<p>Hey everyone,</p>
<p>I have no idea why I had the good luck to be accepted by both colleges (maybe I did something in a past life?) but today I got my letter from Oberlin; this makes my college decision 2349023 times more difficult. Carleton and Oberlin both seem like great schools; I was just wondering if anyone had insight on their strengths and weaknesses with respect to each other. Any help is appreciated!</p>
<p>Thanks,
Mariko</p>
<p>Oberlin!</p>
<p>'cause I didn't apply to Carleton and I don't know anything about it. Oberlin owns all, though.</p>
<p>Sorry, not helpful.</p>
<p>My son is accepted to Carleton and I believe he'll get a yes from Oberlin today (got a "likely" e-mail a couple months ago). He loves them both. Two of the differences he's aware of is Oberlin is a bit bigger and has a few more larger classes. Students maybe get to know profs a bit less closely. Carleton has a world class quiz bowl team and coach and a cookie baking house, also a Druid grove. They're both really strong in sciences, though my son isn't interested in the sciences. Oberlin has an amazing art museum and the Con--there are musical performance almost daily. I think the town of Oberlin has a bit more to offer than does Northfield. But Minneapolis/St. Paul maybe has more to offer than Cleveland. I get the feeling Obies are more politically active than Carls, in general; could be wrong. You (and my son) can't go wrong with either! Look at the course catalogs, go online and chat with current students. Congratulations and good luck!</p>
<p>heymariko,</p>
<p>My D is also considering both (she's a junior), so I'm interested in seeing what kind of replies you get. We know Oberlin quite well, Carleton hardly at all. Both are wonderful places and you have a great choice to make.</p>
<p>One big difference is trimesters at Carleton and semesters at Oberlin. In the trimester system you do three 10-week sessions, separated by breaks. The break between fall and winter sessions is 6 weeks -- this may be attractive or not, depending what you find to do with the time. My D thinks it's too long to be at home, especially as her high school friends would not be around for most of that time. In the trimester system you only take 3 core courses at a time, but it is intense, as you are never more than 5 weeks away from midterms or finals. Still, I've seen plenty of comments from Carleton students saying they like it.</p>
<p>Oberlin has "winter term" during the month of January, between the semesters. You do a project, any project you like as long as you can find a faculty member to sign off on it. People do all kinds of crazy things, on campus or off.</p>
<p>One unique thing about Oberlin is the co-op system. There are something like eight co-ops, some housing and dining, some dining only. Students plan menus, order food, cook, clean up, and maintain the space, more or less as if they were living as independent adults in a group house. If you like that kind of thing, it can be a fantastic experience. </p>
<p>Academically, Carleton might be a tiny bit more demanding but that, of course, depends on what kind of program you take. Both schools are very strong in the sciences (my D's interest). Oberlin has a state-of-the-art new science building and an innovative environmental studies building. On the other hand, Carleton has an adjoining arboretum that can be used for fieldwork. </p>
<p>Oberlin is bigger -- about 2,800 students. It's one of the biggest LACs, with a wide range of course offerings. For my D, that's a sellling point. </p>
<p>Carleton is cold; Oberlin is rainy. Both are in tiny towns, but in both cases there is so much to do on campus that the town is kind of beside the point.</p>
<p>Really, you can't go wrong with this choice. Visit both, and let us know what you find out!</p>
<p>My daughter made this choice several years ago. </p>
<p>Lots of similarities. Some of the differences I recall, all of dubious accuracy and significance:</p>
<ul>
<li>Oberlin gets a higher percentage of students from both coasts, and possibly felt a bit - how do I put this- "coastal" as a result. Maybe just more hipsters and artsier. Carleton gets a higher % of students from public schools, and from Minnesota and surrounding states.<br>
-Oberlin is bigger and has the conservatory</li>
<li>Oberlin winters are no selling point, but Minnesota winters are worse</li>
<li>Northfield also has St. Olaf. Many Carleton students don't have a heck of a lot in common with many St. Olaf students, but it is there.</li>
<li>Carleton's stats & ranking are a bit higher. Not to an exent that swayed D1s decision, though; she didn't see much difference in substance.</li>
<li>There may be various relative strengths in particular areas of interest. Carleton's physics department is supposedly great. The particular areas that interested my daughter seemed better or the same at Oberlin.
-Trimester vs. Semester + Jan Term
-Obies are probably more politically active</li>
<li>An unusually high proportion of Carleton students play intramural sports, for some reason</li>
</ul>
<p>My daughter preferred Oberlin because: i) she fell in love with it after an overnight there; it just felt "right' to her (can probably stop there, really); ii) Oberlin seemed great in the areas she was interested in; iii) she was worried some schools might be too small below a certain size; don't recall if Carleton was one of these; iv) she refused to go anyplace even colder than where we were then living; v) she doesn't like sports and felt it might not be such a great fit if a large bunch of people there are into that.</p>
<p>For what it's worth. Hey, you have to choose somehow.</p>
<p>From what my daughter has experienced I wouldn't be worrying much about the class size issues, or ability to get to know professors.</p>
<p>I just remembered, also Carleton seemed to have relatively few Jewish students, compared to other places she was looking. Hilllel had a website with stats on this. My daughter's not at all religious, but we were living in a notably non-Jewish part of the country at the time and, based on that experience, she thought it might be more comfortable from a cultural perpective to have a few more compadres around. Oberlin had maybe 2.5-3x the number, IIRC.</p>