<p>My daughter is making her list of colleges to apply to next year. She is most interested in a small LAC, but will apply to our instate Universities, too. The problem is that California has maybe 10 LAC's in the entire state. She has no interest in going to the East Coast, but thinks she might like the people in the midwest (never been there). Carleton would be one of two reaches, although she is well within their statistics. They are a reach for everyone, aren't they?</p>
<p>There are a few issues she keeps worrying about. One of them is financial (if she gets in I am sure there will be loans involved). The others are the cold and that it is in the boondocks.</p>
<p>She is from a warm climate. Heck, she has seen snow fall all of twice in her life. She does not ski, but rather enjoys the beach, hikes frequently and is an outdoors person. Are there people from warm climates there and do they adjust alright? Do the students stay holed up in the dorms all winter or do they go out to play in the snow? She has never owned a real winter coat. </p>
<p>It appears (by checking it out on google earth) to be a small town and then nothing for miles around. Do the students go stircrazy? Is there enough to do on campus to keep her busy? Does the apparent isolation make the on campus life better or do the opposite? We know no one in the midwest at all so she would really be "out there" with no family closeby. Does Carleton create an on campus family feeling? </p>
<p>She likes everything else she has seen about it, everything. It is strong in what she is interested in. Even so, those issues keep concerning her. It keeps going on the list and then off the list because of them. It is so far away, too. Is it easy to fly into and out of from the West Coast?</p>
<p>Are these issues surmountable? Are they major reasons someone would not add Carleton to the list? This is one campus she wouldn't visit before applying because of the distance and cost. If she got in then she would visit.</p>
<p>Financial - My experience is that the FA package does include loans (of the federal type), but the majority of the offer is in grants. </p>
<p>Weather - My heat-lovin' Texas daughter adapted just fine (learned all about how to dress properly after a Parents Weekend shopping spree), but was a bit freaked by snow in April. She loved playing in the snow for the first time - traying, playing broomball, etc. Personally, I was intrigued by ice croquet.</p>
<p>Stir crazy - There is so much to do on campus that my daughter has to pick and choose her activities. To get an idea, check the NNB (noon news bulletin) which is issued week days - it's posted on the website. D goes into Northfield every now and then, has been to the Twin Cities two or three times (shuttle bus is available). Most students also do a term abroad, which also seems to help relieve any sense of isolation.</p>
<p>Minneapolis/St. Paul has a perfectly respectable airport, not too far away. Unless she has some objection to flying, she'd be able to get there easily enough.</p>
<p>Financial aid was definitely a concern for us (my son will be a freshman next fall), but the Carl package was the best of all of his generous aid offers. And as for loans, Carleton's loan percentage was the second to lowest of the offers. Plus, they will use his NMF scholarship money toward the loans, so it has ended up having the lowest amount of loans--extremely low amount, actually.</p>
<p>I have no idea how he'll adjust to the weather (my guess: just fine), but we're from the south, so it will be a change for him too.</p>
<p>As a mom of an admitted student, I can tell you that there will be lots to do at Carleton. We visited twice and there were many activities for the students to choose from. Northfield is not that small a town - St. Olaf College is also in Northfield. The town has some nice inexpensive restaurants and there is a bus to Mall of America which can then get you into the city via light rail. Minneapolis is only about an hour away. That's the airport you would use.
As for cold, my daughter is really enthusiastic about the Minnesota winter (we are native upstate New Yorkers currently in exile in St Louis), we have heard and seen videos of broomball played on ice, sledding on cafeteria trays, etc. She'll bring her cross country skis and a new down coat that we bought after she knew she was going.
I would suggest a visit during school to see the campus. I know it is difficult traveling but we ended up donating our spring trip time to looking at colleges. Make it long enough that you not only see the school but also take the time to look at the town. There is a wealth of information on the Carleton site. What I liked about Carleton and also Grinnell College is that the schools did not hide the fact that they were in small Midwestern towns and that they got snow and cold weather.
My daughter fell in love with Carleton by reading about it but truly became enthusiastic about it after her first visit. We visited quite a few of the Midwestern LACs and this campus, which was pretty but not the most beautiful campus we visited, just felt so right to her - friendly people who also were cheerful. Quirky activities and classes that she found challenging. There is a house near campus that was donated by a lady who worked at Carleton. It was donated with the proviso that the Carleton students would have access to it and it would be stocked with cookie making supplies for them to bake. How cheerful is that?
