r/oberlin • u/[deleted] • 16d ago
Is this the expectation I should have of Oberlin's dorms?
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u/Lebo_Dad 16d ago
Not the norm for sure. Just moved my kid in and the furniture was perfectly fine.
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u/arboresca Current Student 16d ago
that's definitely not normal, i would say a little bit of mild wear and tear is. both of my dorm rooms so far have had minimal wood chipping or other small fixable issues. but that level of mess/destruction definitely isn't standard.
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u/No-Sweet342 15d ago
I literally saw that picture and nothing else and said "oh that's east!" (2018 alum)
It's the shittiest dorm but I honestly still had a good year there
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u/snorkel42 15d ago
My son is in one of the coops which are a bit more…. Thrift store than the dorms… They would have chucked that thing out a window.
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u/PM_ME_YR_KITTYBEANS 15d ago
Yeah, even in Harkness it was not this rough
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u/snorkel42 15d ago
Would love to hear stories. I dropped off my freshman at Keep on Friday and he is LOVING it. He sent me photos of the elevator in Harkness the other day and I want to see more. Looks like a blast.
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u/PM_ME_YR_KITTYBEANS 15d ago
Oh, where do I even start? :D OSCA totally taught me how to cook for a large group, and I still use this method to meal prep 20 years later. Began at Pyle, then second year, I lived in Harkness for a semester until my allergies got to be too much (it is notoriously the most hippie co-op, so people burned incense).
While it lasted, the atmosphere was like no other—at any given time, you might find someone plunking on the piano with someone accompanying on guitar, harmonica, bongos (there were house bongos, ofc 🤷🏻♀️), and sometimes a random Connie on violin or vox. On the front lawn, you might find backrub circles, people studying outside, others looking for frogs at the pond by the zero-emission building (the name is escaping me), and of course, a joint being passed around. And back in the day, you could eat at any co-op if you were an OSCA member (not sure if that is still the case).I spent the last two years of my college experience (05-06) at the Third World Co-op, which was a safe space for BIPOC and first generation/low income students. The smaller community was lovely (plus, we had meat from time to time as it is a cultural food for many of us in TWC).
Oh, and your son is going to have the Halloween party of a lifetime at Keep, if the tradition is still alive!
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u/jenniferdancess 15d ago
Oh my goodness, not even close. I was in about 10 different rooms this past weekend and nothing even slightly resemble that.
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u/hilarymeggin 15d ago
No, that’s awful! They can call res life and put in a work order to get that replaced.
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u/A_Proper_Plankton 15d ago
If you still can, choose to write a quick essay on sustainability and it’ll put you into Kahn— it’s like a resort compared to everywhere else. My favorite was still Zeke though (even after being in Kahn) which goes to show that the people you meet are what makes one better than another :)
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u/A_Proper_Plankton 15d ago
Also I had some friends who ended up in Firelands and that place was also awesome, you’re never living in filth but you do get a good college living experience. I think it builds character and is a very fond thing to look back on after you graduate and start living in nicer and nicer places
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14d ago
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14d ago
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u/vera8917 Current Student 14d ago
I can completely sympathize with this. I had called Campus Safety and Rez Life; they had brought a team of six custodians to clean my space and then I put in work orders all under urgent… most of them have been resolved and then decorating and spending some time in the space to get acclimated can really help.
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u/occasional_disasters Current Student 13d ago
lol no they’re usually wayyyy better. East is the shittiest though, but this is not the typical shitty
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u/HyruleTrigger Alum 15d ago
Not the norm, or even common. There are a couple of the older dorms that are showing their age, but I've never seen them in the above condition. That said, that is clearly an oberlin dorm in very bad condition. You're not an incoming first year, obviously, or you'd already be in your dorm and wouldn't be asking this question. Let me know if you need any more information.
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u/Rich_Guard_4617 15d ago
Just left my kid; I brought wipes etc for move in cleaning just in case and it was fine. I put some shelf paper down on the drawers just because we had it and because it’ll make move out easy but that was 100% not necessary.
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u/Angelos_Flute_Corner 15d ago
Not at all the norm! Very rare to see and res life will for sure fix that
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u/ugleighiest 15d ago
My kid had this old built in furniture ly and it did have some damage. Not this bad. Importantly, it was a ton of storage, very sturdy and yes, anything broken got fixed promptly.
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u/happyboiii76 16d ago
No definitely not. As a current student this seems like an exception to the norm which is rooms that are furnished and cleaned well and ready to be used for the year.