<p>i find such questions so obnoxious- but i am utterly torn. any thoughts/insights on the comparison of the 2 schools?</p>
<p>wow I just made the exact decision your debating about. I had my choices down to just carleton and vassar and ended up choosing carleton. I think the schools are very similar. However, I did overnights at both schools and carleton just felt right. I do not think you could go wrong with either school though. The academics at both places are top notxh with maybe a slight edge for carleton. You should just go to the place you felt most comfortable at. Did you visit both schools? do any overnights? I found those helped a great deal in my decision. (although I guess it is kinda too late now if you have not done them)</p>
<p>i have visited both schools, and done overnights at both. at vassar i was matched with a host who i thought was one of the coolest people i have ever met, but i recognixe that that is just one person in the whole of the student body. vassar seems to me to have an edge that i dont like, a slight unfriendliness, and i believe that the acedemics are better at carleton. but vassar has theatre, whihc i am interested in. carleton didnt "feel" right to me, but maybe i was trying to force it?</p>
<p>I was actually debating between FOUR schools- Wesleyan, Oberlin, Kenyon, and Carleton. I didn't visit any of the schools except Wesleyan, but no overnight- just the campus (I went on a Sunday morning), and then Carleton (I came back from an overnight just yesterday). I fell in LOVE with Carleton. Everything was perfect- for me at least. I don't think you can go wrong with Carleton. The campus is absolutely beautiful, the classes I sat in on were amazing, profs are awesome, the kids are absolutely the nicest bunch of people I have ever met. But I do believe that if your gut feeling tells you that something isn't right, then you're probably right. Carleton is not for everyone. I don't know much about Vassar, but I definately don't think Carleton students are unfriendly at all. I was surprised to see how modest the students were though they were obviously extremely intelligent and talented people.</p>
<p>I still have to decide between Willamette and Carleton- slightly larger LAC in Salem, OR. Hugely better financial aid, location, slightly better music, climate, about equivilant track program. But Carleton seems so right, but for the relative lack of west coasters, i'm still a little intimidated by midwesterners. Anyway, love it if someone would say something pointlessly anecdotal to help convince me, at this point i feel i have all the numbers and such.</p>
<p>my advice has probably been given hundreds of times before. </p>
<p>follow your instinct</p>
<p>if you feel as though carleton feels "right" (and youve been there- because it definetly looks perfect on paper), than it is the right place for you. yes, you could be happy anywhere, and i certainly understand what you mean about feeling in the minority of the student body (geographically speaking) but from what i can gather, everyone who goes to carleton goes because they visit and they feel that it is the right place for them. and they love it.</p>
<p>also, not to bend to the pressure of prestige, but carleton is ranked quite highly this year in almost all surveys. it is becoming very well known in the acedmic field, and a diploma from C will probably get you wherever you want to go. </p>
<p>i didnt choose carleton because it didnt feel "right", and i know that it does feel right to everyone whose meant to be there (you included? lol). still, i think it offers the best academics of all of the schools i applied to- including the ivies.</p>
<p>also, although slightly isolated- what better opportunity to live somewhere you never would and then get to move again?</p>
<p>good luck with your decision. hope this advice helped- and didnt come to late. in the end it only matters what you think. let me know what you decide.</p>