<p>ha, so i got accepted to a lot of schools, but i've narrowed it down to carleton and columbia, the two most different schools. man, until today i was positive i'm going to columbia, but i'm from iowa, carleton sounds so nice. i was supposed to visit today but i have an AP test and damn, the time to choose is coming up super fast. you guys don't know me so it's tough to give advice, but what would you decide? i really love both schools</p>
<p>I think it depends where your priorities lie. Do you want to be in the city, where you'll have a lot of opportunities for entertainment and internships and the like, but also be forced to deal with the ridiculous expenses? Or would you prefer a more isolated, calmer place where getting to the Twin Cities is annoying? My impression of Columbia is that it is very fragmented, among the various schools there (Barnard, SEAS, the graduate schools) and people doing their own thing in NYC, while Carleton is very integrated. The size thing will obviously come into play, too--do you want to be at a school with about 1700 students on campus at a time, or with considerably more? Do you want lots and lots of course offerings in very specific areas, but with most of them for the first couple of years in large anonymous lectures, or would you rather have most of your classes have about 20 people in them but somewhat limited opportunities for classes on specific topics? Do you want the chance to take graduate classes as a senior? How much do things like racial and socioeconomic diversity, both of campus and of the surrounding area, matter to you? Would you feel safe living in Morningside Heights, or do you want to be at a school where you can walk around at night by yourself and never have the slightest fear of anything happening to you? Would either school be significantly cheaper than the other for you?</p>
<p>If you have specific questions about Carleton I can try to answer them for you.</p>
<p>yea man, i would love your help. i was supposed to visit today, but i have way too much work for ap tests, but i'd like to get to know how the kids at this school are a little better. how much of a priority is actual schoolwork? are kids there to learn a lot or to make fat cash in the future? and do you have that warm fuzzy community feeling everyone talks about? i mean, the official stuff the college sends out tells me all this, but sometimes talking to kids who actually go there gives an entirely different perspective. what is your major? wait, do you even go to carleton? yea, anything you can tell me that i may not learn from the brochures, the things actual students there think and care about, would be much appreciated.</p>
<p>ha, and oh yea, i remembered one of the main reasons i wasn't so into macalester when i visited... are the kids who go to this school your typical liberal arts school kids? i mean, the really smart eccentric guys in the accelerated program who tend to hang out together? or are they more versatile? i'm not too into a homogenous student body.</p>
<p>how much of a priority is actual schoolwork?
- Depends on the person. One of my good friends was telling me last night how she's become so much happier since she decided to start to put doing what she wanted (activist stuff, being with friends, the like) ahead of her schoolwork. Other people will retreat into the library and hide if particularly stressed out, and you won't really see them for a week. Carleton is an academically-oriented school, for sure, but the people here largely have their priorities in order and won't disown their friends for schoolwork. People talk about their classes and what they're working on quite a bit, though.</p>
<p>are kids there to learn a lot or to make fat cash in the future?
- Haha. This is a liberal arts college we're talking about. Nobody here came because they wanted to make wads of cash and believed that Carleton is the ticket to do that. Pretty much everyone who is here, no matter what their career plans (if any, ha), is here for the education.</p>
<p>and do you have that warm fuzzy community feeling everyone talks about?
- Something like that.</p>
<p>what is your major?
- intending on math right now</p>
<p>wait, do you even go to carleton?
- yes.</p>
<p>are the kids who go to this school your typical liberal arts school kids? i mean, the really smart eccentric guys in the accelerated program who tend to hang out together? or are they more versatile?
- Everyone here is pretty smart, some extraordinarily so. Everyone is also kinda weird to a certain extent...also some extraordinarily so. It's not like the whole school is friends with itself, but everyone for the most part gets along really well with their peers here and respects each other. I don't know exactly what you mean by a typical liberal arts kid, I guess, but Carleton students are laid-back, funny, and interesting people. I'd say the admissions propaganda is pretty on the mark about the students, except it doesn't mention the creative drinking that happens on the weekends.</p>
<p>nice man, you make the place sound really great
i decided **** it, i'm visiting tomorrow. i called the office and they figured it out for me, i'll see for myself now. thanks for all the help, maybe i'll see you around!</p>
<p>hey man, if you're who I think you are, I met you at Carleton a few days ago (hung out in my room and ordered sandwiches). So if you have any more questions, I'd love to try to answer them. Good luck with your decision.</p>
<p>hey man, yea, eating sandwiches was pretty rad, overall carleton was amazing. but i still sold out, i'm going to columbia because new york city is unstoppable, even though i thought carleton was a better place overall. so there goes my soul, but say hi to dan (and kara) for me, and thanks a lot for the help.</p>