The first time I was ever exposed to The Odyssey, it was an article saying 64 things that the writer did not like about Oakland University, and I absolutely trashed it (in my own head). I thought "if you have a negative mindset, of course, you're going to find the negatives about a university because you most likely spend your time finding the negatives in life. But how I felt about the article it besides the point. One thing I saw a lot of was people responding to this writer, sticking up for Oakland, they just all did it in the same way. They all directly responded to the writer's points, criticizing the writer's views and responding on behalf of Oakland. As far as I know of, no one raised their own arguments as to why Oakland was a much better place than this writer said, and after over a year since I've seen this article, I think I'm ready to respond in my own way, with a positive attitude and an open mind.

This list, just as that writer was, will be 64 things about Oakland, only two things will be different this time. The first is that they will be 64 positive things about Oakland, and the second is that they will not be directed towards the original writer. Before I start with the list itself I want to point out two things. The first is the same as always, that this is my opinion, and if you disagree, let me know, I'm always open to other people's points of views. The second I will say at the end of the article for dramatic effect. Alrighty, onto the list!

1) Oakland doesn't feel like a big college but still boasts over 20 thousand students. You can walk around Oakland, and you don't feel like you're in a small city or some place you have to be. It's refreshing. (and it better be because I need a tranquil campus to balance the craziness that is my life.)

2) Oakland is constantly trying to make itself better. I'll mention a few ways later on, but Oakland wants to be a big name school, and it's making big steps to becoming a big name school without looking like a city (as stated earlier).

3) Oakland is consistently one of the safest campuses in Michigan. In the past few years, Oakland has consistently been one of the top 5 safest campuses on campus (shoutout to OUPD right?!).

4) Oakland's orientation process is much more enjoyable. This is because I got to work as an OGL this summer (10/10 lives get changed) which obviously made me biased. The second part was talking to transfer students who went through other orientations at other colleges, and they had some awful stories. I heard about mandatory multiple day orientations, and students who hated the process, and it made them appreciate how we run orientation here even more.

5) The slacklining. You'll realize that other colleges will have some other things I boast about, and that's okay. Okay, back to it, I love the atmosphere of the slack liners. Yes, I am one of them, but I wasn't always. At one point I wanted to be one, but I was nervous that they wouldn't accept me, but they did the exact opposite. they welcomed me in even though I sucked, and now a lot of my closest friends are from that group.

6) Everyone is willing to try new things. I've been to a lot of colleges, and I'll set up my slack line, or do whatever it is Brendan's do, and people just seem to be so judging of me, and no one tries what I'm doing, they just judge me. At Oakland, we do a lot of weird things around campus (as college students should), and so many people are so willing to try, and its refreshing.

7) Mandatory office hours by professors. This is one of those things you don't appreciate until you don't have it. A lot of time, classes are hard, and professors tend to know what they're doing, so they are usually who people want to go to for extra help. At a lot of universities, due to class size, don't offer office hours, which screws a lot of students over. So it may not be a big deal, but wait until you need it, and you'll appreciate it. Also, while we are talking about classes

8) Our classes are a thousand students each. My first day at Oakland, I sent a Snapchat to my friend of my class, complaining that there were 200 people in the class. My friend (who went to MSU) sent me a photo back of his class, which included around 700 students, and I felt awful. I've never had another class with over 50 students, he has had another 6 classes with over a hundred students, and for someone like me who likes more intimate class sizes, that would be awful for me.

9) 21:1 student to faculty ratio. This one kind of goes in with the small classes, but it's cool to put in perspective!

10) Oakland listens to its problems. When people talk about Oakland, one thing everyone seems to mention is the parking, and I'll agree, it can get annoying. BUT, Oakland admitted this, and they're creatively trying to fix it (and by creatively I mean more than just add more parking structures). This past summer, we added 660 parking spots, and we plan on adding more in the future.

11) Our police care about us. In most colleges the police on campus are just there to yell at people and give out MIPs, but Oakland's police go out of their way to connect with students. They show up to events, they hangout with the housing staff, they hold conversations, and they are understanding when it comes to people doing dumb things. This is another reason to why we have such a safe campus.

12) We are crazy inclusive. Currently number one most inclusive campus in Michigan, and rising in the nation wide ranks. This is in large because of our push to make every student feel welcome, regardless of who they are.

13) The housing community. It's a legit community, and people know eachother and look out for eachother. The RAs and students and APMs and Nightwatch workers all hang out together, and they genuinely look out for eachother. Sometimes you forget that we have commuter students.

14) Jay Z. Yes, the man himself, our head of housing, Jay Z. This man goes out of his way to make everyone welcome, and basically has every name of everyone who's ever talked to him memorized, and he is everyone in housing's dad, and he makes housing feel like a home.

15) The student leaders are wonderful. Yes, I am one of them, but that's besides the point. Oakland does an amazing job choosing the students for leadership positions, and they do an amazing job keeping the student leaders diverse and inclusive group.

16) Chik-fil-a. We at one point had the only one in Michigan. Things have changed since then, but it's still a pretty big deal, and people love it. I legit see families having family dinners in the OC, and it always catches me off guard.

