Oberlin College

Oberlin, OH · founded 1833 · 2,900 students · liberal arts college · NCAC

Known for: Oberlin College is renowned for its historic commitment to social justice, including being the first college to admit African Americans and women, and for its world-class Conservatory of Music. It is known for a highly progressive and intellectually vibrant community.

Rankings

U.S. News liberal arts: #36
Forbes: #79

Top programmes

Music (Conservatory)
Environmental Studies
Politics
History
Chemistry
Creative Writing

Notable alumni

John Mercer Langston — First African American elected to public office in the U.S.
Liz Phair — Musician and singer-songwriter
William G. Bowen — Former president of Princeton University
Carl Rowan — Journalist and columnist
Maya Lin — Artist and architect (designer of Vietnam Veterans Memorial)
Robert R. Wilson — Physicist and sculptor
John D. Rockefeller — Industrialist and philanthropist (attended briefly)

Traditions

Convocation
Big Parade
Drag Ball
Solarity (cooperative housing)
Friday Night Organ Recitals

If Oberlin College were…

As a food: Homemade tempeh — Earnest, labor-intensive, proudly countercultural, and nutritionally superior to mainstream options—but also an acquired taste that some find pretentious. Oberlin's commitment to ethical consumption and DIY culture is ad
As an athlete: Megan Rapinoe — Elite talent combined with unapologetic activism, queerness worn as a badge of honor, and a willingness to make people uncomfortable in service of justice. Both are brilliant at what they do while refusing to shut up and
As a person alive today: Lena Dunham — Oberlin alum whose work is self-aware, progressive, occasionally navel-gazing, and polarizing—celebrated by some as authentic and brave, dismissed by others as privileged performance. Both embody a certain educated liber
As a historical figure: John Brown — Radical abolitionist who lived in Oberlin and embodied the town's uncompromising moral conviction and willingness to act on principle regardless of consequence. Both believe righteous action matters more than respectabil
As a movie or TV show: The Good Place — Intellectually rigorous, earnestly concerned with ethics and justice, occasionally exhausting in its moral intensity, but ultimately warm-hearted and committed to making people better. Both ask big questions while mainta
As a US president: Jimmy Carter — Deeply principled, morally serious, committed to human rights and social justice, sometimes more effective as a moral voice than a pragmatic operator. Both are respected for integrity even when their idealism seems impra
As a city: Portland, Oregon — Progressive to the point of self-parody, earnest about sustainability and social justice, full of artists and activists, and small enough that everyone knows everyone. Both are bubbles of left-wing culture surrounded by
As an element: Lithium — Highly reactive, essential for energy storage (batteries/activism), lightest metal but powerful in application. Oberlin's small size belies its outsized impact on progressive causes, and like lithium, it requires careful
As a car: 1985 Volvo 240 Wagon — Oberlin is the beloved boxy Volvo—earnest, safe-space reliable, antiestablishment yet enduring, favored by NPR intellectuals and co-op grocery shoppers, with a Conservatory sound system that's shockingly world-class bene

Campus life

Oberlin has a fiercely intellectual, activist, and artistic campus culture with a strong emphasis on social justice and environmentalism. Social life revolves around music performances, political events, and cooperative living. The community is highly engaged and diverse.

The film, scored

This profile answers “if Oberlin College were a movie or TV show?” with The Good Place (2016). Intellectually rigorous, earnestly concerned with ethics and justice, occasionally exhausting in its moral intensity, but ultimately warm-hearted and committed to making people better. Both ask big questions while maintaining genuine community. It sits in the 86th percentile on rankquant, which re-centres every critic score on the reviewer who gave it, so a percentile means position against peers rather than a raw star average. The full film & TV catalogue ranks the rest the same way.