<p>I noticed this in that link from balletgirl</p>
<p>Inter-campus agreements: A cooperative agreement with Carleton College enables St. Olaf and Carleton students to take courses on either campus.</p>
<p>Curious, I visited both schools with my d and this was never mentioned at either school. I know they do this at Tufts with Harvard, per a Tufts friend of mine.</p>
<p>The agreement exists, but I believe it is rarely used due to the different academic calendars (Carleton's trimester v. St. Olaf's semester).</p>
<p>joecollegedad, I think fireflyscout is right. My son (a Carl) was thinking of taking Norwegian at St. Olaf but dropped the idea pretty quickly (at least for now) when he looked at the two calendars.</p>
<p>The only "common" cross-registrations I have ever heard of were Carleton economics majors taking accounting at St. Olaf, almost all of them international students (since many international students stay at Carleton over breaks and can still attend classes at St. Olaf after Carleton courses are done). A handful of students do that each year, presumably to make themselves better qualified for jobs/internships in finance, though I'm not sure if it is a serious boost at all. I'm told the the accounting classes at St. Olaf are really easy for the Carleton students that take them.</p>
<p>As for the other direction, in my 9 terms on campus at Carleton, I have only had one class with a cross-registered St. Olaf student taking it, which was a history class not offered over there.</p>
<p>Carleton students take accounting course at Olaf not because it is better/not offered than Carleton's courses--- Carleton offers Managerial economics which is the advanced version of Olaf accounting course, and they use the same book. It is because that when many employers look at your transcript, they recognize the course called "accounting" but not "managerial economics".</p>
<p>Carleton is, with all statistical honesty, a much more prestigious school that St. Olaf. Although there are always exceptions, Carleton students have significantly higher SAT/ACT scores and are far more involved and accomplished in terms of grades and extracurriculars. Carleton is, unfortunately, considered a far more intellectually elite school and panders towards curious but ultimately more goal-directed students. St Olaf students are generally nicer, and less obnoxious, but also holistically, less intelligent. There are always exceptions however.</p>
<p>As an East Coast liberal who spent 3 years in “The Cities” studying medicine, I tried to get my son to become “an Ole”. The school is seriously under-rated-huge study abroad percentage, greatest number of Rhodes scholars for its size in the US, phenomenal success at getting students into Med School, one of the “Colleges that change lives”. It is a nurturing place where young men and women learn what they need to to take their places in the world.
I can’t put Carleton down, but I wouldn’t fall for the prestige thing. It seems more earnestly intellectual, but if my child preferred St. Olaf’s over Carleton, I’d wouldn’t try to dissuade him or her.</p>
<p>My S ended up at Midd-couldn’t stand the thought of being called “An Ole”. Maybe they just need a snappier name?</p>
<p>And what, really, is intelligence? Knowing what path to take to get where you want to go seems intelligent to me. None of my fellow medical residents from St. Olaf’s seemed less intelligent than the rest of us.</p>
<p>My D was accepted to both St. Olaf and Carleton and chose Carleton (although after a slight detour to another college for her freshman year). She has a HS friend who was accepted to both schools and chose St. Olaf. Her friend loves it there. No doubt she would have done well at Carleton if she had chosen to attend. I have many colleagues who attended both schools. All are excellent lawyers. Each school has its own personality and attracts its own kind of students. Sure Carleton fares better in the national rankings, but St. Olaf is clearly able to provide an excellent education to top notch students who then go on to excel in their lives and careers.</p>
<p>Oh No doubt that St. Olaf is a strong school, and no doubt that there are excellent, beyond belief smart and intelligent persons who come from there (one of the heads of Mayo’s Internal Medicine Depts. are from Olaf and one of Carleton’s most esteemed Genetics professors is a St Olaf grad) but often these are the exceptions, and yes, again statisically, much rarer occurances than at Carleton. It’s higher ranked for a reason-better scores, more accomplished students, and the students there tend to do better holistically.</p>
<p>Alright, I’m replying to my own thread that I started years ago. My son was accepted to both and chose Carleton. Now as a senior who previously studied abroad with students from St Olaf, he says that both schools are great, both have highly intelligent students and he would have been equally happy at either school. Although I’m a huge Carleton fan, I myself do not believe unchartedcrysis’s statement that Carleton students tend to do better holistically that St Olaf students. At all. Also, I think in hindsight, the semester system is way, WAY better than the trimester system.</p>
<p>I wondered whether people realized this thread was four years old.</p>
<p>But something that lives eternal is the trimester-semester debate. Why do you think the semester system is better, Mmomm? We’ve loved the trimester system …</p>
<p>Again, I am going to be absolutely neutral. Stats:
Carleton: 30 percent admittance
<p>St. Olaf: 57% admittance
<p>St olaf is by no means bad.</p>
<p>Unchartedcrysis, I certainly cannot argue with your numbers there, although I could throw in things like Lake Forest College has an average of 90% accepted into medical school and that school wouldn’t touch Carleton in any of those other categories that you listed, so it’s all in what you want. If I wanted to become a medical doctor, I’d sure look into Lake Forest College…it’s much easier to get into and much more likely that I’d become a doctor. But I digress. My beef was with the statement that Carleton students “tend to do better holistically.” That’s completely subjective.</p>
<p>Youdon’tsay, </p>
<p>This IS an incredibly old thread. I was so surprised to see the topic revived and I also surprised myself at how much my own views about what is important have changed over the years. I am so glad that the trimester system has worked well for you. There are things about it that I like, for sure. What I like least about it is the last term ending mid-June. The rest of the college and high school students get out in May and scoop up most of the jobs. I also feel like cramming a semester’s worth of information into 10 weeks isn’t a good thing. I believe that it adds stress and there is less time for the kind of learning that results from mulling things deeply for a longer period of time. Lastly, the trimester system is marketed as a way to fit in 9 courses over a year, as opposed to 8. I never understood this one. I took 5 courses per semester plenty of times in college and I know college students who do that now, so the argument doesn’t hold up. So, it’s all a matter of preference and clearly the people making the decisions (and I guess lots of students and parents) prefer trimesters. What I like best about trimesters is breaking up tuition payments into thirds! :)</p>
<p>agreed. I like St. Olaf more anyways. Id rather be with ppl who are nicer.</p>
<p>Can’t we just say that students at both schools are equally nice?</p>
<p>Everyone in MN is nice. And I agree, Mmomm “holistically better”? What on earth does that mean? What nonsense!</p>
<p>I agree, poor wording on my part: Holistic was supposed to mean, objectively better scorers and performers</p>
<p>unchartedcrysis, what does the “nicer” comment even mean? I think students are pretty nice at Carleton, but your statement implies otherwise. HAve you even been to the two schools?</p>
<p>Yes I do attend Carleton. Carleton kids are nice too, I guess, but they are significantly snottier, more passive aggressive, and aloof. St. Olaf kids are just more “chill.” But thats just me. In either case I love Carleton, and I do think its a much better school, but just trying to be as neutral as one can on CC… Cheerss</p>