17) VP MAC. This is my dude. He is the vice presidents of Oakland, and he can motivate anyone and anything. He tries to learn everyone's names, and he always makes sure to walk around campus to get to know the student body, and for someone as busy as him, that's impressive.

18) Hamlin. If you have ever lives in Hamlin, chances are everywhere else is a disappointment. It's like being in a completely separate world, and it's so much fun. There's always something going on and there are always people to talk to.

19) CMI. The Center for Multicultural Initiatives is one of the most amazing things at Oakland. Yes, Oakland isn't the most diverse campus in a lot of ways, so it's important to give minority groups a voice, and CMI does just that in the most amazing way. While we are talk about CMI

20) CMI's book loan program. People struggle in life, and books are expensive, and many times it seems as if the college doesn't care wether or not you can afford books, which makes CMI's book loan program even more amazing. The fact that an office is willing to loan out money to help students who need it is really awesome.

21) The hammocks by Bear Lake. As I stated earlier (and you probably know) college is stressful, and what is better at relaxing a stressed out college students than hammocks? if you say anything you are a person with a completely respectable opinion that I disagree with and you're wrong. We surround our little Bear Lake (possibly the most scenic spot on campus) with hammocks, and it's just plain relaxing.

22) The library is open 24/7. I thought that this was something that every college did, but I guess it's not, and that makes me really appreciative of Oakland (especially around finals times)

23) The Bear Bus. Yes, Oakland has a bus system to shuttle students to different spot both on and off campus. Another way that Oakland has tried to help students with parking on campus without the students having to pay a dime. This is because the Bear Bus is FREE. Most importantly, what do the last three things all have in common?

24) OUSC. Oakland University Student Congress, also known as OUSC, is an office on campus, ran by students, to make sure we are all heard here. OUSC is the reason that the last three things I listed are here, and on top of that you can get free scan trons from them, which is a big plus when you're a broke college students.

25) Oakland is small enough to where you can get famOUs, but big enough to where you'll never know anyone. As someone who was one of the more popular people in my high school (all 700 of us), when I came to Oakland, there were some people who everyone knew, and I wanted to be one of them. Oakland is just small enough to were I can become popular, but not so small where it feels like I'm back in high school, and I love that.

26) Chartwells listens to us. Yes, people complain about the food at Oakland, and yes, it's not always amazing, but at least they listen to us. Prime example, they brought back the waffle makers after a year of me begging for them weekly, and I appreciate it because I know my voice was heard.

27) We have over 300 clubs and organizations. That is comparable to much bigger campuses, and we make it easier than most colleges to start a club. We have everything from Cosplay to juggling, and it goes far to make people feel like they have friends.

28) We have a college of music theater and dance. We, as a university, can finally say that we offer degrees in music theater and dance, which is not very common amongst public universities. (shoutout to Dominika and Bashaw)

29) The fraternities on campus are working to break the stereotypes. I just had this conversation with my friend David Bashaw last night about how there are a lot of fraternity men on campus that want to make Oakland's Greek life know for philanthropy and giving back and more than just partying, which is going a long way for a group of people who often get stereotyped.

30) Nightwatch. Going away to college can often make people nervous because they (and their parents) often worry about the safety of the resident halls. That's why Oakland has night watch so they know who every single person who enters the res halls at night it. (Another reason why we are such a safe campus)

31) The RAs care. This is another thing that people don't understand until they have an RA that doesn't care. Most colleges just put RAs in buildings and let them go, but Oakland hand chooses where each RA would do best, offering the best fit from RA to student.

32) Oakland offers positions for international students. Oakland is one of the few colleges that often have international students all over, and we offer amazing programs for international students to help acclimate to Oakland.

33) We offer plenty of scholarships. It wasn't always this way, as when I was an incoming freshmen they did not offer that much. Since then, Oakland has done amazing things both reaching out and adding more scholarship opportunities to students to help make college affordable.

34) We allow students to have cars on campus. This saved my butt freshmen year, because if I didn't have a car, I don't know what I would do, I wouldn't be able to afford it.

35) Parking is free. Complain about that parking all you want, you'd complain just as much if we charged hundreds of dollars for you to park, just saying.

36) We offer lots of free tutoring. From the Tutoring Center to the Writing Center, Oakland offers a lot of tutoring opportunities for all subjects, and the best part, it's FREE.

37) They have a Super Smash Bros. club. Every Friday, in the Bear Cave. Come get rekt m8.

38) Our wifi reaches almost the whole campus. We have just small enough of a campus to where no matter where I go (as long as I'm in the inner campus) I can open my laptop and have wifi. This becomes especially enjoyable when it's nice out and I can sit by bear lake doing homework.

39) You don't have to be a specific major to do a specific on-campus job. A lot of the job (Oakland Post, WXOU, Student Congress) are welcome to every major.

40) Our water fountains are always cold. This is the most underrated thing about Oakland. After running, the worst thing ever is finishing your run and drinking warm water, but I've never had that issue here!

