Antioch College

Date: Aug 10 2004
Major: Language - French/Spanish/etc. (This Major's Salary over time)
Do your research before making any decision to come here. Don't think that just because you're quirky, indie, or hippie you'll fit in. And don't forget how banal the courses typically are. There are diamonds in the rough, but… Japanese classes, for instance, really only cover the most elementary level. People graduate from that program barely able to read kana and with a first year's speaking ability. The music, linguistics, and fine arts programs are bad, one-teacher's-a-department jokes. Very few students are willing to admit sociopolitical beliefs apart from the Antioch orthodoxy. Most of the student body comes in with or develops a drug or alcohol addiction. Adderall, an ADD drug that the folks here snort in order to concentrate when they're trying to write a paper, is the big thing now. I've heard stories from a trustworthy source about someone shooting up in the hall of one of the more hip dorms on campus at 10am in celebration of a snow day. It's an extreme example, funny on a certain level, but it's not at all an isolated event. Your every action will be criticized in terms of your race, and quite confrontationally. Community meetings aren't a lot more than shouting matches and events announcements. If you're not one of the 15-or-so people who's all-too-willing to stifle the rest, get ready to feel like you're unable to speak freely. Only a handful of books in the library's sad, sad selection have been added within the last twenty years. Everyone gets the runs from eating cafeteria food, and you're now required to purchase a full dining plan. The infamous Sexual Offense Prevention Policy is about as open to interpretation as Finnegans Wake, but much more likely to get you wrongly expelled from school. For how openly sexuality is displayed here, the atmosphere is very anti-sexual. Despite what some would have you believe, the students generally aren't all that bright. IMHO, they're on the right side of smart, but let's just not hold our breath till an Antioch student wins a Nobel. To be fair, this might be because Antiochians were usually the weird kids sitting in the back of class whom the whole high school rigamarole just wasn't meant for in the first place. But everyone thinks they're the smartest in the class. And those figures published in the all the glossy PR about how many Antioch students are accepted into grad school—well, the ones available in the school's public archives, Antiochiana, were 20 years old. No one in the development office or offices I was referred to by them was able to verify any newer number. I realize I'm running the risk of being libellous; the 90% or whatever figure may be true, but no evidence of it was presented to me personally when I asked for it. A major restructuring is being effected in the school's programs, so be sure to research them. As it stands, a co-op semester costs something like $8,000. $8,000 to get college credit for a menial job at which you'll forget a substantial amount of what you learned the previous semester. Co-op stipends have been elminated now, so be prepared to shell out your first month's rent and food costs out of pocket or take out one of the school's short term loans. At least they're interest free. Moving on, there's nothing to do in Yellow Springs but what you yyourself make. Antioch kids have even ended up throwing human shit, vomit, and deer foetuses at each other for entertainment. True story. Read the archives on antiocksucks.com. Attend Antioch and you'll probably make a few good friends (who you'll have to say goodbye to every four months thanks to co-op), smoke pot in front of the admin. building at 4:20, maybe take up shoplifting at chain bookstores as a hobby. You'll break things for entertainment. Gotta cope somehow. You get the idea, enough with my rambling. Don't believe what you read in Loren Pope's book, don't expect to learn a lot academically, do expect to learn about your ability to live in intense situations.