I am a first-year undergraduate student looking to transfer for personal reasons you can read about here (http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/17954948). I have a few questions about Grinnell and I was hoping some students/alums/parents could fill me in.
How LGBT-friendly is the college? If I came out, would students be accepting? Can I obtain gender-neutral housing?
How good is the financial aid?
What is the neuroscience program like? I know they have a concentration, but do you think the program is strong?
What are the disability services like at Grinnell? I had no trouble transferring my learning disability accommodations from my high school to my current institution - is Grinnell a supportive environment for people like that?
How is the campus vibe? Is it laid-back, high-stress, preppy, hippie, or something else? What kind of students does Grinnell usually attract?
Very friendly. President Kington is gay, married, with young kids. Students definitely support individual identity! Gender neutral housing is available, plus in dorms that are not, each floor votes on whether or not to have the bathroom gender neutral (if anyone votes that they do not, then the bathrooms are assigned male / female). Did you see this?
http://www.grinnell.edu/about/offices-services/stonewall-center/organizations
Grinnell meets full need, but not sure whether or not that is for transfers or not. It is known as a generous school.
Don't know, but it is known for being strong in sciences, and again, lots of financial resources behind their programs.
Great. Very supportive and they have recently expanded their staff. The school does a lot to promote and draw students in, and make Academic Advising a valued resource. This is a school where personalized attention and concern for students' academic success is really manifest. I don't know what your particular issues would be, but the Writing Lab has professional staff on hand, not simply peer tutors as most schools do (not that they don't have peer tutors for other things). The school also puts on seminars that address study skills, that are helpful not only to students with disabilities but all students who need help with that. I will say, too, that the academic advising from the professors is very hands-on as well. In terms of the relation to disabilities, this may depend on a professor's individual inclinations, of course, but in terms of planning a curricular path, etc., this advising relationship is really important and strong. Make no mistake, though, Grinnell is a demanding school in terms of academic expectations and workload. But, they do all they can to help students who are willing to accept that help! You do sound like such a student, so that is important. Not all students are, so bravo to you!
I agree that while that post is several years old, it still holds true.
Yes. lots of partying. But you don't have to party to have a life or things to do or friends or feel like you fit in. This is not a school that promotes conformity or uniformity, but it does promote a sense of community. Not to say that there aren't issues on campus, but that "self-gov is love" thing is real. The students do all they can to work things out and keep the spirit of being accountable to and for each other alive!
As a current student, I really agree with the above poster. I live in gender-neutral housing and it’s wonderful. With respect to 1, FOX News reported on our liberal deviancy (!!! oh my goooood!!1) which kinda shows we are doing things right on that front.
I don’t drink/smoke and have never felt pressured to on campus.
It’s hard to compare Grinnell to other colleges because I haven’t been to them but from what I understand Grinnell is very LGBT friendly. When I talk to my queer friends at other schools, I want them to just transfer to Grinnell. Grinnell is very much not like the rest of the world. It would be really socially unacceptable to be outwardly not accepting at Grinnell. It’s actually a really nice place to come out at. If I wasn’t at a school where I knew that everyone would at least outwardly be okay with it, I probably wouldn’t have came out at all. There are a many different LGBTQIA+ groups on campus, they run out of the stonewall resource center. We have a disproportionate percentage of LGBTQIA+ here. I lived in gender-neutral housing at first and it was my second choice. If you made it clear that you needed gender-neutral housing, I’m sure that Grinnell would work with you to get it. We also vote on the bathrooms as a floor. If you need a gender neutral bathroom, you can write that you require it. I’m pretty sure that all bathrooms on gender-neutral floors are gender neutral. As of this year, we also include trans* healthcare on the student insurance.
Financial aid is better than at comparable colleges. That’s why I’m here. If you can get into someplace with no-loan financial aid, it would be cheaper. Grinnell includes subsidized loans as part of the financial aid package.
No idea.
I can’t really speak to this although I know they have a policy in place to get accommodations. The policy is on every syllabus. You talk with an office about what you accommodations you require and then the office will tell your teachers what you need.
How is the campus vibe? Is it laid-back, high-stress, preppy, hippie, or something else? What kind of students does Grinnell usually attract?
It depends on the group. I think most people are very laid-back. There really is no requirement here to shave your legs or wear a bra if you don’t want to. You can pretty much wear anything (Or nothing, you can join Grinnudists) and people won’t blink an eye. There is a wide variety of personal expressions. Grinnell is not very competitive, it’s more collaborative. A lot of Grinnell students are upper-middle class people from wealthy neighborhoods with excellent schools. Barely anyone is a republican. Most of us are irreligious or mildly adhere to faith. It seems like most students have traveled out of the country. Everyone was over-involved in 10 different high school organizations. That’s just in general, there are definitely exceptions.
Is alcohol/drinking prevalent on campus?
Yes. I don’t drink but most people do drink. There are other people who don’t drink or drink only a little bit and there is definitely enough to do outside of drinking. Way too much to do.