What I, as a Mom, also feel good about Carleton is that it is small enough that my daughter will not be lost in a crowd of students - the college will be there to offer help and guidance.<br>
Hope this helps.</p>
<p>My son and I visited Carleton (and St Olaf and Macalester) in April and were pleasantly surprised that it was warm and sunny (it was rainy and cold here in the NYC metro area!). Also pleasantly suprised that it took a mere 30 minutes to travel 40 miles; we hustled up to Macalester in St Paul from Northfield on a Friday morning during rush hour and got there an hour early due to speedy traffic and wide roads. On a Friday morning here, it takes 90 minutes to drive 30 miles into midtown Manhattan (which is why I take the train when I need to go in!). FWIW I went to a tiny college in the Kentucky Bluegrass area (Centre)--45 minutes from a city--and was never, ever bored. Carleton--and St. Olaf--seem to have plenty going on and do not feel in the boondocks at all to me, nor did they to my son, who has known nothing but high-density population all his life! And our guides told us that the ice skating "rinks" made every year on the Bald Spot actually melted before the Broomball finals this year.</p>
<p>Mom of another Texas kid here--and mine has adapted just fine to MN weather, wearing his flip flops well into the fall and beyond. </p>
<p>We've had no trouble using the Minneapolis airport, and the college has a cheap shuttle. He does not have a car, but he uses his bike frequently, and there is storage for summer/winter.</p>
<p>Activities--yikes! I hope he is still going to class! :) There is so much to do that students really do have to watch out or they will be over committed. My son goes on the occasional road trip to "the cities" for concerts, other campuses for debate, or over to Olaf's if they have a good speaker. He has never complained of being bored or having cabin fever.</p>
<p>Fin Aid--Carleton was one of the best packages he received. It is almost entirely grant, and he has been offered generous work study as well. </p>
<p>Your daughter may want to look at Claremont McKenna, Pomona etc...the five colleges in that consortium. CMC and Pomona have a lot of overlap in their applicants, and also give good financial aid packages in our experience.</p>
<p>quote:
Your daughter may want to look at Claremont McKenna, Pomona etc...the five colleges in that consortium. CMC and Pomona have a lot of overlap in their applicants, and also give good financial aid packages in our experience.
unquote</p>
<p>Well....she won't be applying to any of the Claremont Colleges. That's part of the problem. We live in Claremont and they are just way too close to home (like a stones throw). :)</p>
<p>Thanks everyone! Wow, I didn't expect any replies this morning. Carleton must evoke a lot of fondness. If anyone else has any thoughts it's appreciated. I know it seems silly to question applying, but she really wants all of her choices to be good ones for her. Since she is only planning on applying to two reaches she wants them to be the right reaches. She didn't put Carleton as one of her NMS choices, though. I hope that isn't a big deal. She has emailed them with a couple questions, though.</p>
<p>Yup--hear ya loud and clear on that one. The criteria at my house was "not in Texas, not touching Texas." </p>
<p>My son didn't visit until after he was accepted for the same reasons you stated. He had sort of a "ring around the US" pattern, and it was just impossible to do all that visiting beforehand, particularly because of his school schedule.</p>
<p>Definitely check out Carleton and Grinnell. My son and I flew out to Minneapolis from Philadelphia in October and drove to both schools. We loved both, and my son ultimately decided to go to Carleton this September. It's hard to imagine going wrong at either place. What wonderful places to learn! </p>
<p>My sister and I grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs and went, respectively, to Macalester and Oberlin in the late 70s/early 80s. Both places have challenging winter weather, but we had great experiences there.</p>
<p>If she's worried about living in a small town, she should check out Macalester, perhaps as part of a midwest LAC swing. Mac is in St. Paul and on the bus routes to all over St. Paul and Minneapolis. It is not hard to get to the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis which has a very large library and additional curricular and research opportunities. The Twin Cities are a lively but safe urban area with lots of theatre and live music. Oh, and Macalester's financial aid program is quite like Carleton's. This is not meant to denigrate Carleton. It's a great school and Northfield is a nice town. Just wanted to mention another option.</p>
<p>Citrusbelt, my son didn't have Carleton down as his NMS choice either. I convinced him to change it to "undecided" so that he could, in the end--which means by May something--put down the college that he knew he'd be attending.</p>
<p>My daughter was absolutely, 100% certain she wanted to attend college in/very near a major urban area. She and her father went to see Macalester last fall, and I insisted they look at Carleton while they were up there. She grudgingly agreed to do a visit. Well, the rest is history. She'll be attending Carleton in the fall. ...
We're from Kentucky. My daughter refused to consider an in-state school, or a school in another southern state. She wanted to experience something very different from what she'd grown up with, and that she'll get at Carleton!</p>