Road Piece // Occidental College

OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE

LIBERAL ARTS / LOS ANGELES

O CC I D E N TA L CO L L E G E

Some

ounded in 1887, Oxy—as we are affectionately called— provides a private, liberal arts education with opportunities unique to our location in Los Angeles. Undergraduate research, interdisciplinary study, community partnerships, and global engagement are hallmarks of the College.

It’s unmistakably Oxy. Is it undeniably you?

including the option for a self-designed course of study

3/4

of our

Approximately

Occidental is

come from

of Fulbright scholars according to the Chronicle of Higher Education’s annual rankings

and

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O CC I D E N TA L CO L L E G E

A SAMPLING OF

CULTURAL

academics

The Core

The foundation of our commitment to a liberal arts and science education is embodied in the Core Program, which emphasizes global literacy through the study of different cultures. The Core Program exposes students to a broad range of cultural, geographical, and historical issues in addition to developing their writing and research skills and encouraging interdisciplinary inquiry.

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To complete the Core, students must take: • Cultural Studies Program ›› 2 courses, Fall and Spring of the first year • Culture Requirement—at least three courses in each of the following areas: ›› Global Connections ›› Regional Focus ›› U.S. Diversity • Pre-1800s—1 course • Fine Arts—1 course • Science/Math—3 courses, including a laboratory course • Foreign Language—level 102 proficiency • Comps—a major-specific, senior capstone project

• C hildhood, Youth, and the Social Construction of Difference • H ollywood Representations of Race and Ethnicity • N ature Writing and the Environment • C ontagion: From Plague Narratives to the Literature of Public Health • M usic and Migration

Oxy seniors share the common bond of “comps” — students demonstrate comprehension within their major(s) through a variety of forms, including art exhibits, music recitals, film screenings, theses, and field research projects.

CALIFORNIA IMMIGRATION

S E M E S T E R

The California Immigration Semester returns in fall 2016 as one of the special team-taught interdisciplinary courses that satisfies the first-year Cultural Studies Program requirement. Join a group of 31 students and three faculty members to learn about education, literature, sociology, California, and immigration through four integrated courses built around class work and extended field trips. The prerequisites for this combined set of courses are: a curiosity for learning about California’s cultures, a willingness to visit and learn from immigrant communities, a fondness for films and documentaries, and the enthusiasm and patience to work with children.

UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH Recognized by the Insider’s Guide to Colleges as one of a handful of schools with the strongest undergraduate focus, our commitment to producing well-rounded graduates is combined with a hands-on approach. Research opportunities, faculty mentorship, and funding make this possible for students in every discipline. This summer marks the 16th year of our full-time Summer Research Program, an experience that often results in co-authored publications and positions students to win prestigious awards.

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O CC I D E N TA L CO L L E G E

STUDY

OFF CAMPUS 4

& ABROAD

THE AMERICAS Buenos Aires, Argentina Cochabamba, Bolivia Bahia, Brazil Belém, Brazil Fortaleza, Brazil Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Salvador da Bahia, Brazil São Paulo, Brazil Arica, Chile

Valparaiso, Chile Havana, Cuba Monteverde, Costa Rica San Jose, Costa Rica Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Galapagos, Ecuador

Quito, Ecuador Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles Managua, Nicaragua Panamá, Panama Cuzco, Peru New York, NY Washington, DC

hether you hail from five miles away or 5,000, Oxy will challenge you to explore your academic interests in contexts beyond the classroom and Los Angeles.

EUROPE Vienna, Austria Brussels, Belgium Prague, Czech Republic Copenhagen, Denmark Montpellier, France Nantes, France Paris, France Berlin, Germany Freiburg, Germany Athens, Greece Budapest, Hungary Reykjavik, Iceland

Belfast, Ireland Dublin, Ireland Ferrara, Italy Milan, Italy Rome, Italy Amsterdam, Netherlands Warsaw, Poland Moscow, Russia St. Petersburg, Russia Belgrade, Serbia Barcelona, Spain Granada, Spain

Madrid, Spain Salamanca, Spain Uppsala, Sweden Geneva, Switzerland Istanbul, Turkey Brighton, United Kingdom Bristol, United Kingdom Cambridge, United Kingdom London, United Kingdom Norwich, United Kingdom

AFRICA & MIDDLE EAST Gaborone, Botswana Yaounde, Cameroon Legon, Ghana Antananarivo, Madagascar Fort Dauphin, Madagascar