Just got back from “accepted students” event at Grinnell. My kid “prospie” reports that the dorm was very noisy through the night with kids engaging in sexual activity. The supposedly “smoke-free” dorm was filled with weed-smoke. The dorm bathrooms were filthy and reeked from the after-effects of binge drinking. And this was a Sunday.
As a parent all I saw were kids working hard in libraries and the student center.
Which is the real Grinnell? Should my child try to get into the substance-free housing?
@donotworry, that doesn’t sound like a particularly appetizing weekend for your S.
My youngest kid was at the accepted students weekend on Sunday and Monday. She seemed to love it. She clicked with her host, although I don’t think she was overly impressed with dorms. I’ll have to ask more specific questions.
I do think that this is the season for “prospies” to bump into the reality of what all their hard work has achieved: leaving all that’s familiar for the unknown–which is the opposite side of the coin that they’ve been dreaming about: autumn leaves, a life of the mind, independence, the beginning of their adult lives, etc.
My oldest kid went to Carleton (graduated in 2011) and loved it. But his first (and only) overnight there, during an accepted students weekend, was not a success. I remember that S thought the dorm was stinky and he didn’t click at all with his host. He said the dorm was really noisy too–I don’t remember the source of all the noise, though. That whole weekend was rough; It was the weekend when all S’s hard work and what it was in service of became entirely real: he was leaving home for a strange place with a bunch of other complete strangers.
As it turned out, he ignored the bad weekend, chose Carleton, and had an absolutely amazing four years there. It was the perfect place for him and we’ll always be grateful. I don’t doubt your S’s take on his weekend, but I do think now is when the rose-colored glasses of the admissions process are slipping a bit–because pretty soon one of these schools will be our kids’ new reality.
Nothing like a little more stress to add to the mix!
To #3 regarding neuro, the program is strong and formalizes a set of classes that students have been taking across bio, chem, and psych for the past 15 years. Many of the profs are still there. I graduated in 01 and received excellent science advising and loved the advanced courses I took including psychopharmacology, neurobiology, physiological psychology, etc. It helps that psychology has long been considered a hard science at Grinnell. See if you can talk with Prof. Lindgren in the bio dept.
@donotworry I think all the dorms have those “smoke-free” signs. They are lies. If your kid doesn’t want a smelly or loud dorm definitely go to either East campus or sub-free housing. That will fix the problem. I think both of the Grinnell versions are real, it just depends on what your kid wants out of college. Please let your kid fill out the dorm form without looking over their shoulder, though! So many first-years are stuck in terrible room assignments and are unhappy because their parents thought they knew best for their child.
but perhaps Grinnell is a little too strict about changes? In my day, we were assigned roomates but after the first month, switching was allowed. Many people switched after the waiting period, and this was back in the day before computers, yet my enormous state university managed it well. I believe in diversity but when it comes to living together in close quarters, some accomodations should be allowed. On the other hand, in college I learned that it generally worked out better when my roommate and my best friend were different people.
Thanks for the heads up, @flowsoar - I am very sensitive to smoke. I’ve had disability accommodations before in housing anyway so hopefully I can get a substance-free house.
Assuming I get accepted, of course… I sent in my application two days ago!
@donotworry Actually, I didn’t find Grinnell to be strict at all about dorm changes. I’d say at least 25% of first-years have changed already from their original housing assignments. A lot of the switching is for somewhat. trivial reasons. Even though you can change, the first month of college is important. It’s best to get the dorm situation right the first time.
@deepseafish If you actually list your smoke sensitivity on your roommate form I’m pretty sure they’ll give you first priority in sub-free housing. Good luck on getting accepted!
Campus is very LGBTQ+ friendly. There's a conglomerate of groups that serve LGBTQ+ students called the Stonewall Resource Center, and they make themselves very accessible. As long as you request gender-neutral housing on your roommate form, you should be completely fine!
The financial aid is incredible. If it weren't for the financial aid offered to me by Grinnell, I would not have been able to attend college. It can be overwhelming at times, but if you reach out to the office of financial aid, they're more than happy to help you understand the process.
As a social sciences person, I can't really speak to this, but I know a few people who (as first-years) have already been offered research positions and internships through the neuroscience concentration.
Disability services are very prevalent; professors and administrators are more than willing to accommodate any and all disabilities in order to help students succeed. You have to arrange a meeting with the Disability Services Coordinator, and they'll help you move forward from there.
It sounds silly, but Grinnell doesn't really have a "type." People are generally liberal and intelligent, but beyond that, you can really find your niche anywhere. I know a football player who is also in the dance ensemble, a political science major who tutors in the chem lab, and lots of other people who defy stereotypes.
Drugs and alcohol are prevalent on campus - but this is the case at literally every college. Three important things to remember - there are always sub-free dorms and options for activities; no one will ever pressure you to drink or judge you for not participating; and Grinnell's way of dealing with substance use (self-gov, basically responsibility and common sense rather than punitive measures) really helps people to be mature.
Please feel free to message me! As someone who was EXTREMELY unsure about going to Grinnell, I completely understand where you're coming from. (For the record - I absolutely love Grinnell and wouldn't trade this experience for the world.)
