Hello, everyone.
May 1 is Friday and I still don’t know where I want to go to school. I’ve narrowed it down to Carleton College and USC, which I both like for very different reasons… and I have no idea what to do from here. Can you advise?
What I like about Carleton:
- Friendly, warm, articulate, nerdy people - I went to the admitted students weekend and was really happy. I have never fit in with a group of people so well in my life. Everyone's different, but nothing felt oppressive. The party scene was really relaxed.
- The Arb
- Frisbees, adventurousness, cookie house
- Great teaching, great academics, intriguing classes
Drawbacks:
- not very diverse
- small - after four years I worry that I would be itching to get out
- not well known? (good if I plan to be applying to grad schools, bad if I want to work before grad school?)
- access to internships? (I’d like to intern abroad… can Carleton get me there?)
What I like about USC
- Not so WHITE - Carleton is really, really white… everyone seems to, for the most part, look and dress the same at Carleton - USC on the other hand has a huge international population, and a high population of Latino-American, Asian-American, and black students.
- I'm impressed by the amount of access to research and internships. Maybe USC just does a great job of marketing it, but it seems like you can be doing those things from the moment you walk on campus, and that they've got tons of grant money that they're just begging you to apply for
- Lively campus - the location and the amount going on there is energizing, not to mention that its location makes it easier to be engaging in the community/interning with companies while taking classes
- I have been offered a Presidential (half-tuition) scholarship
Drawbacks:
- The words "sorority" and "fraternity" currently make me want to hide - I'm not socially terrible, and I can be "on" when I need to be, but in general I'm a quieter person.
- Teaching quality (?)
- Not nearly as friendly as Carleton
- No Arboretum
What I want to study: Everything (darn it…) - It will be Japanese, and something. I know I want to be fluent in Japanese when I graduate, and then beyond that I want to have a concrete skill that makes me worth hiring. Not sure whether that will be computer science or biochemistry or public health or diplomacy or something else entirely.
Sorry that this is so long. If you made it to the end, thank you. Any and all input is appreciated.
I can’t speak to all those things, but I also was worried that Carleton would be too small for ds. It wasn’t. Our first test – we knew one kid on campus, and if neither of us saw him over our two-day visit, it was big enough. We never saw him. 
Students could speak better on this, but I get the sense that who you see depends on where you live (and therefore where you eat). His freshman-year dorm was closest to Burton, his sophomore dorm was closest to the LDC, he studied abroad in junior year and lived in a townhouse senior year. Every year was something different. Remember, every year there’s a 25% turnover in population. Always new people to meet.
I agree that Carleton appears quite white, but that never bothered ds, who is a minority. When I think of his 10 best friends from there, I’d say only four of them are white. There’s plenty of diversity, though it could be better. His first-year roommate was an intl student, and his other roomies were non-Anglo. Maybe it’s just who my kid gravitated toward? I don’t know. When ds was considering a large, in-state uni one thing he noticed about the place was the diversity – however, all the “like” kids hung together. What good is diversity, he asked, if everyone clumps with their own kind?
You don’t mention money, but it sounds like USC will be less expensive. For me, that’s always an issue, but it might not be for your family.
I think you’ve correctly pegged the two best things about Carleton – the people and the academics. Those two things are what sold ds. When you wrote “I have never fit in with a group of people so well in my life” … well, that kind of says it all to me.
Good luck with your decision!
I am lucky in that I will be able to get through undergrad without debt at either school, but yes, USC is (rather significantly) cheaper for me. If I went to USC, I would be able to use part of the money my family has saved for my undergraduate degree toward graduate school. At Carleton, not so.
Of course, there is always the option of applying for grants toward graduate school, or doing a graduate program where I work as a TA, or working for a company that will pay for my MA. I can always continue to apply to a multitude of scholarships for the next four years to bring the cost of Carleton down, or to bring USC down further, depending on where I go. Money is a factor, but in the end I will be okay graduating from both, so I’m not sure how to foresee what the cost difference will mean (especially since I’m not sure what I plan to study.) My family has told me what they can contribute, and that the decision is up to me.
Those who know (your future employer, your future grad school), know Carleton. So don’t be turned off if your cousin or next door neighbor confuses Carleton with the local community college (it happened to me 
)
As for internships, don’t sell Carleton short. There are always opportunities for those who seek them.
Would the Japanese connection be easier at USC? I don’t know the answer, just asking. I would think that otherwise Carleton would be better for internships.
I was also struck by Carleton’s whiteness. We live in a minority white area, so for S that would be a change.
That is tough. I’d have no qualms recommending Carleton over USC in your case – I would prefer both the academics and social experience at Carleton, and Carleton has an outstanding reputation within academia, and “those who know” – but then the money favors USC. Maybe I missed it, but how much cheaper is USC? Even if you are in a fully-funded PhD program, the extra money you save from undergrad can really help out in the long term. They are both quite solid re: academics, so you needn’t worry about advancement; more personal fit and your own fulfillment and self-growth.
I chose Carleton over USC and I haven’t regretted it once. The people here are amazing and the teaching is so top notch that my friends who chose USC can’t even imagine what it’s like to be at Carleton. Carleton’s like a Disneyland for curious, motivated, intelligent individuals where students can explore whatever they want to explore.
Carleton may not be so diverse on paper but by the way people conduct themselves here, you’ll never notice it. Students are very conscious of race and ethnicity diversity as well as socioeconomic diversity. It’s not too small here either – I don’t even know 20% of Carleton students here (and I promise I’m not a hermit).
Carleton and USC are two very different schools so one is a better fit than the other. Try to think about what size, location, education, etc. it is that you really want.
@ochamango what did you decide?