Mills College
Category: Colleges & Universities [Edit]
Neighborhood: East Oakland5000 MacArthur Blvd
Oakland, CA 94613 (510) 430-2001
55 reviews
Neighborhood: SOMA
"I'm such a dork, I love school. I feel like I've gained so much in the MFA program. Most of the professors that I had were very encouraging…" read more »
21 Reviews for Mills College
A staff member -- not student -- perspective:
1) Campus: Gorgeous. Woodsy. Grass. Flowers. Trees. Breeze. Intimate. Quaint. But I need to take my allergy medicine before I leave for work, or else I'll sneeze all afternoon after a stroll or picnic on the lawn under the sun.
2) Squirrels: Furry animals galore. This is good since I am obsessed with them.
3) Mills Hall: My office on the second floor of Mills Hall is awesome, even though it gets pretty toasty up there on warm days.
4) Commute: Probably one of the aspects I like the least. It takes about 40 minutes without traffic, but seeing that I travel along highways 101, 92, 880, 238, and 580, I'm bound to hit traffic somewhere on each commute. Nothing is worse, though, than the afternoon drive on 92 East. I'm very glad I don't have to deal with that. (I used to drive an hour and 15-30 minutes to Skywalker Ranch for a previous job, and anything is better than that, I suppose.)
5) Benefits: Also awesome. I can finally afford to buy new eyeglasses and sunglasses. And get my teeth cleaned, which I don't think I've done in several years. I will get to take classes for free after several months, and that is pretty sweet, too.
6) Campus: gorgeous. But I think I said that already.
Overall: I love going to work. I enjoy my job. I have never said that before, so I think my gig at Mills is pretty satisfactory thus far.
MILLS COLLEGE: HOME OF THE MILLSBIAN
(From the Urban Dictionary)
Millsbian:
1) One who attends the all-women's school Mills College located in Oakland, California. The large lesbian populaton leads one who is straight, or does not narrowly define her sexuality to be stuck in the strange sexual-limbo... known as being a "millsbian."
Chick A: "Damn! She's hella fine!"
Chick B: "You've been at Mills too long. Millsbian."
2) A woman who dates / sleeps with / 'experiments' with other women while attending Mills College, but reverts to heterosexuality once entering the Real World.
Hey, I didn't know she was gay!
Nah, she's just a millsbian.
...nice to know some things never change. =P
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A lovely campus in a...not so lovely neighborhood.
I love the beautiful artichoke Mills has, the single rooms for students, and the small classes. And there is the what I call "gangster" neighborhood. There is no cute little stores outside the campus like most other colleges, the closest drug/supermarket is like 15 minutes walk away. Dining hours are weird, but again, amazing campus and wonderful faculty.
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I love Mills.
Beautiful campus, most amazing and brilliant profs - go with an open mind and you'll learn so much and have a whole new world view. I also love the all-women environment, it can get a little crazy but at the same time an experience I wish every woman could have. Ahhh, wonderful. Oh, and nice pool - anyone can go.
Here is what sucks - the security on campus is run by some crazy mofo, the m-center (records office) will ALWAYS fail you and the film department is way underfunded, tuition is wayyyy too high and sometimes you will need to escape and the public trans. system near Mills is lame. They should extend the bart.
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It's hard to sum up four years of higher education in a yelp review so I will try with a haiku:
eucalyptus smells
like perpetual stress and
bad tea shop coffee
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I did my undergrad here and now am doing my MBA - lots of smart people, (lots of not smart people too but they're ignorable) and excellent faculty.
I didn't go to Mills. For a couple obvious reasons but Raj sure did. Boy, did she ever! When we went to hear her reading I simply fell in love with this beautiful campus. The trees, the grass the buildings,-it all make you feel like you're in the perfect setting to learn some serious knowledge. Mills is terrific and the graduation was a wild left-wing ho-hum that I will soon not forget. Located in the Oakland hills, you feel like you're miles away from the problems of the Bay Area and you can focus on learning real good and smart like. I will send my daughter to MIlls for sure, she just has to manifest herself first.
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Best. School. Ever.
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A cool school up in the cuts. I went to a few plays there and I really like the feeling of the campus. A girl I dated was a Mills College student and she got kicked off the campus before she could graduate. I later found out....that she was insane...lol. A genius, but very insane, lol.
two years down, two to go. I'm a huge fan of mills, minus the president and some of the administration. Overall, the best choice i've ever made. Special love to the science department!!!
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I spent three years of my life at this school. I did not have a life changing experience. I did not decide that I hated men or changed my sexual preference. But I liked it.
The art department really kicks ass here.
Oh...and no offense, but there are some girls here who are so fucked up and mean. I'm sorry that I'm not a lesbian and I'm friends with dudes and I'm not a militant feminist....but there's no need to be bitchy to me!
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Since it's days known as the San Francisco Tape Music Center, The Mills College Center for Contemporary Music is quite possibly the best experimental music program in the USA featuring extraordinarily high-quality professors and artists-in-residence such as Fred Frith, Pauline Oliveros and Maggie Payne.
The music studios feature vintage Buchla and Moog modular synthesizers and tape/signal processing software in the labs, which in some cases are more museum pieces than functional gear.
