The Downside to Liberal Arts Colleges

I attend Oberlin College, a small liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio. It is also known for its world-class music conservatory, but I attend the college. Also, I have visited several liberal arts colleges across the nation, including Grinnell in Iowa.

Now entering my junior year, let me air some grievances. Don't get me wrong. I'm glad I'm going where I'm going. But there's still some things that need to be said.

Really Bad Food

Unlike most major universities, get ready to eat really bad cafeteria food. "Chicken" nuggets, bland marinara sauce dousing limp pasta noodles, greasy pizza, salad with holes in the leaves (my school's specialty).

Many major universities feed their students with a combination of cafeterias, privately owned restaurants, and campus grocery. There are enough students to offer variety and to have healthy competition when it comes to dining. In a school of about a thousand, it's a completely different picture. The college attempts to systematically feed everyone, and results are often disastrous.

Everyone Smokes

For some reason, if you're willing to pay 40 thousand dollars a year for an education you could have gotten for 10, you might also think it's a good idea to spend 40 dollars a week gradually killing yourself and keeping yourself smelling bad.

In all serious, smoking is a problem in any school, but it is especially rampant in liberal arts colleges. At my school, it is a well-established a social function. Standing around smoking cigarettes with five other people in a circle outside the library while you're taking a study break can seem fantastic-the relaxation of nicotine with the company of friends.

There is Nothing to Do in This Small Town!

See "Everyone Smokes".

Everyone Is the Same

Each liberal arts college has its own personality and draws a select group of students. At my school, the student body has gotten so homogeneous they have developed a PR campaign to attract the exact opposite type of student.

This is what we have

Socially awkward, liberal, timid, pale, intelligent but unassertive, artistic, distrustful of social conventions, anti-wealth-that type.