Rabat, Morocco Kigali, Rwanda Dakar, Senegal Cape Town, South Africa Durban, South Africa

Mookgophong, South Africa Arusha, Tanzania Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Zanzibar, Tanzania Kampala, Uganda

ASIA Beijing, China Hong Kong, China Kunming, China Nanjing, China Shanghai, China Hyderabad, India Jaipur, India

New Delhi, India Bedulu, Indonesia Nagoya, Japan Tokyo, Japan Amman, Jordan Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia Kathmandu, Nepal

Seoul, South Korea Taipei, Taiwan Khon Kaen, Thailand Sharjah, UAE Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Townsville, Australia Dunedin, New Zealand

Apia, Samoa

COURSES ABROAD • A ustria, Music 268: Vienna, 1890 - 1914

• C osta Rica, Biology 370: Tropical Field Ecology • Germany & Poland, History 345: The Holocaust: History, Memory, and Commemoration • Italy, Art History 373: Michelangelo: Art and Biography

hree-quarters of our students pursue T Oxy’s multiple routes to global citizenship: traditional study abroad, and research, internships, and fellowships on all seven continents.

Richter Fellowships fund eight to 12 weeks of independent summer research abroad. Many participants incorporate their experience into senior comprehensive projects.

The Kahane U.N. Program provides a rare opportunity for seniors to live in New York during the fall semester while the General Assembly is in session. They take two courses in international studies and an independent study seminar while interning full time at a U.N.-related agency.

Campaign Semester offers full academic credit for work on key gubernatorial, Senate, House, or presidential elections in various states throughout the United States. After the elections in November, students retutn to campus for an intensive seminar with politics professors.

OCEANIA Byron Bay, Australia Melbourne, Australia

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O CC I D E N TA L CO L L E G E

L.A.-centric courses are featured in the College’s curriculum.

Offered in areas as diverse as art history, writing, geology, history, and urban & environmental policy, faculty across disciplines send their students out into the city. It’s difficult to imagine a better laboratory.

• Community Literacy • Biology of Marine Fishes • Intro to Public Health • American Indian Art History • Los Angeles Politics

Los Angeles

Occidental College offers students the best of both worlds—the intimacy of a close-knit campus located in a residential community and access to the cultural, recreational, and educational resources of Los Angeles and Southern California.

Our location provides students a wide range of

InternLA InternLA is a unique summer internship program that funds over 35 students to intern in Los Angeles based organizations and companies in six broad sectors: business, policy, media, research, advocacy, and the arts. Students intern fulltime for 10 weeks over the summer while also enrolling in a weekly on-campus educational component.

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opportunities, from internships at the Grammy Museum and the L.A. Zoo to community involvement in programs addressing the environment, housing, nutrition, and urban development. Faculty and students routinely use the city as a resource for field study and research, whether it involves an evening poetry reading or a semester studying local ecology.

RECENT

INTERNSHIP SITES

City of Hope National Medical Center Los Angeles County Museum of Art Los Angeles Mayor’s Office NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Paramount Pictures

L.A.BORATORY

Community based learning is a teaching model integrated throughout Occidental’s curriculum. Students apply what they learn in the classroom to community projects and issues identified by local residents. The College’s Center for Community Based Learning was a pioneer in the field of service learning when it opened a decade ago, and it continues to work alongside our Office of Community Engagement to coordinate student-led projects and service organizations. An annual tradition for the entire Oxy community is the MLK Day of Service, which provides a fun and challenging way of honoring Dr. King.

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DESTINATIONS WITHIN 10 MILES OF CAMPUS • Chinatown • Dodger Stadium • Griffith Observatory • Hollywood Bowl • In-N-Out Burger

• Old Pasadena • Olvera Street • San Gabriel Mountains • Staples Center • Walt Disney Concert Hall

Oxy is eight miles north of downtown L.A. in the residential community of Eagle Rock.

he Urban & Environmental Policy Institute (UEPI) functions both as an academic center with strong community ties and as a community based organization with a solid research and policy development capacity.

UEPI works to achieve a just, livable, and democratic society, with a primary focus on the Los Angeles region, by paying special attention to issues of food, pollution, land, water, migration, housing, and transportation. Students assist with an array of UEPI projects, including California Farm to School programs, Global Trade and Freight Transport, Land Use and Zoning, and Sustainable Oxy.

HIGHLAND PARK “L.A.’s Coolest Street,” York Boulevard, is teeming with local eateries, art galleries, and vintage shops—all just a short walk from campus.

