The April 2016 Virtual Panels!

Dear Friends,

We mailed off our admit letters yesterday, and today we are changing gears and getting ready for All Roads Lead to Oberlin, the admitted students programs planned for April!

While we would love to meet every single one of our admitted students during one of the All Roads programs, we know that isn't possible. Not everyone will be able to visit campus. You have to finish school. It's expensive to travel. The dates might not be convenient for you: you have debate tournaments, athletic meets, art shows, dance and theater performances, community events, and tons of other things going on.

If you can't make it to campus — and even if you do! — we still want you to hear about life at Oberlin from Obies themselves.

We have three virtual student panels set up this spring, and my hope is that you can tune into the livestream of each one! I know that isn't realistic, so we've assigned themes to the panels to help you pick the one(s) that might make the most sense for you.

The three panels are:

• International Students: Saturday, April 16th, 10:00 - 11:00AM EDT
• Underrepresented Communities: Tuesday, April 19th, 7:30 - 9:00PM EDT
• General Obie Life: Monday, April 25th, 7:30-9:30PM EDT

Each panel will be livestreamed and hosted on YouTube. The archived videos will be available here on this blogpost after the livestream has concluded, so don't worry if the times we've scheduled aren't convenient for you.

We'll be able to take questions through the comments section of this blogpost; we'll relay them to the panelists and they'll answer them during the livestream! If your question isn't answered in one panel, we may be able to ask it in the next panel, or to answer it in the comments section or an upcoming blogpost.

The purpose of the virtual panels is to be informative. April is about you choosing which college to attend. This means figuring out the dynamics of the campus, asking tons of questions, and imagining yourself among a whole new group of peers.

The virtual panels are another way for you to get that information — and you can start asking your questions now! Load 'em up, and we'll have them set to go starting April 16th.

See you at All Roads and/or online!

Hugs from Oberlin,

Tanya + the rest of the excited and enthusiastic admissions team!

Our first panel was held on April 16th at 10AM EDT, and we were joined by Hassan, Lujza, Rand and Teague!

:30 - Intros and why Oberlin
4:35 - How did you decide to study in the US?
7:57 - How do you balance an active social life with the pursuit of academic excellence?
13:05 - How easy is it to get involved with extracurriculars? How do you join new ones?
17:19 - What are ExCos?
22:29 - If you have a job on campus, what is it, how did you find it, and what do you do?
29:49 - What/who helped you in your transition to studying in the US?
38:05 - What are the basic mechanics of taking a gap year?
43:01 - What is an Oberlin resource you wish more students knew about?
52:31 - What advice would you give to your high school senior year self?

Thanks for bearing with the technical difficulties of our second panel, held at 7:30PM on April 19th. And many thanks to panelists Brian, Daniel, and Kameron!

:40 - Intros and why Oberlin
6:30 - Since you're all from bigger cities, what was the transition to Oberlin like? How do you fill your time outside of class?
12:10 - What are the community service opportunities and how easy is it to get involved?
15:40 - Jobs: what do you do and how did you find your job?
19:50 - What are some sources of funding for student projects, conferences, etc?
22:34 - What is winter term and what have you done for yours?
28:14 - What sorts of research have you been able to get involved with? What support for that?
29:35- Can you get involved in athletics beyond the DIII teams? How, and which sports?
31:02 - How is faculty advising set up and how have you found mentors?
30:12 - What have been your favorite resources? Which ones do you wish were better known?
45:39 - What were your worries when you came to Oberlin and how have they played out? (from Keshia)
53:00 - What musical opportunities are there for non-Con students? (from Kassie)
56:44 - What has been your favorite class so far and why?
1:02:43 - What's one thing that has been surprising/unexpected about Oberlin?
1:06:54 - What advice would you give to your high school senior year self?
1:12:04 - Last reflections on what has defined your Oberlin experience

Our final virtual panel of the spring was held on April 25th, starting at 7:30pm EDT. Thank you to panelists Daniel, Lisa, Michael, Nyquon, and Tom!

:30 - Intros and why Oberlin
7:50 - How did you choose your major? Did you come to Oberlin knowing what you want to study?
15:05 - First-Year Seminar Program
18:30 - How have you been supported in your academics? What resources have you used?
28:00 - For science majors, what are some research opportunities? (from Diana)
30:56 - If you're not majoring in the arts, can you still get involved?
38:28 - Where have you lived? What is OSCA and how does it work? (from Jen)
47:50 - What do you do outside of class? How did you get involved? What sort of community service opportunities are there?
53:30 - What is the role of TAs at Oberlin? (from Diana)
56:03 - What's been your favorite class so far and why?
1:03:08 - What's winter term?
1:15:40 - Where can you study abroad? How easy is it to set up? (from Diana)
1:18:43 - What surprised you about Oberlin?
1:27:10 - Have you ever wondered if you belong at Oberlin? How did you overcome that feeling?
1:34:48 - How accessible are professors? (from Theresa)
1:39:17 - Looking back, what advice would you give to your senior-year self?