Occidental College
Reviews

A Diverse Curriculum

A liberal arts school, Occidental College, has a Core Program in order for students to become well-rounded when they graduate from their respected major. The program involves students to take at least one science course, one math course, fine arts courses, CSP courses (equivalent to English classes), courses about different regions (such as Asia and the Middle East, Latin America, Europe). The courses available are incredibly interesting. One of my CSP courses was called Criminal Dreams, and the professor, who's also the head of the English department, used Freudian analysis on the Sherlock Holmes stories in order to psychoanalyze the stories' author, Arthur Conan Doyle. Other interesting courses include Music and Trance, Bioethics, and the Russian Experience, a History.

Most people at Occidental College seem to be involved with the humanities majors, especially Politics and Diplomacy and World Affairs (a highly recognized major). These are majors that involve community awareness, and the people at Occidental generally are active with the community. The hard science majors are rigorous, and the people in them are very likely to join a professor's lab for research.

For me, I'm a physics major, and I want to do a the 3-2 Engineering Program that Occidental provides, so that if I keep up my GPA and take the required program courses, I am guaranteed admission to Columbia University after three years at Occidental. I will receive a Bachelor of Arts degree from Occidental and a Bachelor of Science degree from Columbia University after completing the program.

The professors at Occidental often impress me not only with their passion for their subject but for their ability to teach and to respond to students' needs. Many of the professors really force you to think for yourself, forcing you to be analytical and critical thinkers. If you ask a direct question, they won't answer it for you, they'll help you to think out the answer to your own question yourself.

The 3-2 Engineering Program

I'm a sophomore at Occidental College. My college, a small liberal arts school, ensures that we students will graduate well-rounded individuals. The college's Core Program requires students to take a required courses of different areas (such as Asia, Latin America, or The Middle East), fine arts, science/mathematics. Occidental has a reputation for its ability to get students involved in the community, whether in political campaigns or in student research.

For those students who want to an Engineering degree, Occidental College offers the unique 3-2 Engineering Program. The program involves three years at Occidental College and two years at Columbia University. Students are guaranteed admission into Columbia if they're GPA is at least a 3.3 and they've completed the required program courses. After graduating from Columbia, a student receives two Bachelor's degrees from both schools. In addition, there is a high probability that they will be accepted into the Columbia's School of Engineering for graduate work.

Even if I decided not to follow with the 3-2 program and to stay at Occidental for my senior year, Occidental College will have provided me a strong academic career.

Scholarships

Oxy is great about being aggressive with their financial aid. If you get into the school they want to do all that they can to make sure you can afford it. That being said, the cost of going to Oxy is formidable and very few students get their financial aid packets without needing to take out some form of loan.

Parking!!

There is ample parking space all over campus and parking passes are free! Oxy is a very car friendly school, but if you don't have one you can always bum rides or take the Bengal Bus.

Off-Campus Dining

If you have access to a car there are tons of great restaurants in Pasadena, Glendale, and downtown LA -- all within about 15 minutes. Closer to campus (in Eagle Rock) students tend to frequent the taco trucks, Senor Fish, Panda Express, and Subway. Spitz is also popular and some people make the walk to Pat and Lorraine's for breakfast.

Average

You can get away with a lot. Dorm parties are common with drinking and even smoking if people get creative. You just have to be smart; if you have a strict RA on duty then obviously it isn't a good idea to party in your dorm that night. Campus Safety is pretty lenient with the amount of smokers here, but it's not wise to push them...

Spotty Performance

As a D3 school, varsity sports aren't our top priority and therefore we don't have the best records all around. However some of our teams did great and won conference. It just depends. Sports are pretty popular with a large percent of our school participating; I'm a varsity athlete myself and know numerous athletes from other teams. As for the facilities, they are of pretty decent quality. Also I've noticed that the coaches Oxy hires generally have impressive backgrounds and experience.

Setting

Great mix of on and off campus life. Directly in the middle of a great city with plenty of things to do both on and off campus. Plethora of stimulating and interesting academic programs such as our own on-campus investing team: the Blythe Fund.

Oxy Touts Its Diversity, but at Times It Seems Disingenous.

Though the campus is quite diverse for a private school, both ethnically and socioeconomically, it seems that Oxy values diversity chiefly as a selling point to prospective students. The "multicultural" dorm on campus is essentially "the hood," in the sense that it is in dire need of renovations. Apparently the school admits black students in numbers that fill their yearly quota.

More concerning is the shifting set of values held by the incoming class this year; there have been multiple instances of racial and heterosexist slurs being directed towards individual students. While it isn't perfect, it is still better than some southern state schools I guess...

