<p>I am a junior and starting to look at colleges. Carleton looks amazing from the website, student reviews, and college books. However, I do have a few questions:</p>
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<li>I am interested in science, how good of a science program does Carleton have?</li>
<li>What do students do in their spare time? Is there a big party/drinking scene?</li>
<li>What kind of "vibe" does the student population have (i.e. preppy, athletic, nerdy)</li>
<li>I definitely want a smallish school but am worried about going to too small of a school; comments about Carleton's size? </li>
</ol>
<p>I live in ohio so before spending a bunch of money and time to visit I am trying to get a better sense of the school.</p>
<p>I’m glad to hear you’ll be visiting - that’s the best way to figure out if Carleton will suit you.</p>
<ol>
<li> I’ve heard nothing but good things about the sciences at Carleton. Many students go on to postgraduate degrees. My daughter is a PoliSci major, so I don’t have much direct knowledge.</li>
<li> Carleton students do any number of things in their spare time. They tend to be creative in their pursuits. There is always quite a bit happening on campus - there’s a lot to pick and choose from. There is a party/drinking scene, but nondrinkers are respected.</li>
<li> Carleton students love to learn. They don’t compete with each other. This gives them a freedom to pursue anything that interests them - sometimes with goofy results. Carleton students are a pretty happy bunch.</li>
<li> At just under 2000 students, Carleton is small. However, my daughter is a senior and, to her surprise, she’s still meeting people in her class she had never heard of or met before. Look at it this way - every year there will be 500 new people.</li>
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<p>In her spare time, my frosh daughter has been in a Quidditch championship, joined a handbell choir, and worked with several improv groups. There’s plenty to do, and, with the smalle size, easy to find the stuff that intrigues you.
Good luck</p>
<p>As a follow-up to Bingle’s post, this is the source of an article in 2006 about women in college preparing for a career in science. It profiled Carleton - “A Hothouse for Female Scientists.” </p>
<p>I graduated from Carleton with majors in geology and biology. Not sure what areas of science you’re into, but the geology program is among the best in the country, and the biology program gets universally good marks as well, particularly for pre-meds. (One of those “you know you went to Carleton when…” jokes ends with “every geologist you meet knows someone who went to your school.”) </p>
<p>Most importantly, there are tons of opportunities for hands-on research - field work for geologists - which is incredibly helpful for your development as a scientist, not to mention your ability to get into grad school. This is not to be underrated, because I am now at grad school in a major research university, and although my facilities are generally snazzier than those at Carleton, virtually no undergrads have access to them, and as a grad student I teach a whole lot of those undergrad science classes. Incidentally, nearly all Carleton science majors go to grad school or med school - this is a good thing, since it’s nearly a requirement for a career in science, so most Carleton science grads stay in science careers.</p>
<p>As for your other questions, the party scene is there if you want it, not if you don’t. I lived substance-free my freshman year, and drank heavily while completing my senior thesis, with no real outside pressure to choose either. The vibe is decidedly nerdy, but in a generally upbeat way (“quirky” seems to be the word of choice in the literature, and it’s not inaccurate), with variations from closeted oddities to flamboyant strangeness. I was also looking for a small school, and the only time things started to feel Small. was trying to find a date senior year - even though I didn’t know the entire available pool, as it were, it was extremely likely that someone I knew knew the entire available pool (that sounds odd - 2 degrees of separation from my entire dating pool?). But I was generally never hurting for anything to do, and it certainly never felt small in the way that high school feels small. Hope that helps.</p>
<p>As an add-on to musicguru5’s comments, geology is kinda nuts at Carleton. </p>
<p>Somehow this school of only 2,000 has managed to produce more PhD’s in Geology than any other in the nation BAR NONE. This includes all comers. Not just strong programs like Stanford and Harvard, but giants with enrollments more than 10 times Carleton’s size sporting nationally ranked geology graduate divisions like Berkeley, Michigan, and Wisconsin. </p>
<p>Summer research opportunities on campus are equally abundant in biology, chemistry and physics. Less “snazzy” equipment, to quote musicguru5, but also an opportunity to 1 on 1 with professors (rather than grad students) and publish original research.</p>