<p>I've narrowed down from 10 schools. (Those five schools plus Wesleyan (in CT), Vassar, URochester, IU, Colby) Tell me if I made a bad choice taking those off my list!</p>
<p>Some criteria that I'm looking for are:
- getting money for research/internship/study abroad
- good cognitive science program - psychology, biology, and typical liberal arts courses
- being able to work for the newspaper/magazine
- can participate in orchestra/take lessons/chamber music
- socially and politically active student body
- some amount of Asians like 10% of student body
- support from students/faculty - so not cutthroat competition among students
- able to get to know the faculty well (I've heard of people going to their houses for dinner or babysitting their children)
- small class size/personal attention from faculty</p>
<p>I know it sounds like I really like LACs, but I like SESP and faculty research topics that I would like to get involved with at NU. UChicago has the best major (Comparative Human Development) and their residential system is awesome; but I am against the Core.</p>
<p>I still haven't visited Carleton, but I'm visiting Northwestern and UChicago this weekend!</p>
<p>I would choose between NU and Chicago. It sounds like those are the best fits for your interests and I think you will know when you visit which place you feel the best at. Go with your instincts. People deciding between NU and Chicago pretty much know right away (in some cases as soon as they step on campus) where they fit.</p>
<p>Personally, I would not pass on Chicago, IMO it is on par with HYPS.</p>
<p>Not liking the Core at Chicago can be problematic. You should sit in on a Core HUM or SOSC class if at all possible. You say you want lots of interaction and small class sizes – those things the Core has in abundance. Nevertheless, you have some terrific choices here. Many congrats. Do you have a preference as to urban/rural? Plan on grad school?</p>
<p>Grinnell has an open curriculum and still has very good research resources even despite the economic situation. They have very good neuroscience and psychology areas. They definitely are politically active (liberal though). They have small classes, with a workload as intense as UChicago. Very international and have lots of asians.</p>
<p>You’ve got a great list of colleges, all of which could nicely fill most of your criteria. An exception probably lies with orchestra. It’s a lot less likely to happen at Northwestern or Oberlin given competition from their top music programs. Still could do lessons, classes, chamber groups, etc. there though. If the Core at Chicago is not your thing, nix it. It’s too dominant a part of the undergrad experience and you have lots of other equally wonderful options. </p>
<p>I think you need to think hard about where location wise and student body size wise you’d be happiest. </p>
<p>Carleton’s rep holds for a fun, non-competitive and cohesive student body with lots of close interactions with faculty. It’s a pretty, small town campus that’s easily accessible to Minneapolis and St. Paul, kind of in between your big city and isolated very small town choices.</p>
<p>Grinnell will be a very small town Iowa isolated option, but the school offers up lots of money to help keep class sizes down, to personalize attention to it students and make the most of its location. </p>
<p>Oberlin will be similarly isolated, but feel less so with an enrollment that’s more than 50% larger than Grinnell. Music is all over the place, even if you won’t be able to buy yourself a seat in the orchestra. </p>
<p>Northwestern’s SESP is very small (much smaller than any of your LACs!). This should help you get that more personal experience you seem to be looking for. But don’t fool yourself. This is still a university you’ll be attending with close to 8000 undergrads walking around. Evanston alone has about 80,000 people. And then there’s Chicago down the El tracks.</p>
<p>Academics will be great all around. Don’t think that’ll be the make or break issue here.</p>
<p>I’m really surprised you took Wesleyan off of your list? What was your reasoning? It seems to match all of your criteria and it is a more prestigious East Coast version of Oberlin/Carleton [except maybe a little bit less so] and it is somewhat bigger than Oberlin and Carleton which are a bit small.</p>
<p>I would also definitely look into NU and UChic.</p>
<p>vociferous - Prestige is not really a factor for me.
tk21769 - I’m going to college this fall. AND I was waitlisted there. lol
IBclass06 - what makes you choose Carleton out of all the other LACs?
