We have friends who had two kids at Carleton. The older one loved it while the younger one transferred, not finding it “social” enough. This is about fit, and the younger one – in spite of having spent time on campus with the older sibling, just couldn’t make the social experience right enough for it to be a fit.
OP’s kid clicked with Carleton and doesn’t want a wild party scene. OP’s kid didn’t click with the vibe at Amherst. Maybe there’s an answer in there?
Re: Northeast manners and culture
I hadn’t spent much, if any, meaningful time with anyone from New Jersey or points north (Mid-Atl/New England) until I encountered our Concert Choir conductor at UW. She was awesome – very direct, highly intelligent, charming, and witty. She spent four miserable years keeping me in line.
My daughter is a freshman at Carleton, but did not look at either Amherst or Kenyon, so I can’t comment on those. She’s also not an athlete, so I can only comment on the social and pre-health aspects of the OPs question.
As to the social vibe - whatever Carleton does during new student week orientation, it worked wonders. My daughter ended the first week with a group of friends that has remained constant (only 5 weeks into the semester, so things will certainly expand/change from there). The kids seem to be overwhelmingly friendly - I was just there for parents’ weekend and it’s a lovely bunch. Minnesota nice is a real thing. D did not want to go to a school with a big party scene, and she has been happy with the social scene so far, though I’m sure there are parties for kids that want to seek them out.
The pre-health advising has been nothing short of phenomenal. She was in touch with the official advisor for all of the pre-health students before registration. She also got in touch with one of the pre-health students listed as a contact on the Carleton website who offered to make a 2 year plan for her. Once there, she’s had at least one group meeting for all pre-health students, a one-on-one meeting with the pre-health advisor and has been assigned a junior mentor who is already helping her line up internships for the summer (which Carleton subsidizes). As a potential bio major, she’s also been included in social events within the department, so she really feels at home there even though she hasn’t taken any bio classes yet.
In addition to the health advising, all freshman are assigned a faculty advisor, who in most cases is the professor for their freshman seminar. My daughter adores her advisor and has gotten great non-STEM advice on classes from her. And the other professors are incredible as well. Though she has only taken 3 classes, the accolades for teaching at Carleton are well-deserved in her opinion.
Good luck to your son, OP. He has great choices!
I’m curious as to whether the trimester system at Carleton is markedly different from other colleges’ quarter/trimester systems? It seems like this aspect of Carleton is consistently emphasized in any discussion about Carleton. FWIW, I had a semester system in high school, quarter system in undergrad (UCLA), and then a semester system again in law school. I don’t remember the quarter system feeling all that different. I think I’d actually prefer it as it keeps classes from getting stale.
Also, I like that Carleton’s trimester system ends before Thanksgiving. That’s a nice advantage, especially if home is not in the Midwest and shelling out for cross-country airfare two months in a row is a concern. I think Dartmouth is the same. In my undergrad and law school, Thanksgiving break was right before finals in December, which usually made it a less-than-relaxing holiday.
Their trimester system is ~10 weeks long. Generally, instruction ends around halfway through week 10, followed by a couple reading days, followed by three exam days. There’s one 3 day weekend halfway through each term. There’s no summer term, though some students are around for research, hence it being called a trimester system rather than a quarter system. (There’s also a program for high schoolers each summer that’s taught by actual faculty, with college students helping out in various capacities (TA, RA, etc).)
One likely difference between Carleton’s trimesters and most other schools is the course load. A full load at Carleton is 3 courses, not 4. So 9 Carleton courses is equivalent to 8 at most semester schools. So a student takes fewer courses at any given point, but the courses meet for more time and assign more work per week. A given 10 week Carleton course will cover about 8/9 or about 13.3 weeks worth of material compared to a typical 15 week semester course, but, again, there are fewer courses. As for other trimester/quarter schools, a good comparison would depend on the typical number of courses and when you are considered overloaded and need special permission. At some quarter schools you don’t need overload permission until you go past 5.5 courses. At Carleton you need overload permission if you go past 3.5.
A student who prefers focusing more on fewer courses at any given time might prefer the Carleton system. A student who doesn’t want homework over breaks (other than the one 3 day weekend after midterms) might also prefer the Carleton system.
Winter breaks tend to be 6-7 weeks, which does make it easier to plan certain things (brief internships, family vacations, etc). Spring breaks are just under 2 weeks.
A student who wants to explore many different departments might prefer 36 college courses (Carleton) to 32 (a typical semester school), but, then again, they might prefer 48 (certain quarter based schools) to either, assuming graduation requirements support such breadth.
Thanks. That sounds like a fairly normal quarter/trimester system to me.
He may want to investigate for each college whether the athlete cohort in his sport favors drinking and partying versus other activities outside of school and sport.
Amherst has pretty good pre-med advising; some of their STEM departments are very good; speaking for my kid, the Chemistry department was really good at teaching even horrible weeder courses like organic chemistry. Can reach out but would not be surprised if the Math department was similar. (I’ve taken ochem myself and was very impressed with 1st 2 years of chem teaching at amherst with my Kid who graduated from there). (NOTE: teaching your undergrads is much different than the reputation of a tier 1 research school getting research dollars and publishing reputation which is largely irrelevant both for getting into med school or grad school; amherst has a relatively new Science Center building with plenty of labs for kids who want grad school). this is a fun read about understanding the importance of teachers for STEM students https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/03/us/nyu-organic-chemistry-petition.html
This, so much.
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