Occidental College Visit Report by oregonianmom

Visit Activities:

Information Session: Yes - An admissions staff member and a current Oxy senior led the information session. It was very informative, and held outside on a patio underneath a wisteria-covered arbor. Beautiful setting!

Campus Tour: Yes - The tour lasted about an hour and was led by a current student.

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Campus:

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Pretty campus, quite hilly. Nice architecture. Surrounded by nice neighborhood.

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Very good except there was a huge swarm of bees up near the roofline on one of the buildings. They really need to take care of that.

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Standard college dorms. There's a kitchen area and a couple of nice lounging areas in each hall though.

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Felt very safe.

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Felt small, but very comfortable.

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Off-Campus:

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The homes surrounding campus are very nice. The businesses nearby are OK. It's not a busy area of LA, more of a suburb.

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Suburb of LA (Eagle Rock)

Campus Visit Notes for Occidental College

Visit Description:

We had a tour, followed by an information session. The tour started at the lovely Collins House which is where admissions is located. They had refreshments out on the back patio while we waited for the tour to begin. It's a gorgeous back yard and smells wonderful with all of the flowers.

Our tour guide was nice but not terribly enthusiastic. I think if she had a higher energy level the tour might have been better. She seemed a little uncomfortable, so maybe she was new to being a tour guide. She walked us around the main parts of the campus, although not up the big hill. When we were touring, there were hardly any students around outside. Our tour guide told us that all of the students have lunch at the same time, so we would see them at lunchtime. We did not see inside a classroom. We went into a dorm and into the library and the cafeteria. After the tour we had an information session, which was great. The admissions staff member was really energetic and funny. There was also a current senior who talked about some things from the perspective of a student. It was a very informative session.

After that, bought some things at the bookstore and ate at the cafeteria. Actually, it was so bustling from all of the students at lunch, that we took our trays outside and ate in the sunshine. We also drove around the campus to see some of the areas not covered on the tour. We had a favorable impression of campus. D feels that it might be too small, but she plans to apply.