<p>Son got into Bates and being wait-listed at Carleton. It sounds a bit early but learn from this site that waitlisted applicants may have as little as a week to decide, if offered admission. So need help from those who are familiar with either or both of these colleges:
- Both have excellent economics programs, son's biggest interest for now as well as a friendly and accepting campus.
- Carleton has a trimester calendar, so exams in 10 weeks. Is it manageable? Do students experience some kind of burnout during the 4 years?
- How much time do students of these 2 schools devote to studies everyday during the non-exam period, including pre-class readings, homework and projects?
-Carleton produces an exceptionally high number of PhD candidates. Is the student body very academically-driven? Do students strongly favor academic work and intellectual pursuit over social interaction?
-As an international student, son plans to participate in internships and, upon graduation, work in the US for 1-2 years (whaever allowed under the Optional Practical Training Scheme) before returning to work in Asia. The purpose is to gain some solid working experience before coming back to Asia where liberal arts colleges, despite their academic excellence, are practically unknown. So which college offer a better prospect for internships and job opportunities in economics-related fields?
BIG thanks!</p>
<p>Speakourmind, I'm the parent of a current freshman so I don't have firsthand knowledge of the areas you're asking about. However, here's a link to a thread from last year that addresses some of them:</p>
<p>Regarding Carls favoring intellectual pursuit over social interaction, from observation and reading posts from current and former Carls here, I would say that they balance the two very well. Carls believe both are important.</p>
<p>Hope this helps!</p>
<p>Our daughter is a recent Carleton grad, currently working on her PhD. Theres no question that she was (and is) academically-driven, but her years at Carleton were also filled with a variety of social activities and a close-knit group of friends. She never complained about the trimester system; I think she liked the fast pace and also felt that she had the opportunity to sample more courses than at a semester-based school. I cant speak to economics (not her field), but I can tell you that she did work very hard, every day, yet was able to temper that with plenty of fun as well. As she came down the home stretch and prepared for comps, there was a certain amount of burnout, but that may be typical of the senior experience at any academically challenging school. Overall, it was a wonderful four years.</p>
<p>I second what Mary13 wrote. Our daughter will graduate in June with a geology degree (plans to work for a year or two and then go to grad school) and she had the same experience as Mary's daughter. Worked very hard (as did all of her friends) but certainly had plenty of down-time as well. Each of her friends were heavily involved in at least one extra-curricular activity and from what I observed that helped balance out their heavy academic loads. </p>
<p>Each time I saw her friends I felt that she was so blessed to know each of them. The school seems to attract students who are bright but relatively free of pretense and posturing. I look forward to tracking them as they enter the workforce and post-college adulthood.</p>
<p>Good luck to your son. If he hopes to get off the wait-list, it is my understanding that he should contact the admissions office frequently and express his desire to attend Carleton.</p>
<p>I am new to the site but since my first visit 1-2 weeks ago, I am amazed by the sheer number of kind-hearted people who stepped forward to talk to and help strangers. Many thanks for your replies!
While I'm waiting for advice on internships and job opportunities, can I again request for help on a few things?
FOR CARLETON
-Is Northfield a safe and friendly town?
-Do international students need to leave the dorm during term breaks and summers, if they cannot find any research or on-campus job opportunities?<br>
-If my son is certain of what he likes to major before the end of freshman year, can he declare major at that time or must he wait until the end of sophomore year?
- What is the average class size for lectures and seminars / tutorials, for introductory and advanced courses, say for economics and math?
BATES AND CARLETON
How do locals including prospective employers perceive these two colleges, besides both being distinguished schools?</p>
<p>Northfield is definitely a safe and friendly town! My daughter stayed in Northfield last summer (shared an apartment off-campus), and felt very comfortable walking the area. As for housing, Carleton does provide break housing and summer housing - refer to Carleton</a> College: Information for International Students: Practical Information for more information.</p>
<p>There is no advantage to declaring a major early, and I don't think it's possible to do so. My daughter has been set on the same major since she started, and has been taking several courses in that area, including currently doing a study abroad program. </p>
<p>According to the course registration section, it looks like most introductory math and economics classes are capped at 28-30 students. Go to this website Carleton</a> Registration Information and click on any department. You will see the current list of course offerings with class enrollment numbers.</p>
<p>Speakourmind, I can answer a few of your questions.</p>
<p>"-Is Northfield a safe and friendly town?"
Yes! I love this town. The Cannon river flow through it; it has a lovely main street with a great coffee shop, a historic hotel, and restaurants.</p>
<p>"-Do international students need to leave the dorm during term breaks and summers, if they cannot find any research or on-campus job opportunities?"</p>
<p>No, although I believe (don't quote me) that there is a charge for staying in the dorms over breaks.</p>
<p>"- What is the average class size for lectures and seminars / tutorials, for introductory and advanced courses, say for economics and math?"</p>
<p>From the web site, the average class size is 18 and the faculty:student ratio is 1:9.</p>
<p>And here are threads that may answer your other questions:</p>
<p>i discovered today that somehow my earlier reply was lost. So decided to re-send :</p>
<p>My heartiest thanks to limner, fireflyscout, carlmom and Mary13. Based on your help, i now have a much clearer idea about Carleton. I have posted questions on Bates in another thread and hopefully i will get the same generous help. Irrespective of the final results on college choice, I really like to say a BIG thank you again! May I also wish your children a rewarding and enjoyable college life!</p>
<p>Northfield is a small, friendly, and generally safe community. If you're from a big city, it's going to feel a bit like Mayberry at first...but it really is a charming river town. "Cows, Colleges & Contentment" is the motto, and it's pretty accurate. The Twin Cities are a quick car trip away when you hanker for bright lights and big cities, though.</p>
<p>Summer housing is available for a fee, but to save on energy/expenses they don't keep all the dorms open in the summer. Instead they consolidate the summer residents into certain houses/buildings. So an international student may need to move out of his or her regular residence hall for the summer. There are usually summer sublets available too, though, from students who have rented an apartment but won't be around for the summer.</p>
<p>Carleton doesn't let you declare majors early, and there's really no advantage to doing so. If you know what you're interested in studying, it's easy to find out what's required for the major and start taking some of those courses. But their hope is that students will try new things, explore, sample the whole intellectual buffet in those first two years.</p>
<p>I don't know the exact average class size, but there are no really big classes at Carleton. No barn-sized lecture halls for introductory level classes!</p>