When I tell people I'm from India, often, the first thing they ask me is "How did you end up at Oberlin?" Unfortunately, I don't have a "I knew Oberlin was my dream school when I heard about ..." story. I certainly couldn't visit the United States to visit colleges and decide, so I just did a whole bunch of research on colleges on the internet. I read websites, participated in forums, emailed tons of people, and tried to make as informed a decision as I could, and Oberlin was a pretty easy decision to make. I figured a guide to Oberlin on the internet would probably be a useful thing to have around, so here we go.
DISCLAIMER: This is not a complete list. Please let me know if I've omitted something or someone that you think should be on here.
Contents
1. Oberlin College Website & Oberlist
2. Oberwiki
3. Oberlin on Twitter
4. Oberlin on Facebook
5. Other Blogs and Websites
6. Oberlin on Youtube
7. Oberlin on Flickr
8. Oberlin on Reddit
9. Oberlin on Livejournal
10. Oberlin Publications
1. Oberlin College Website (and Oberlist)
The College's website seems unnecessary to mention, but I'm going to mention it for the sake of completion. Oberlist, made by Harris, is a great way of finding things on the college website, and keeping up with what's going on at Oberlin.
2. Oberwiki
An unofficial Oberlin wiki. I don't think it has a neutrality policy, and it's not very moderated, which makes it a great place to look up general student opinion on things. It also tends to function as an Oberlin Urban Dictionary of sorts, and it's good to have a place where you can look up Oberlin terminology, inside jokes, and such. Some people also have Oberwiki pages. I did not make mine.
Semi-random examples: Potato trays, laundry, All-OSCA Tofu Operation
3. Oberlin on Twitter
Everyone and their kettle seems to be on Twitter these days. Oberlin has an unofficial community, @oberlin, which reposts every tweet containing @oberlin or the hashtag #oberlin. @oberlin also maintains lists of students, faculty and staff, alumni, more alumni, groups and resources, and Oberlin town people/businesses.
In case that's too much information, here are few semi-random people/things you can start with: Oberlin Prospies, the library, the science librarian, Oberlin events, Aries, Anne Trubek (professor), The Apollo, Obiegame, Flaubert (cockatiel), Eric Norenberg (city manager), and The Oberlin Review. Also, feel free to tweet @oberlin if you have any questions - multiple people will probably answer.
4. Oberlin on Facebook
There's, of course, the official Oberlin College Facebook page as well as the Oberlin 2014 group. In addition, many Oberlin institutions, bands, etc. have their own Facebook fan pages and that's often where I get my news from. For instance, Yesterday's Ice Cream Shoppe updates every day with specials, Oberlin's Theatre and Dance department has news about their shows, and WOBC has contests and news about music events. Other examples: OSCA, ExCo, Infinite Monkey Comics & Games, The Feve, Ginko Gallery & Studio, Twyzzlers for Everyone Forever, Allen Memorial Art Museum ...you get the idea.
5. Other Blogs and Websites
There are plenty of Oberlin-related websites around. I rather like the Oberlin Rocks blog (documenting the rocks on Tappan Square that are painted over every couple of weeks). Some town blogs/websites include Main Street Oberlin, the Oberlin Food Blog, and the Oberlin Heritage Society. Tumblr blogs include Oberlin College Tumblr and Fuck Yeah Oberlin.
6. Oberlin on Youtube
Oberlin College has an official Youtube channel with tons of cool videos. In addition, here's a direct link to a search for "Oberlin" on YouTube - there are videos of performances at Oberlin, Oberlin tours and random other things. I'm not much of a video-watcher, but I will leave you with two recommendations - the Oberlin senior staff rapping at some official shindig, and ninja vanish, which may not make sense to you until you watch it through to the end, but will be SO WORTH IT when you do. (It's short.)
7. Oberlin on Flickr
Oberlin College's official flickr account is here. All public photos tagged "oberlin" are here. Enjoy!
8. Oberlin on Reddit
I actually saw several posters around campus advertising the Oberlin subreddit, but it's just getting started. Here's a couple of threads that look interesting: the best of Oberlin academia and advice to someone starting here next fall.
9. Oberlin on Livejournal
The Oberlin Livejournal community seems fairly active, but I wouldn't know much about it. I understand that they are good at answering questions. It's also infamous for being the birthplace of the Oberlin Confessional. If you don't know what that is, that's a good thing.
10. Oberlin Publications
Oberlin has several student publications. The Oberlin Review is our standard school weekly newspaper. The Grape has long been its rival, although the Grape seems mostly humour-oriented. They both seem to have closer rivals now - Drivel is a new satire magazine that started up last year, and Fearless and Loathing is a new online newspaper. There's also The Raisin, which is an online humour magazine/blog. In Solidarity is our newspaper for people of colour, but their website is not really up to date.
The Plum Creek Review is our literary magazine and Wilder Voice is mostly oriented towards non-fiction and long-form journalism, although they also publish other things. Spiral publishes genre-fiction.
Several expired links have been removed from this post (August, 2018).