CountingDown - I don’t have a preference toward town setting. I’m probably going to grad school. Not pre-med though.
SmallCollegesFTW - I saw 3 asians at Grinnell.
atom<em>and</em>eve - I took Wes off my list because my parents didn’t want me to go THAT far away. (I live in IL.) And I don’t know as much about it as I do with other schools.</p>
<p>Ahh I wish I could visit Carleton! When I visited Grinnell, it reminded me of how much I liked Oberlin, but I can’t compare the experience that well because I did not do an overnight at Grinnell. So I don’t know if Carleton would remind me of Oberlin, but I’m probably not going to get the chance. :(</p>
<p>Does anyone know about the endowment at these colleges? I know that Grinnell has a large endowment and can pay for much of students’ academic expenses like internships and study abroad. (One of the good things about Grinnell.)
Side note: Grinnell’s food was SO good. Other schools can’t even compare. haha.</p>
<p>Does NU have a community feel? That’s why I’m looking into Jones because I feel like I can be part of a community there…</p>
<p>I’ve heard UChicago has a “non-existent” music program? True or false?</p>
<p>Oberlin, Carleton and Grinnell are liberal arts colleges, will likely give you more of the intimate atmosphere elements you describe in post #1 than Uof C or Northwestern will.</p>
<p>IIRC, Oberlin’s endowment is on big side for LACs as a group, but Carleton’s is bigger, and Grinnell’s is huge. Oberlin is significantly larger than these other two, which likely expands the social group, possibly expands course offerings. All three have politically liberal student bodies, from what I recall, but Oberlin’s is likely more politically engaged than the others. There is a lot do on campus,& nice small town, but there could be more happening in the surrounding area. Cleveland is accessible with a car, but much tougher without. And Cleveland is not Chicago. Carleton’s situtation locationally is similar, Grinnell is further from a large city. And both Grinnell and Carleton are smaller on their own.</p>
<p>Schools I know of that are not right next to, or in, a big city tend to have a richer campus life to compensate, so there are some redeeeming elements. Some urban schools I know of tend to be almost “ghost campuses” on weekends, the pull of the city erodes the nature of campus life there. Don’t know about the Chicago schools.</p>
<p>I agree with monydad. I would add that Carleton is on the trimester system. Grinnell is on the semester system. That matters for some. Don’t recall for Oberlin.</p>
<p>Per the latest common data set, Grinnell is 8% Asian-127 currently enrolled, not 3.</p>
about 2/3 of the students study abroad; many on Carleton programs (so your tuition would be the same). I don’t know anything about additional money availability but if you ask on the Carleton board someone will know.
fairly new Neuroscience concentration involves both psychology and biology departments
from the website - Student Media & Publications</p>
<p>With a student-run radio station, a video magazine, and at least half a dozen printed publications, there are plenty of outlets on campus for diverse voices and perspectives.</p>
<p>Want to try your hand at sports reporting? Join the staff of the Carletonian. Got some great photos from a campus event? Shout would love to put them online. Investigative journalism? Check out the award-winning, internationally distributed Lens magazine.
in terms of music opportunities - Students interested in performance will find many opportunities at Carleton. Instrumental groups at Carleton include the Carleton Orchestra, the Carleton Symphony Band, the Carleton Jazz Ensemble, the Carleton African Drum Ensemble, the Carleton Mbira & Karimba Ensembles, and Chamber Music groups. Choral groups include the Carleton Choir (Bella Cantemus and Men’s Chorus). All groups hold open auditions, offer credit, and perform once or twice each term. In addition, many students perform in junior and senior recitals, mixed student recitals, chamber ensembles, and student-formed a cappella groups.
<p>Oberlin is personally one of my favorite colleges ever. Everything about it is so amazing, it is really hard to find flaws with it. It’s definitely the kind of school that is not for everyone though, and the campus/town/feel of it is almost out of a movie.</p>