If You Want Small and Urban, Oxy's Perfect

Most of Oxy's biggest advantages and greatest detriments come from the fact that it is small and in L.A. The size allows access to professors that is unmatched in any bigger school and because Oxy is solely undergraduates, it is the undergrads that do the research. The academics here are challenging but if you feel yourself falling behind your professors are there to help you. In the same way, one of my favorite parts about Oxy is the intense feeling of community. Maybe it's the sunny Californian weather, but even with exams and papers and grants to do people here are happy. Granted, I'm a fairly outgoing person, but everywhere I go on campus I find someone I know. Still, the smallness has its drawbacks as you constantly run into your various hookups from the weekends past in the Marketplace or the library. Additionally, there are parties here every weekend if you want them, but we definitely don't have the social scene of say...USC. But people don't come to Oxy for the parties. The location is great...if you have a car. Eagle Rock itself is sort of lacking in things to do,but it has AMAZING food. But pretty much everything else requires a drive. But within an hour or so you can find yourself at the beach, in the mountains, or at Disneyland and Oxy professors take advantage of this.

Too Strict for Own Good

First offense deserves a write-up and assessment by jury. Very harsh. We're college kids and the strictness of the policy isn't going to change anything. If anything, it makes drinking less safe because people are too afraid to report any problems or request help if things go awry because of fear of a write-up.

Good but Expensive

The food here is very good, but prices for non-campus produced food are exorbitant. Not considering financial aid, it costs me about $56,000 to go here, yet they feel the need to charge us 2x the amount we would have paid for the same product off campus. We're students, we're broke. It needs to stop trying to profit off its students.

In Decline

On campus not much happens espically underage, and the school is cracking down on off campus events not much fun

Very Severe

I heard this wasn't the case a few years ago, but lately there have been numerous complaints by the neighbors that have forced the college to be very strict. Off campus parties tend to get shut down very quickly, and on campus activities are heavily monitored by the RA's and campus security

Lots of Options

Around Eagle Rock, you'll find an array of available restaurants ready to tantalize your every food fantasy. There are a variety of Asian restaurants, greek food at Spitz, Hawaiian barbecue, Taco Trucks, and of course burger and pizza places. The best thing is that these are all mere blocks away from campus and literally a minute or two away by car. They nearly all offer student discounts (except the food chains) and all serve pretty great food. All in all, there is a lot to eat around Oxy.

Good Selection

Occidental has done well in responding to student demands for more diversity in dining options. In addition to the Marketplace, the main campus dining facility, which offers made-to-order pasta, sandwich and salad bars, homestyle station, pizza oven and more, the school has opened the Rangeview Coffee cart and the Green Bean coffee lounge. The Rangeview cart is open late and features food from favorite local restaurants. The Green bean makes a variety of coffee and blended drinks, and sells pastries from local bakeries.

Well...Its California

Its sunny and hot at the beginning and the end of the year and most of the days in between are pretty nice. It definitely does get colder during the winter. It also does rain during the winter and at nights it can get pretty cold.

Housing Is Pretty Good. There Are a Lot of Different Types of Dorms.

The majority of dorms are nice enough. Most of the dorms are pretty social. There really is no best or worst dorm, there are ups and down to every dorm. Everyone's preference depends on the kind of person they are. Some dorms are more conducive to studying, while others are a lot more social. Location is definitely an issue. Since the school is built on a hill a lot of people have a problem with the dorms located further up the hill and opt to live in dorms on lower campus instead. Once you go here you'll figure out which dorm you like best.

Urban Oasis

Los Angeles is full of amazing sites! The Eagle Rock locals do not like the college though, even though it predates their buying of their homes...

There are some cool bars around...

There are some cool bars around the neighborhood, like York, The Chalet, and Italiano's, a restaurant/bar that people love. And, the great thing about living in LA is that you can venture outside the neighborhood and check out the rest of the city! Clubs are fine for the over-21 crowd, but in LA they are too expensive and trendy. There are plenty of dive bars around Los Angeles that are really fun but don't offer the experience of being puked on by Lindsay Lohan.

There are two dining spots on...

There are two dining spots on campus. The main dining hall is pretty good in terms of college food. The other place is more of a one-stop shop for fast food-types of things, which is great for late-night snacks. People love the local taco trucks around our neighborhood, which are open late and real cheap.

The Marketplace is actually pretty...

The Marketplace is actually pretty good, although some people complain about it. It's very vegetarian- and vegan-friendly—everything is labeled VL (vegetarian) or V (vegan), and they have multiple meat and/or dairy-free options at every meal. They also have a daily salad bar and a pasta bar, where you can have pasta made upon order.

It’s not the right fit for...

It’s not the right fit for everyone, but if this is the kind of educational experience that you’re looking for, come to Oxy! We’re cool people and we have lots of amazing things going on. You can’t beat the value of all you get for a school this small.

It’s not perfect, but the...

It’s not perfect, but the community and the academics together make me glad I came.

More people get sent to the...

More people get sent to the hospital for alcohol poisoning than anything else. I think that says a lot about how much we drink and how strictly it really is enforced. People can get away with it pretty easily, unless they drink too much or do it in a way that attracts attention.