Oberlin first-years are less religious but more spiritual than their college peers across the country. This is one of many findings culled from the CIRP freshman survey, which opens a fresh window each year into the emotional, spiritual and political mindset of new students within hours of their arrival on campus. Since 1973 Oberlin has participated along with 497 other colleges and universities in UCLA’s national questionnaire.
Director of Institutional Research Ross Peacock said the survey confirms what most of us already know: Oberlin students generally march to the beat of a different drum. “The surprise really is the remarkable stability in Oberlin responses over the years,” he said. “For the most part we are stable while the rest of the world moves to the right and left.”
Most strikingly, Oberlin students remain unmoved by the national shift to the right on military spending and handgun control since Sept. 11th. When asked whether “Federal military spending should be increased,” only 9 percent of Oberlin students agreed, compared with 45 percent of general college students.
While most of the survey responses are predictable from Oberlin’s reputation as a politically active liberal arts college, there are always a few surprises. Many students seem to feel that they are surrounded by peers from wealthy backgrounds, but in fact most Obies fall into the middle-income bracket.
Administrators might be surprised to learn that 40 percent of first-years said they somewhat or strongly favor abolishing affirmative action in college admissions. Peacock noted, however, that this number is significantly less than the percentage of students against affirmative action at Oberlin’s peer institutions.
Dean of Students Peter Goldsmith speculated that “brand new students may not really understand the significance of affirmative action in college admissions.”
A section of the survey that asks respondents to rate their academic and social abilities offers a nuanced portrait of the typical Oberlin student. Obies rated themselves high in academic ability, intellectual self-confidence and public-speaking ability, but low in social self-confidence, cooperativeness and drive to achieve. They are slightly more depressed and “overwhelmed by stress” than most college students.
Oberlin students also set themselves apart in their approach to education.
Few see college as a straight path to a well-paid job: barely 10 percent aspire to a career in law, business or medicine.
But Goldsmith noted that students grow more interested in these professions as they rise at Oberlin – a reversal of the trend at most colleges.
“I think it’s because Oberlin students allow their career interests to follow from their intellectual interests rather than the other way around, which I find enormously healthy,” he said.
Forty percent intend to obtain a Ph.D. or Ed.D, ten percent more than at Oberlin’s sister schools such as Carleton, Vassar and Swarthmore.
Oberlin’s motto that one person can change the world is reflected in the number of students who envision themselves influencing the political structure, promoting racial understanding or becoming community leaders after college. Fewer consider raising a family or being well off as important.
The College often digs up the freshman survey as it engages in the never-ending process of self-reflection. The task force on diversity has recently used it to track the changing demographics of the Oberlin student. In the past, the survey was also used for a variety of other projects such as retention studies and long-range planning.
“The main use of the survey is to understand the backgrounds, experiences, expectations and aspirations of students entering Oberlin,” Peacock said.
Goldsmith said that the survey usually confirms our preconceptions of Oberlin students, but added that “people very quickly generalize about Oberlin students and it’s very useful to have some hard data.”