Occidental College - Oxy
speciality: Chemistry

As an academic institution, Oxy is great, it offers rigorous courses with flexible paths and it encourages students to branch out and take classes that interest them. Outside of academics, it’s… okay. There’s nothing wrong with its extracurricular offerings per se, but many of them are centered around youth activism more than anything else. If that’s your cup of tea, go for it, and you’ll do great here. However the club options are fairly limited so if you’re hoping to find some just for fun clubs, it might be a bit difficult depending on the topic. STEM majors definitely have their own separate Oxy experience I think, which is good in that it helps us come together, but bad in that we often come together around the ways that STEM is underserved by our school or is significantly harder than some of the humanities degrees (something not unique to Oxy). If you’re interested, your first! And ask as many questions as you can! There’s a specific culture here that if you fit you’ll love and if you don’t it may be awkward.