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I only spent 3 semesters there, but they were my last semesters in college. This was an interesting place to spend that time in my life. Maybe I've spent too much time in snobby educational institutions, but I was really amazed at the breadth of levels of intelligence there---it was a mix of some of the most brilliant and also most moronic people I've ever met. It was also a mix of some of the best and worst classes I've taken in college. The pluses: electronic and computer music classes, Jewish and Christian literary relations senior seminar, the beautiful campus. The minuses: the social scene (especially as a transfer), the required English major classes.
Look for music performances (open to the public) at Mills--Meredith Monk and other cool composers like to give intimate performances there every once in a while. I would recommend the student performances, but unless you're a student of electronic/computer music yourself, it would probably come across as boring and possibly narcissistic.
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Beautiful Bubble! When on campus you forget you are in East Oakland. The campus is green and lush and relaxing... The education... I would say it is pretty good. Emphasis on women (DUH) and has great Master's programs (MBA). Great old funky dorms on the Hill and small classes where the professors care. lalalalalala
There so many places on this campus to have sex outdoors I don't know where to start. Here is what I will do, I will name three and keep adding to this list. General: Just drive in and wave @ the guy sleeping in the booth. If you stop he'll know your there to get nastty in the bushes and ask what business you have on campus. Walking on is the best way to go. Grab a map from the clown up front if you want he really won't stop you. 1. Behind Ethal Moore Hall. Walk in to the Olive Grove and make a soft spot for her knees. 2. In the Presidents yard or house. This might take a little doing but I'm sure you can do the yard and the house if you want to. 3. In the Clock Tower!!!
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First - Friday L., you made me laugh out loud.
Gotta give my alma mater five stars (umm, one for each decade I'll be paying back my student loans...? j/k!).
Oh, fires of wisdom are still burning thanks to Mills. I still get nostalgic driving down tree-lined Richards Road.
Re: places to have sex, wouldn't the graveyard (where the founders are buried) be kind of a good place?
Finally, if you must have sex in the Clock Tower, keep in mind it rings every 15 minutes. :)
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I loved my Mills experience. I started like any other freshman (aka freshwoman) and endured some of the most difficult experiences, like losing my mom, and losing every possession I have in a bad flood. But my Mills professors, administrators, and dear friends saw me through all of this. I never would have made it (and graduated on time) without you, Mills. I truly believe I would have fell thru the cracks at a larger school.
AND after attending grad school at USF I can truly appreciate your value. Thanks to scholarships and grants and gifts from amazing alums I only owe you $10k. Compared to the $80k I owe USF, I am so greatful!
Random things I love about mills (besides the profs):
The smell...whenever I smell eucalyptus I think of mills
The "Mills Strike" Video--that's right, it's STILL not co-ed
The mills van takes you to Berkeley
That Barbara Lee came to my graduation!
That they had to build the freeway AROUND us, but not thru
The lake
The songs
Senior paint night
the ghost walk
The amazing alums i've met from classes in the 1940s.
The fact that the only men there are cute exchange students and smart grad students.
I could go on and on...
But i'd have sex in the sleeping room in the commuter lounge (all that's in there is bed!) or backstage in the theater.
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Mills is where I feel at home! As a student, I have a different take on the campus, but what I'll review here is the private women's college appeal to visitors seeking recreation:
Though I wouldn't recommend having sex in the three locations that Friday L. recommended, you might consider:
The Greek theater behind the music building, or,
somewhere off the walking path that can be accessed from the parking lot to the right of the entrance, just inside the gate.
I don't recommend passing by the security guard, especially if you have a car--you should stop here, tell him you are a member of the community or a prospective student, and get yourself registered with a parking pass.
There are several fields, sculptures, and water features/fountains on Mills, most of which you will spot on your drive into the heart of campus. There are MANY places for an excellent game of frisbee!
And don't miss the Art Museum--it's small, but high quality, and just the architecture alone is worth coming for.
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Ok, so first of all I have never been a student at this school. But I have spend a lot of time there, since my ex was. So this review is from the perspective of a guest, especially a guest who brings something to Mills not often seen(a Y chromosome, what did you think I meant?). So, my treatment at Mills wasn't so bad. No man hating feminazis. Now, there were radical femnists, but they spent most of their time trying to stamp out diveristy of opinion rather than worry about my gender. Plus my respectfullness, anti-misogny stance, and mohawk helped me blend in a great deal. So, the campus environment was moslty accepting, a little cold at times. I got hit on a lot, which wasnt so bad. I got sneered at a lot, which wasn't so bad. Teh security was very lax once you were in the gate ,and pretty strict if you showed up to the gate alone. Mills as college theory is fine. It's good to have a school that is so far to the left and progressive, im glad somebody is doing it. It's too bad that theyre students had to suffer. Somebody has to be the vanguard of the proletariat right? Right?
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i'm starting at mills as a new transfer student...
so far, the people have been very helpful & great!
i'm hoping for a great ride at mills college~
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ah, mills college, how i do love thee...
she's not perfect, this is true, but she was still good to me...
mills stimulated my mind, challenged my beliefs, and made me into the person i am today.
some of my favorite people in the whole world are women i met from mills, and i must thank her for that too!
keep rockin', mills!
a little trivia: miriam w, nikki h, shari d and jill k all went to mills together!
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