Occidental College

Date: Nov 17 2005
Major: Economics (This Major's Salary over time)
Simply one of the most well-rounded colleges you will ever find. Academics are excellent and challenging, and professors are always willing to help during their office hours. Student body is great for a private college (Friendly, highly diverse, and most people aren't arrogant or stuck up like at most private institutions). The school prides itself on this greatly. Campus has a beautiful, spanish style flair to its archetecture, sort of like Stanford.

Social Life at Oxy is pretty good for a small college. Residence Halls are nice and well-maintained, with rooms going from small to spacious (Newcomb Hall). Each weekend, the college throws some kind of campus-wide party that many people on campus go to (Ex. Halloween, Toga Night, Splatter, Love on the Beach). Other than this, people usually hang with their buddies and get drunk (although campus safety really tries to clamp down on this). L.A. is a great place to have fun as a college student, just bring or find someone who has a car since you can't go far without one. However, the college has what's called a Bengal Bus, which can take you to a couple of places (Old town Pasadena, Glendale Galleria, and occaisonally Universal City Walk). Burbank, Santa Monica, Hollywood, UCLA, and USC are also great places to hang out. Lastly, don't feel pressured into joining a fraternity or sorority, since only 10% of the students here are involved in Greek Life.

The only complaint I have about Oxy is the issues regarding the administration. Some students have complained about a lack of funding for clubs, and the athletic facilities on campus are mediocre, with the exception of the track and football field, both of which are execellent. To give the administration credit, they are building a new olympic size pool, a new residence hall, and eventually a new a fitness Center (The current weight room is god awful). Part of the problem is that the college is trying to recover from near bankrupcy about 6 or 7 years ago, due to the controversy associated with diversifying the school (The old, WASPY, racist alumni from the 50's, 60's, and 70's weren't too happy about this), and at the same time spending a lot of money to upgrade the campus. In a way, I can't really blame them for trying to pocket as much money as possible. Also, the college tries to hard to push their political agenda on the students. The ideas of diversity and multiculturism are literally shoved down our throats, and the P.C. atmosphere of the campus can seem stifling at times (and I'm even saying this as a democrat). Conservative views aren't really accepted, so the conservatives on campus are quiet for the most part. If you can get by these two minor issues, you'll be ok.

Campus dining is pretty good. We usually have a good selection of food, and the pasta bar at the Marketplace is excellent. The only problem with Campus dining is the inflexibility of hours on the weekends for the market place and tiger cooler (If you miss dinner, you may have to go off campus to eat). There are some good fast food spots in Eagle Rock, and the resturaunts are ok too.
Another thing to add: The music and choral programs here are also top notch. Our glee club is considered one of the best in the entire country. The football team and basketball teams here are excellent, both making the elite 8 in their respective sports the past 2 years.

Overall, Oxy has a bright future ahead of it. I can definately see this college as being ranked in the top 20 or 25 liberal arts colleges over the next 10 to 15 years. If you're considering to apply to places like UCLA, USC, UC Berkeley, Stanford, Pomona college, Claremont Mckenna College, or the Ivies, apply here. You won't be disappointed by the educaion you get here, and you might even get a nice merit scholorship, which definately makes it worth it to come here.