Occidental College

Responses from the Student Interview

From a student  who identifies as Major: Psychology
Minor: None
Student Self Identifies as: Hispanic/Latina Heterosexual Female

Summary

I’m in Dance Production, I participate in a lot of different dance clubs, and take dance classes.

Background

Gender Identity: Female
Race/Ethnicity: Hispanic/Latina – but I’m White passing
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual

High School Experience: Public school in Waukegan, IL with a graduating class of about 1,000 students. There was a mix of students who join the military, go to community college, and go to college.
First-Generation College Student: Yes
Major: Psychology
Minor: None

Extracurricular Activities: I’m in Dance Production, I participate in a lot of different dance clubs, and take dance classes.
Did any of your extracurricular activities have a particularly big impact on your experience?
I think taking the dance classes the school has to offer makes the experience much more enjoyable. I’ll be really stressed and then go to dance class and after I’ll feel better. Being in Dance Production is really fun because I get to meet new people and it has classes that are mostly hip hop which push me out of my comfort zone because I’m not a good hip hop dancer. It’s fun to be a part of it and experience something new.

Academic Experience

Can you describe your weekly coursework for your major?
I just declared Psychology so I’m in the process of getting into the Psychology stuff, so I haven’t been around the department that much. So far, we have both exams and essays. I’m currently in the middle of studying for two exams next week and working on a paper and a group project that are also due next week – it’s a busy week. I haven’t participated yet, but I know a lot of Psychology students will participate in research with a professor.
Is there anything that you feel Occidental has done especially well or poorly academically?
Academically, it’s weird to me that the school doesn’t have certain majors. I came in thinking I would be pre-med and then when that didn’t work out for me I thought about majoring in business, but the school doesn’t have a business major, which wasn’t something I considered before applying.
How would you describe the learning environment? Do you think it’s particularly competitive or collaborative?
My Psychology classes have been mostly collaborative so far. When I was doing pre-med, my STEM classes felt more competitive and it felt like everyone was trying to do better than everybody else.
How accessible are your professors?
They are very accessible. They all have their office hours posted and you can message them and make an appointment if it doesn’t fit in with your schedule, which I’ve had to do this semester because I have classes during their office hours.
Why did you choose Psychology? Are you happy with your choice?
My mom’s a psychologist so I’ve heard about it a lot growing up. It was something I thought I might be interested in. I’m also really into true crime, so I thought forensic psychology would be an interesting career choice. I did struggle a lot in picking a major because I thought I was going to do pre-med but then decided I couldn’t be doing that for the next ten years of my life. I thought about majoring in English and took some classes and didn’t like it. You have to declare your major by the end of sophomore year and I felt like I was running out of time, so I just picked Psychology.
How was transitioning academically as a first-generation student? Were there any systems in place that helped you adapt?
In high school I was in a scholarship program that pushed us to take a lot of AP classes and would hold workshops where they talked about being aware of culture shock and reverse culture shock when you come back home. For example, I’m Hispanic, so going to Occidental means that there won’t be a lot of Hispanics and to be conscious of that. I appreciate them because we have a mentor who is assigned to us who works with the foundation who we can reach out to if you need help. I struggled academically because Chemistry was really hard for me, but I think I struggled more with the social aspects.

Reasons to Attend

1) At least in the Psychology department, the faculty are really helpful. They have been accommodating of my schedule this year so if I can’t make office hours they will still make sure I can meet with them.
2) There’s a good community of clubs on campus. There’s a club for everyone and there are more clubs than you think there are.

Reasons Not to Attend

1) Make sure to check out the majors because it doesn’t have certain majors, like a business major.
2) The president just resigned, so we’re in the process of getting a new president.

