Carleton College (mn) Vs Grinnell - For Class Of 2011 - Urgent -pls Reply Asap Thanks

<p>Help me decide please!! What would be the best match?</p>

<p>1.I want the following from college:
BESIDES GREAT ACADEMICS the school should have.....</p>

<p>Interests: linguistics, economics, archaeology/anthropolgy, human rights
I love art - sketching and painting,
I love organizing events
i love learning about the egyptian culture. Basically archaeology.
i love learning about symbols and codes</p>

<p>2.Social life should definitely be "good". No sweaty sleazy parties.
3.academic reputation is a important.
4.classes should be small.
5.THE SCHOOL SHOULD HAVE SOMETHING ABOUT IT BESIDES "JUST GOOD ACADEMICS"
6.student body should be "pretty". (which one has a better looking student body?)
7.The school should definitely be creative
8.The school should push me to my full potential
9.The school should have great job opportunities afterwards for international students
10. professors should be encouraging.
11. student life is engaging. (which has a better student life)</p>

<p>**Carleton is near minneapolis. So does the social life become good then?
Academically which one is better.
I heard carleton has really bad looking student body and grinnell has misfits of society. what the hell is that. is that even true?!!</p>

<p>Hey</p>

<p>I am not sure how much help I can be (I am going to Carleton in the fall so and my mom went to Grinnell for two years in the early eighties), but I will try my best.
You might be interested to know that Carleton is now investing a lot of money in the studio arts and that President Oden speaks seven languages including several dead languages (one of which I believe is from Egypt). He also goes on one of the abroad programs in the Middle East that examines mosaics from Egypt, Turkey and Morocco. </p>

<p>The social life at Carleton is relatively laid back. Like most colleges, there is drinking on campus but I don’t think it plays a major role in student lives. Most of the students have a Midwestern mentality, which is incredibly refreshing especially if you come from the East Coast. As far as the generalizations go, I didn’t find the people from Carleton to be particularly unattractive. I am sure the social life at Grinnell is relatively similar but I could be completely mistaken. </p>

<p>My mom ultimately left Grinnell because she thought the college was too isolating (there is no major city or campus town nearby). However she thought the students and professors were incredible. While Northfield isn’t exactly a rising metropolis, it is a nice town with a few decent restaurants and a good coffee shop. If you need a change you can always go to Minneapolis or St. Paul, but most students choose to stay on campus because there is generally a lot to do. </p>

<p>I think Carleton is ranked higher than Grinnell on US News, but that doesn’t necessarily make it a better school. If I were you, I would just compare the stats of the departments you are interested in. </p>

<p>I am not sure if this helped much but best of luck in your decision,</p>

<p>I would say that academically the two schools are peers. Both schools have a really vibrant campus life where students spend more time on campus than in a nearby city. That being said, Northfield is a little better than Grinnell, and Minneapolis is relatively nearby. Both schools have interesting student bodies with cool, friendly, very academic students. Both schools have that midwestern mindset. As for no.6, a "pretty" student body, well, neither school is particularly well known for the attractiveness of their students. However, I didn't find the students at either school to be at all ugly either. Lots of normal looking people. Generally a good-looking student body comes with the "sweaty sleazy parties" that you don't like. So I would say a choice needs to be made there. In the end I guess I wasn't very helpful. I think they are very similar schools. Go with your gut feeling, you can't really make a bad choice either way. They're both great schools.</p>