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O CC I D E N TA L CO L L E G E

Residence life is the heart of the student experience at Oxy. Three-quarters of all students live on campus in one of 13 coed residence halls, including four reserved for first-year students.

RESIDENCE HALLS INCLUDE:

• B ERKUS, Oxy’s newest and largest, features a 24-hour fitness center, underground parking, and a late-night coffee cart.

The building also features a gender-inclusive housing option.

• PAULEY, our multicultural hall, is a tight-knit community of residents from all class years.

• N ORRIS features apartment-style living clusters where students can create their own themed-living areas based on common interests.

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xy students thrive in their extracurricular pursuits, having founded over 100 clubs and organizations. About 20% participate in the Greek system, more than 25% are varsity NCAA Division III athletes, and hundreds more compete in club and intramural sports—including our newest one, Wiffle ball.

Dance Production, one of the oldest and most popular Oxy traditions, showcases hundreds of student performers and choreographers and sells out Thorne Hall for each show. Other not-to-bemissed annual events include Apollo Night, A Taste of Oxy, and Springfest.

Glee Club, mainstage productions at Keck Theater, and all Oxy music and theater organizations are open to any student regardless of major.

A SAMPLING OF

STUDENT CLUBS &

ORGANIZATIONS • Basketball • Cross Country • Golf • Lacrosse • Soccer • Softball

• Swimming & Diving • Tennis • Track & Field • Volleyball • Water Polo

• Baseball • Basketball • Cross Country • Football • Golf

• Soccer • Swimming & Diving • Tennis • Track & Field • Water Polo

•A sian American Tutorial Project • Beekeepers • B lack Student Alliance • Buddhist Meditation Club • Disc Golf Club • Fantastiprov • Folk & Historical Dance Troupe • Habitat for Humanity • Hillel • Interfaith Council • La Raza Coalition • Law Review • Oxypreneurship • Queer Student Alliance • Spoken Word Club • Yoga Club

tudents consistently give Oxy’s oncampus dining high marks. Not only is the food delicious, but Oxy’s Dining Services is also environmentally friendly, taking part in the Real Food Challenge by providing local, organic food in the dining facilities.

• T HE MARKETPLACE is students’ main

gathering spot. It offers a variety of madeto-order food stations including a salad bar, stir fry, and pizza or pasta.

• T HE TIGER COOLER is the spot for a

quick lunch, those late-night munchies, or hanging out between classes.

• T HE GREEN BEAN COFFEE LOUNGE is

a student-run, sustainably minded coffee shop. It often features performances and artwork by students.

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O CC I D E N TA L CO L L E G E

median scores

TRANSFER CANDIDATES are welcome to apply for either the fall or spring semester. In addition to submitting the Common Application, they must have:

admission

& AID

APPLYING TO OCCIDENTAL ccidental is committed to admitting and enrolling a highly qualified and diverse student body. To that end, the admission committee evaluates each applicant individually and holistically. Academic preparation is paramount, so we will closely examine your high school transcript, focusing on your performance and course rigor. We also give serious consideration

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to qualities such as motivation, intellectual curiosity, leadership ability, and distinctive talents. Your personal statement, short answer responses, extracurricular activities, and letters of recommendation offer us valuable insight into these areas.

Whether you are applying as a first-year or transfer student, the following materials must be submitted by the appropriate application deadline with a non-refundable application processing fee of $65 or a fee waiver: • High school transcript • Standardized test scores (SAT or ACT) • Extracurricular activities

• Personal statement • Short answer responses • Letters of recommendation

To learn more about the application process, visit oxy.edu/admission-aid/applying.

• graduated from high school or earned a high school equivalency diploma • completed at least 16 units of academic, college-level coursework by the time of application • completed at least 32 units by the time of enrollment.

For the 2016 spring and fall semesters, over 500 students applied for transfer admission with a 30% admit rate. Our most competitive applicants carried a full academic course load and maintained a 3.6 GPA or better.

FINANCING YOUR OXY EDUCATION Occidental has broader socioeconomic diversity than most selective liberal arts colleges. While aid packages vary, the average award was more than $40,000 last year. The Financial Aid Office is committed to meeting the demonstrated need of every enrolled student. Occidental also offers merit scholarships to approximately 15% of the applicant pool ranging between $5,000 and $25,000 annually.

Occidental also participates in the U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs Yellow Ribbon Program.

To begin exploring your financing options, visit oxy. edu/admission-aid/financial-aid.

