin is an amazing school that punches well above it's weight. I know two recent grads, they're both doing great. It's known as serious school, with predictable merit aid, and strong national name recognition. Yes, the surrounding area is drug-addled maggots, but the campus is a sanctuary and they take care of their own.

The Oberlin troll also has a vendetta against California LACs. It seems to stem from having been admitted to Pomona in the early 80s and not accepting. Something about Pomona's rise in the rankings has left this person unhinged, yet seemingly retired and living a charmed life with ample time to post here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Posts like this are so weird and really say so much more about the poster than the school. We toured Oberlin recently and didn’t find it extremist or overly woke at all. It came across as having a very chill friendly midwestern vibe. Really nice kids. We actually saw more protest activity at CMU a few days later lol. They seem to have mended relations with the bakery and honestly, as a parent, I could not care less about a lawsuit from years ago when a different administration was in place.

I do think it’s a bummer that it has dropped in the rankings, but it is still a great school with an engaged student body and I would happily send my student there.

Umm yes "they say" the poster's opinion. Nothing weird about that. We human do communicate using words at times. Not novel.

No, I agree with the PP. Seems this particular forum attracts people with very specific axes to grind with very specific schools. It’s weird.

All these words to convey that others think differently than you? We calm that "weird" now?

NP. You need to understand there's relentless troll who starts these threads and sock puppets.

Oberlin is an amazing school that punches well above it's weight. I know two recent grads, they're both doing great. It's known as serious school, with predictable merit aid, and strong national name recognition. Yes, the surrounding area is drug-addled maggots, but the campus is a sanctuary and they take care of their own.

The Oberlin troll also has a vendetta against California LACs. It seems to stem from having been admitted to Pomona in the early 80s and not accepting. Something about Pomona's rise in the rankings has left this person unhinged, yet seemingly retired and living a charmed life with ample time to post here.

Where do you get these grand conspiracies from?

[Anonymous]

I'm from the west coast and have never heard of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm from the west coast and have never heard of it.

Do you enjoy advertising your limited knowledge? Why not just stay silent?