I’m resurrecting this thread to ask a Carleton question, but if I need to start another thread, I can do that as well! D has now started expanding their reach to the midwest. These schools were always on their list, but more as an “I’m doing this for you Mom” because I was asking them to diversify. Now D is seriously considering them. Question about Carleton: all the posts I’ve read about it on this site seem to indicate it is more STEM-focused. So, if D is interested in languages, creative writing, psychology, is this school lacking?
We only explored Carleton virtually and ultimately applied and was accepted but I didn’t really love it from the virtual stuff. We added midwest schools bc we thought we could improve chances by playing the geographic diversity game and that would ultimately be a better fit for DD than going down a notch in the NE… at the very least we figured it would be better to have a choice in terms of where she preferred to make compromises on her “wants” if it came to that.
Anyhow, another school that we added was Grinnell College. Have you looked at it? I bring it up because that was the biggest surprise of the bunch. When we chose to expand our list we went only went as far as “ok, it could work if this was what I was stuck with” and would explore more if needed. Grinnell however was a huge surprise. As the weeks went on, it steadily climbed up the list as we had a hard time finding anything negative about the school (other than location/logistics… though the town itself is supposed to be quite lovely). The fact that they have the 10th largest endowment per student in the country should not be lost on anyone. It speaks both to alumni loyalty and student resources. We are now very seriously considering it along with another two on your original list.
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My child is a freshman at Oberlin. Similar to yours - somewhat quirky, they/them pronouns (although more sporty as they play field hockey at Oberlin). They looked at several of the schools listed in this thread and eventually settled on Oberlin. Very happy there. Good luck.
Oh, interesting. Sounds like we are on a similar trajectory. I will definitely have them look at Grinnell. Can you speak at all to the humanities at Carleton? I’m worried about the academic match there.
I can’t, sorry. I can say it’s well loved, well respected, and rigorous. My general opinion is that LACs do Humanities well.
The other ones that made our final list were Kenyon (extremely prestigious creative writing program) and Oberlin. Not top choices within the final list but could have 100% worked. Oberlin is probably the least competitive of the bunch in terms of numbers/admit rates but it gave me all the feels and I heard excellent things regarding faculty and classroom experience.
These last too, along with Grinnell, offer excellent merit awards. Made the thought of dealing with flights much more palatable 
I did not apply to any of the LACs but my impression of Haverford is that it may be a good fit. Haverford is a part of the Tri-College consortium with Swarthmore and Bryn Mawr (a women’s college and one of the most inclusive, LGBTQ+ friendly schools in the nation). There are regular shuttles between the schools. Also, it’s in the Quaker Consortium with the above-mentioned schools and UPenn. I have the sense that Haverford would be good for them, but it’s become increasingly selective. I loved Swarthmore when applying (even though I didn’t end up applying for different reasons) and it felt very open and accepting – I’m queer and nonbinary.
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It doesn’t get mentioned much on CC, but Carleton offers an excellent journalism program. Although this may not connect directly to your daughter’s stated interests, it should serve as an example of an area outside of the natural sciences in which Carleton offers a top-notch program.
Nonetheless, you specifically mentioned psychology. Carleton offers a well-regarded program in this field, especially for areas within psychology that relate to the biological sciences.
hellllooo! i’m so glad grinnell is being brought up so much in this thread. i’m a current (bisexual, he/him) undergraduate here who will be leaving soon, and i’ve loved every second of being here. the college is so, so, s o queer-friendly, and it’s one of the things i take pride in most about being a student here. it’s also one of the things i’ll be most proud of when i’m an alum. if you ever want me to answer anything related to grinnell, feel free to pm me.
other than that, i don’t particularly have anything else to add! some other schools i would also like to add to the mix are case western reserve university and university of rochester. if your child liked carnegie mellon, maybe they’d appreciate cwru and rochester as well.
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Thank you all! We are creeping out of our comfort zones. D has agreed to do the Carleton/Macalaster visit. And I’m going to push to get them to Grinnell as well. Just need to figure out the flights…
What they do at Grinnell is very impressive! 