<p>Many incoming freshmen said Obama’s attendance, from 1979 to 1981, helped attract them to the college. (Some from outside California conceded that they hadn’t heard of the school before last year, and at first thought mistakenly that it might be a dentistry academy, “Oxy-Dental.”)</p>
<p>Zack Del Rosario of New York City said the Obama link boosted Occidental above other schools that accepted him, including the University of San Diego and Clark University in Massachusetts. “Since he has been someone I admired so much, the idea of walking on the same ground he walked on and going to the school that he attended is definitely inspiring me,” Del Rosario said.</p>
<p>Timothy Glen of Chicago said the college’s Los Angeles location, intimate scale and ethnically diverse student body, along with a chance to play Division III basketball, attracted him. Then, he said, the Obama factor helped him explain to relatives why he chose a lesser-known school over USC and the University of Illinois.</p>
<p>“They think if Barack went there, then they automatically trust Occidental,” Glen said. "They think, ‘This kid is trying to do something. He is following in the steps of the president of the United States.’</p>
<p>If they are trying to follow Obama’s footsteps then they should transfer out. Obviously obama thought that the school is not so great. Who turns down uiuc for occidential!??</p>
<p>Oxy also has combined programs with several schools, including Columbia. It is not unusual for kids to go to a LAC and then find a direction that means a bigger school makes sense and so many LACs have combined programs with schools like Columbia, Duke, and research universities.</p>
<p>Different schools are right for different kids at different times of their lives. I graduated from Columbia U. after transferring there, and almost sent my son to Occidental this fall. He and I were impressed, and believe Oxy would have been a welcoming, good college for him. He also thought that he might do as Mr. Obama did, and later transfer to Columbia, depending on how his four years at Oxy evolved. In the end, my son chose a university closer to home. My point: one ought not to judge a school negatively because someone transferred out. The place might have been perfect for the student while he was there, preparing him well for his next steps. Clearly, it worked for our president.</p>
<p>No big surprise in the larger story, but what I find fascinating here is how sensitive these numbers are: +4% in applications, +4 percentage points in acceptance rate (from 39% to 43%), and +3 percentage points in yield (from 21% to 24%) works out to a 20% increase in enrolled freshmen. Do the math, it pretty much checks out. I think the surprise for Oxy was that they probably anticipated a lower yield due to the economic downturn; so to compensate, they raised the acceptance rate. But having already committed to that course, they were suddenly faced with a higher yield instead of the lower yield they had anticipated. Result: +20% more freshmen. They can probably adjust by accepting fewer transfers, but still it’s a sobering lesson: managing admissions given such a small class size is a daunting task, as even a small change in any of the variables can throw your calculations off. And when you get all factors three moving in the same direction—more applications, higher acceptance rate, and higher yield—it can have a huge impact on freshman enrollment.</p>
<p>When I took a tour this past year, it was disgusting to see the way the school seemed to market their credibility by using his name and pointing out what might have been his dorm(the tour guide wasn’t completely sure). I just found it tasteless.</p>
<p>Oxy was one of the 4 schools D applied to (very much pre Obama) and was hands down my favorite. Alas, though they offered great scholarships/FA, the COA was still to high. She did have a very good friend who graduated from there and loved it.</p>
<p>When I took the tour at Columbia this past summer they did exactly the same thing - Obama this and Obama that. I don’t think it’s tasteless so much as the schools being excited by something new that suddenly dropped in their laps. If old and sophisticated Columbia is thrilled, located in NYC and and charter member of the Ivy League and all, just think how thrilled little Oxy must be. Neither of these schools is Harvard or Yale, where having an alumnus elected president happens regularly, For both of them this is a big first. You can bet that if Hillary had won, Wellesley would be all over it.</p>
<p>I just find it slightly nauseating that the fact Obama went to this and that school there actually matters to people. Oh sure he’s popular, but he hasn’t actually done anything yet (or done anything we know the consequences of). I’m not going to go to Rutgers just because Milton Friedman went there.</p>
<p>^^I recall newspaper articles back in 1980 about how over the moon with alumnus pride Eureka College was when Ronald Reagan got elected. Was that nauseating too? Do you think that the tour guides at Eureka back in 1981 should have refrained from mentioning their famous graduate because he “hadn’t actually done anything yet”?</p>
<p>Getting elected president is a Big Deal. And making history by becoming the first African American elected president is an even bigger deal. Any school that had a hand in that achievement alone has reason to be proud. And it’s a much better reason for more kids to apply and more applicants to choose it than say having Doug Flutie throw a big touchdown pass on TV, which is what boosted Boston College’s popularity, or having your baskeball team make the final four, which is what boosted George Mason’s popularity back in 2006.</p>
<p>I’m not talking about alumnus pride, I’m talking about future applicants. It’s not like Eureka grads were saying “oh well Ronald got elected. That totally justifies my education!”. “I want to go to this school because this dude I like went there”, on the other hand…</p>
<p>And really, in this case sports games is a better reason to go to school. They provide plenty of entertainment. Going there because Obama went there, gives you… bragging rights?</p>
<p>I have mentored a young man at Wesleyan for several years (he is transferring to Columbia in the fall - his own Obama connection, I guess). His younger brother really, really wanted to go to Occidental next fall. He was waitlisted, though - don’t know if he might have been accepted another year, but he didn’t get in this year. I really think the Obama connection was what interested him. He is going to another school that I personally feel will be better for him - but I do understand why he wanted to go where the president went.</p>
<p>Going to Occidental or Columbia because Obama went there gives you the opportunity to be shaped by the same institution and perhaps even be taught by some of the same professors that taught him. Choosing a school because the quarterback once threw a famous Hail Mary touchdown pass is totally frivolous.</p>
<p>Also walking where presidents or other prominent people walked when they were in college gives you a connection to history. At Harvard they still remember which dorm rooms John Adams, Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy and other leaders lived in. Not because they expect the current occupants to necessarily become leaders, but because it’s a connection to history.</p>
<p>My son and I toured Occidental, also pre-Obama buzz. It was a very nice school, great vibe, my son said it had “the prettiest girls” of any campus we visited. ;)</p>
<p>He definitely had it on his Apply To list, but was accepted ED elsewhere and so didn’t end up applying. I’m certain we could not have afforded it anyway, and although he loved the school itself, he didn’t really want to be in an urban area.</p>
<p>Still, if the Obama connection helps Oxy get more recognition, then great. It’s a pretty darn cool place.</p>
<p>Oxy is a great school on a beautiful campus, so if the Obama connection heightens awareness so more students will check it out, why not? </p>
<p>Speaking of history, however, I believe Obama wrote in his autobiography that he decided to attend Oxy because he’d met an L.A. girl who was vacationing in Hawaii the previous year and sort of followed her to L.A. by choice of college. I find that story (if true) fascinating for us ccers as it shows that even a man with a tremendous serious future made his college decision at age 17 for less than completely serious reasons. As do many. Lots of people find their true calling after senior year of high school. It’s possible that Oxy was critical to helping Obama find out what he truly wanted to do with his life, and for that sort of collegiate epiphany most parents would gladly pay.</p>