Rice Hall & King Building

If you are looking for a professor to chat with during office hours, you will most likely find them in these buildings! King and Rice hold classrooms and faculty offices. King Building houses social sciences, humanities, math, and computer science classes. Here, you may find students studying “Sociology of Popular Culture,” Latin American Politics,” or “Legal Advocacy.” Since these two buildings are neighbors, you will often see students and professors walking side-by-side, engrossed in deep conversations that began in the classroom and continue in the professor’s office.

Media Gallery

Outside view of Rice Hall in the summer
Three students gather for a picture on their graduation day.
A row of students sit and talk.
A bulletin board of colorful posters is overflowing with activities, events, author talks, grad school info, and shows.
A group of students are pictured on the shores of Lake Erie, about a 30 minute drive from Oberlin's campus.
A group of 3 students use the chalk board in King Building to quiz each other on Latin translations.
The King Building on a sunny day.
Students hold up signs with majors in a large lecture hall.
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📚 Academics at Oberlin

The passion for knowledge drives an Oberlin education. At Oberlin you have the opportunity to explore a wide range of interests, new and old, as you choose from more than 1,000 lectures, seminars, and workshops offered each year, while working directly with accomplished and accessible faculty.

Get to know your professors!

Oberlin professors see their students as future colleagues, and together they publish papers, direct performances, and conduct research. With an average class size of 18, it's not uncommon for professors to hold class over dinner at their house or celebrate with a picnic at the end of the semester. All professors have weekly office hours, so it's easy to get in touch with them by emailing or by dropping in their office!

Open Curriculum

There are no specific required courses you must take to graduate from Oberlin. Rather, Oberlin students take two classes in each of our three divisions:

– Arts & Humanities
– Math & Natural Sciences
– Social & Behavioral Sciences

In addition, students must take classes with specific attributes:
– Two writing-intensive classes
– Two quantitative and formal reasoning classes
– Three cultural diversity classes

You have until the end of your sophomore year to declare a major, and then take classes and electives to fulfill your major's requirements.

Areas of Study

Oberlin offers more than 80 areas of study including majors, minors, concentrations, and integrative concentrations. You can also design your own major, an opportunity that 3% of our students pursue! The overall flexibility of our academic systems allows our students to take a wide variety of classes during their time at Oberlin and discover new interests. In fact, more than 60% of Oberlin students will graduate with two majors. Some of our most popular majors include: Politics, Biology, English, History, Economics, Environmental Studies, Psychology, Neuroscience, and Computer Science.

🎓 Outcomes for Oberlin Graduates

Oberlin students are prepared well for life beyond our campus! Our graduates go on to pursue a broad spectrum of careers in many different fields, graduate or professional degrees, fellowships, and service programs.

Career Development Center

The Career Development Center works with students and alumni to help them find career options that fit their goals, build a network that will connect them to great opportunities, and help them apply by preparing high-quality resumes and practicing interviews. They are also a resource for students to find internships and job opportunities. At Oberlin, we have two unique career-focused platforms. These make it easy to tap into the Oberlin alumni network and explore job and internship positions. With the Internship+ commitment, Oberlin guarantees up to $5,000 for students to pursue summer internships, performance opportunities, or research fellowships.

Career Communities

The Career Development Center guides our Career Communities, too! Career Communities are a way for students to connect with other students, alumni, parents, and faculty who share an interest or expertise in a particular employment sector. After completing the program, each student who participates is awarded a 1–3 month paid internship in their desired field. Our current communities include:

🎭 Arts and Creative Professions

📈 Business, Finance, and Consulting

🏫 Education

⚖️ Law and Public Policy

⚕️ Medical, Public, and Global Health Professions

🎼 Music Leadership

🌅 Nonprofit and the Public Sector

🔬 Science and Technology

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