<p>The are both great LACs. However, with the climates in Minnesota and eastern Mass, how outdoorsie can they be? I suspect that the students are quite indoorsy during those long winters, but that is good for studying anyway. Regardless, you have amazing choices if you are prepared for bitter cold.</p>
<p>^Winter sports, of course! I’m a teensy bit sad that my college will probably never be cold enough to play broomball.</p>
<p>Congratulations on your choice! I’m an international from Hong Kong who will be arriving this fall as freshman of '14. Can’t wait to meet you!</p>
<p>Knights!</p>
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Just for the sake of accuracy, this is incorrect:</p>
<p>Williamstown, MA - Population 8,424 (2000 census)
Northfield, MN - Population 17,147 (2000 census)</p>
<p>Yeah, Williamstown is TINY and more isolated, but it has gorgeous scenery.</p>
<p>I’m curious – do the Census numbers include the college students?</p>
<p>I’m willing to bet that the number of people living in Williamstown (as well as the number of businesses, restaurants, and hotels)is much greater. I’ll bet that the Northfield number counts the entire 50 mile county or something like that.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m rooting for Carleton here. I just want to be accurate in describing the advantages.</p>
<p>I’ve visited both in the last year, and Northfield seemed to be much larger and more populated than Williamstown. Northfield even has a few industries. OTOH, Williamstown has a movie theatre, which Northfield lacks.</p>
<p>OldbatsieDoc - Why do you persist in thinking that Williamstown is larger than Northfield? Is there a particular reason for your belief? I have visited both colleges, and Williamstown felt TINY while Northfield was just another Midwestern small town. (Both are very cute. My only issue with Williamstown was the lack of a Chinese restaurant, which ranks about equal to lack of a movie theatre in reasonable importance.)</p>
<p>College students are counted as residents of any town in which they attend school.</p>
<p>Northfield counts only the residents of the town, not the county. In fact Northfield lies across two counties, Rice and Dakota. Rice has a population of about 56,000, and Dakota, with several Twin Cities suburbs, is about 350,000. In fairness to OldbatsieDoc, however, Northfield has just about doubled its population since 1970.</p>
<p>Seriously, as sunmachine suggests, Northfield is a little large to be considered a “small town”. It also has a high commuter population and could really be considered an exurb of the Twin Cities…the Burnsville Mall is about 25 minutes up the road.</p>
<p>I’ve been to both Northfield and Williamstown. Northfield is definitely bigger. Unless you are including North Adams?</p>
<p>I hope the sprawl from the Twin Cities doesn’t creep any closer to Northfield. I love Carleton’s rural location. But IMO, as of now, Northfield is too far away from Minneapolis/St. Paul to even be considered an exurb. It’s a true small town.</p>
<p>Ok Ok I give up…Probably felt so small because I could find nowhere to eat but a Subway on 8:00 pm on a Sunday evening…and no movie theater…</p>
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I won’t argue the point - it does feel disconnected from the metro when you go there. But let me point out that the next town north is Farmington and that is an exurb.</p>
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I get the impression you weren’t looking very hard? Basically all the restaurants around Division St are open at 8 pm on Sundays (Chapati, Hogan Bros, Rueb, Tavern, B&L’s, Basil’s, Mandarin Garden, others I’m certainly forgetting) and other decent places are a short drive (Kurry Kabab, El Tequila).</p>
<p>Apparently Southgate Cinema closed around when I graduated, so I will grant you that deficiency. Even when it was open, most Carleton students drove to Lakeville for movies anyway.</p>
<p>Mmmm, Basil’s gyro pizza!</p>
<p>If skiing is important to you, Olympic gold medalist, Lindsey Vonn, grew up just north of Northfield in Apple Valley, MN and learned to ski on Buck Hill in nearby Burnsville, MN. Also former World Cup skier, Kristina Koznick also learned to ski at Buck Hill.</p>
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<p>That would automatically eliminate Williams for me. No Chinese food? OMG, how bland can you get?</p>
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<p>That should quiet the folks who think Minny downhill skiing sucks. If it’s good enough for future Olympians, well…</p>
<p>^To be fair, there is a (semi-expensive) fusion Japanese-Thai place. But we ate there and I disliked the food.</p>