41) Every year since I've gone here, we've had construction going. Some may see this as a bad thing because construction is ugly, but I see it as a good thing because that means we are constantly moving forward.

42) There are constantly people longboarding around. I love this because it creates a home-like feel for me (as someone who longboards). Oakland also has a lot of hills so you can get some serious speed!

43) Your farthest walk to class is about fifteen minutes. This may not seem like a big deal in the summer, but just wait until winter and your friends at other colleges have a 30-minute walk in the snow and you don't #benefits

44) We have some pretty cool celebrities visit us. To name a few: Bill Nye, Kendrick Lamar, Brendan Scorpio, Drake, and Maya Angelo. Pretty cool for a smaller school!

45) Oakland is crazy photogenic. Between the clock tower, to Bear Lake, and everything in between, you will always find people (and not just students) taking pictures of Oakland's campus.

46) They have residence halls for just freshmen. As someone who has been both an upperclassmen RA and a freshman RA, keeping freshmen together and upperclassmen together are important so that freshmen have their own experience to learn and find themselves without upperclassmen.

47) We have APMs. Academic Peer Mentors are there to help students in the residence halls with any homework or tutoring needs. I'm not sure how many colleges have APMs, but boy, are they helpful.

48) Oakland's social media will use photos taken by normal students (and not just popular ones). This is especially cool because, with a school of over 20,000 students, some of them are bound to take some amazing photos of the campus!

49) The free stuff is never-ending. In the wise words of Kessia, "You are part of the most broke group of people in the world, so whenever you hear free stuff, you best be there!" In all seriousness though, Oakland gives out a ridiculous amount of free stuff (I have over 60 t-shirts).

50) They may have a climbing wall at some point in the future. Just give me time.

51) We have an advising center specifically for first-year students. Majority of colleges don't have this, and they just send their freshmen to their receptive colleges, which is part of the reason why so many colleges have high failure rates. Oakland First-Year Advising Center is geared to help acclimate first-year students.

52) We use real students for our Advertising. We don't bring in models or pay people who are professional to act like college students. We use actual students, including myself and other student leaders, to create a sense of community for all videos and photos of students on campus.

53) We have a surprising amount of nature around us. Don't believe me, walk past the parking structures and you'll find the forest for quite a ways, and there's easily enough to support plenty of wildlife and rumors of actual bears! It's very peaceful.

54) The free food is plentiful. Like almost every day you have a chance to get some free food, and it's amazing (especially if you're like me and love food but hate paying for it!)

55) We have parties (believe it or not). We often hold parties that move well into the high hundreds and sometimes over a thousand people, we just aren't dumb enough to hold them off campus!

56) We give scholarships to promote diversity. As I stated earlier, CMI is amazing and does amazing things, a few of them include different scholarships you can win for promoting diversity on campus. This gives students a way to be recognized for their work to make the world a better place.

57) We run programs to get people from places of lower economic status into college. As someone who understands what it's like to not be rich enough to afford to pay for college out of pocket, sometimes college may not seem like the most viable option. This is why it's so great that Oakland goes to these areas to help show kids from struggling areas that they can afford this.

58) Our clock tower is taller than MSU and UofM. Sorry, shameless plug, but our clock tower is pretty amazing. People often take wedding/graduation photos here.

59) We have Great Lakes Crossing, a.k.a this biggest outlet mall in Michigan, ten minutes away from us. Right around the holidays it gets very festive, and as someone who doesn't care a whole lot for the holidays, even I'm impressed by it.

60) We have hydration stations all over campus. As someone who cares a lot about our environment (kinda a rock climber), I don't want people to waste bottles and throw everything away. Hydration stations enforce people to use their own water bottles, and refill them as needed, which is amazing for the environment.

61) Our Admissions Ambassadors and Orientation Group Leaders know everyone. When I toured other colleges, the people showing me around knew little to no-one. I went to Oakland, and the people showing me around knew everyone, it gave Oakland a very family feeling, which made me feel welcome.

62) Fourth Meal. I don't know about you, but I am a busy person. I rarely have time to eat a meal and enjoy myself until night time. At a lot of colleges, if you're hungry at night, you have to go out to eat. At Oakland, we have fourth meal between 8-11pm, which is perfect.

63) The academic buildings are open 24/7. Whether you want to practice piano in Varner at 2am, or you want to not go on roofs at the same time, Oakland keeps it's academic buildings open all the time, which leads to fun late night adventures (or games of hide and seek).

64) We have a health center and a counseling center on campus. They also give out free flu shots and you get 6 free counseling sessions. After your 6 sessions, each time only costs 12 dollars, which is hundreds less than you would pay somewhere else!

Well, there you have it, 64 things that I love about Oakland. Again, some things I put may pertain to other colleges, but all these things put together is what makes Oakland my home and what tells me I belong here. You are probably wondering what the second thing I wanted to say was, right? (Or you forgot because that was kind of long!) But what I wanted to say is that college is what you make it. Go out and make it something you'll never forget, or you'll regret it and view Oakland as a negative place where it isn't actually one!