APPROXIMATE COSTS

Occidental meets

100%

of students’ demonstrated financial need based on the FAFSA and CSS Profile

if you’re ready to make a commitment to Occidental.

2016-2017

Tuition and fees

$51,070

Room and board

$14,460

Total

$65,530

Required Applications Common Application

Approximately

First-Year Deadlines

Transfer Deadlines

Early Decision I: November 15

Fall Semester: November 1 Spring Semester: April 1

Early Decision II: January 1 FAFSA

receive financial aid

Regular Decision: January 15

CSS Profile

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O CC I D E N TA L CO L L E G E

TOR MYHREN ’94 is vice president of marketing communications for Apple and an award-winning “Mad Man.”

ife after

Former NYC Transportation Commissioner JANET TE SADIK- KHAN ’82 is a principal at Bloomberg Associates and one of the world’s foremost authorities on transportation and urban transformation.

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U.S. District Court Judge JACQUELINE NGUYEN ’87 was an English major at Oxy.

On his way to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA ’83 began his undergraduate studies at 1600 Campus Road.

Hawaii State Attorney General DAVID M. LOUIE ’73 studied sociology at Oxy.

Occidental alumni pursue career paths as diverse as their passions. More than 800 graduates pursued medicine and the allied health professions, with acceptances coming from schools such as Dartmouth, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, NYU, Tufts, Tulane, and UCLA. Oxy ranks 23rd among liberal arts colleges whose graduates

earned a Ph.D. Our students and alumni are regularly named recipients of national awards including Fulbright, Goldwater, Luce, and National Science Foundation fellowships.

Whether it be in business, education, film, law, medicine, research, or politics, our graduates are leaders in their fields—and appreciative of their Oxy experience.

GEORGE ALCORN ’62 created the imaging X-ray spectrometer and was named NASA’s Inventor of the Year.

JACK KEMP ’57 went from being a professional quarterback to nine terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.

One Year After Graduation:

FOLLOW OXY /occidental • Campus tours: Student-led walking tours are available Monday through Friday at 10:15 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.

From September through early December and in April, Saturday tours are available at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m.

• Interviews: While not required, interviews are recommended.

Appointments are available from June until the appropriate application deadline and should be scheduled at least two weeks in advance.

• Office hours: The Office of Admission is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Saturday mornings from September through early December and again in April.

• Class visits: During the academic year, prospective students are welcome to attend a class.

• I nformation sessions: Admission staff meet with students and families following each tour.

BANK OF AMERICA GOOGLE. KAISER PERMANENTE L.A. UNIFIED SCHOOLS MICROSOFT MORGAN STANLEY NASA/JET PROPULSION LABORATORY NORTHROP GRUMMAN SOCAL EDISON U.S. DEPT. OF STATE

• Overnight visits: High school seniors are invited to spend a night in the residence halls with a current student. A minimum two-week advance notice is required.

@occidental oxyoswald @occidentalcollege /occidentalcollege

Go to oxy.edu/ admission-aid/visitingcampus to request your appointment.

American Studies

Comparative Studies in

Geology

Philosophy

Art History & Visual Arts

Literature & Culture

Emphasis:

Physics

Emphases:

Computer Science (minor only)

• Environmental Science

Politics

• Art History

Critical Theory & Social Justice

German (minor only)

Pre-health Advising

• Studio Art

Emphases:

Group Language

Pre-law Advising

Biochemistry

• Critical Race Studies

History

Psychology

Biology

• Feminist & Queer Studies

Interdisciplinary Writing (minor only)

Public Health (minor only)

Emphases:

• Postcolonial Theory

Japanese

Religious Studies

• Cell & Molecular Biology

Diplomacy & World Affairs

Kinesiology

Russian

• Environmental Science

East Asian Studies

Latino/a & Latin American Studies

Sociology

• Marine Biology

Economics

Linguistics (minor only)

Spanish

Chemistry

Education (minor only)

Mathematics

Theater

Chinese

English

Media Arts & Culture

Urban & Environmental Policy

Classical Studies (minor only)

French

Music

3-2 Combined Degree Program

Neuroscience (minor only)

in Engineering

Cognitive Science

OFFICE OF ADMISSION 1600 Campus Road • Los Angeles, CA 90041-3314 Phone: (323) 259-2700 • Toll-free: (800) 825-5262 • Fax: (323) 341-4875 admission@oxy.edu • oxy.edu/admission-aid