Around Campus

Where have you lived on campus?
Freshman: Bell Young with two roommates, but I was in a room that was meant for a double so it was crowded. The ceiling was too low for us to bunk the beds so we had to have one path to get through the room and that was it because of all three beds.
Sophomore: Themed house off-campus that’s still school-owned with six other people. There’s much more space and it helps foster more of a community because we have house dinners once a week. It helps me interact with other people since I do have a hard time socializing.
How was transitioning from Illinois to the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles, CA?
It was nice weather-wise, which is great. I feel bad because I don’t communicate as much with my parents here because I’m away, so I have to remind myself that I need to call them.

Social Opportunities

What kind of weekend activities or nightlife do you like to participate in?
I mainly just stay at home. I don’t do a lot on the weekends. I watch a lot of Netflix and I listen to podcasts. I don’t like parties. I’ve been to a couple of parties on campus but they weren’t my thing, so I don’t go to them.
What are some of your favorite on campus events?
I like going to the dance shows. My professor for ballet will put on a show at the end of each semester and if I’m not in it I like to go to watch it. I’ve been to some R.A. events which have been really fun. A couple of weeks ago I went to a Chinese New Year event that some R.A.’s put on that was really fun. We painted lanterns, they had tablets that showed you your Chinese zodiac sign, they brought in food, and it was a really good time.
How happy are you with the weekend options at Occidental? Is there anything you would change about them if you could?
Since I don’t participate very much in them, I don’t really have any complaints about it. I know some people say the parties aren’t great there, but I don’t participate in that. For what I want, it’s enough.

Campus Culture

How did you meet your closest friends?
I was roommates with one of them last year and then she met another person and we all became friends and are now roommates. My other close friend I met in class that freshmen are required to take called the Cultural Studies Program. We met in that class because we talked about what the reading was one day and then started meeting to work on essays and it went from there.
How was transitioning socially as a first-generation college student?
I didn’t really go out much freshman year or talk to people. I made like two friends and one was my roommate, but this year I’ve gotten better about putting myself out there. It was a big shock to me not only because there weren’t many people who shared my ethnicity, but there were also people who had a higher socioeconomic status. It felt like I couldn’t hang out with them because the thing they wanted to do involved money and I don’t have money. It was then kind of hard finding people who were on the same level as me money-wise. I also didn’t join clubs like I did this year and it was harder to make friends in the STEM classes I was in because they’re very individualistic. [About 14% of the student body is Hispanic. Socioeconomically, 31% of the students come from the top 5%.]
How would you describe the overall social scene?
Because I’m not that social, I’m not really sure. I mostly stick in my own little bubble.
To what extent do you think people of different races and sexual orientations mix socially?
I think that people generally stick to their own groups. I don’t want to assume anybody’s sexual orientation or gender identity, but from looking, it looks like people stay with people who identify like they do.
How would you describe the Hispanic community on campus? How strong is it?
It’s pretty strong. There’s a club for students and there’s a dance team for Latin-style dances. They’ll have fundraisers for the Latinx club and for one of them the R.A.’s taught us how to make traditional Mexican food which was nice. They do try to make a presence on campus.
How do you like the size of Occidental in terms of undergraduate enrollment? How was transitioning to a school with [about 2,055] students?
I thought that I would love the size because I came from such a large high school. But, after a while, I thought there were not enough people here. It’s smaller than my high school, so it feels odd that after just a year and a half I can walk around and recognize a lot of people.

Careers

What have you used the career office for? How helpful have they been?
I did go for a while when I thought I was going to be pre-med since the pre-med advisors are in the office. My pre-med advisor was really helpful and told me about all the different things I could do. But, since I stopped being pre-med, I haven’t gone back to the career offices.
Have you learned any computer programs or languages that will be helpful to you professionally?
I took a Biology class last year where we used Excel and some different functions in that, which was nice to learn.

Financial Aid

Have you used financial aid? If so, accommodating was the office to your needs?
They’ve been really helpful. There were some problems with my financial aid and FAFSA filing this year because when they printed it a page got cut off so it didn’t match the paper supplement that I provided for them. My dad handled it and said they were helpful and when they figured out what happened and apologized. I was having some problems with filling out my FAFSA the other day and I just called them and they helped me figure it out.