Campus Conversations

David gives glowing reviews, uses every letter of the alphabet at least once

April 1, 2011

I love college. Get your head out of the gutter, that's not an Asher Roth song, but rather a genuine feeling that I have. Like most of you, I went through 13 or so years of a prescribed education before coming to college. Don't get me wrong, before coming to Oxy I had some great teaches and some great experiences, but I've found both to be more consistent here than anywhere else I've been. If you're seriously considering Oxy, you may be attracted to it for its size - I know I was. I was fortunate enough to go to a high school with a tight student-to-teacher ratio, my average class size was around 12 students. I don't have the official average class size figures, but my personal experience so far has been classes with an average of about 20 students. This made my transition to Oxy a comfortable one.

(click image to enlarge)

Included above is a photo of one of my favorite classes: Japanese Imperialism and the Modern Korean Identity. I apologize for the quality of the photo, I forgot to bring my good camera (...that's a joke, I don't own a decent camera). I had also asked everyone to remain casual, however they decided to pose. Anyway I love that class, Professor Nam is incredible (take whatever class you can get with him).The 22 of us have great, intelligent, often humorous discussions in a friendly though intimate roundtable setting. Today we were discussing religion in colonial Korea in relation to nationalism, and we were having one of those discussions where distant parts of my education were all converging at once. In this class, we'll often tackle topics as broad though interdependent as religion, philosophy, political theory, economic theory, social theory, etc. In this course we cross curricula all the time which feels great! What I'm learning in my courses at Oxy feels relevant to the world around me, and shouldn't that be why you come to college?

For those of you who read my earlier post, thanks for your loyalty though I have a bit of an apology to make. It's not that I lied to you guys, but I didn't tell the whole truth. When I mentioned the two things on my tour that attracted me to Oxy, I really should have admitted to a third thing: the Blyth Fund. The Blyth Fund is a "six-figure, student-managed investment portfolio," and when I first heard about it, I thought it was one of the coolest things that any college could offer, seriously. It was literally one of the deciding factors on my coming to Oxy. Each spring, the fund recruits new directors to replace the graduating senior directors. Over the span of about a month, I applied for a director position, had a formal interview and was finally accepted onto the fund. I was ecstatic when I found out the good news and so far it has been one of the defining moments of my college career. Our first meeting with the new members was last night, and I am so impressed with the great minds and talent in the room.

This is post number three for me, and I've noticed that the length of my posts is getting a bit... long. It's becoming a trend, good or bad I can't say for sure. I guess I could try and make an empty promise that the next one will be shorter, but what's the point?

--David