<p>Hi guys I’m new member at CC. I’ve just spent 30 min. writing a long post and lost it when I tried to submit it… so grrrrrrrrrr! anyway I’ll get right to the point this time. Basically I would really appreciate it if you guys could offer me with some advice/guidance with selecting my college.</p>
<p>I’ve been admitted to Carleton, Emory, UCSD and Oberlin. (order of preference: Carleton > UCSD > Oberlin… Emory) </p>
<p>However despite my preference for Carleton, I’m not sure if it’s the place for me because… </p>
<li><p>As an international student, the idea of an LAC is so ABSTRACT. Plus I haven’t had (and most likely will not have) the opportunity to visit. So would you guys please kindly give me some insights regarding Carleton. Believe me, I’ve put my hands on all that I can regarding Carleton… but it still feels… so faraway. maybe I’m just feeling insecure/anxious about stepping into the next stage in life ie. undergrad. education? haha ok that sounds weird. anyway…</p></li>
<li><p>Endowment. It seems like Carleton gets a lot less endowment compared to say, Oberlin. Should that be a factor to consider? because I’ve read on the internet, from a Carl, that they’ve had to scrimp due to this. How true is that?</p></li>
<li><p>Fiske’s guide. So I’ve been relying heavily on that all through my college app. process. According to it, all my academic interests (econ./ history/ physics) are strong programs at Carleton. How accurate is Fiske’s on these? </p></li>
<li><p>TA/Professor. I know this is not a problem at Carleton, but how serious is it at universities like UCSD? Does it really make much of a difference? </p></li>
<li><p>This is probably a little weird. However does LAC’s like Carleton and Oberlin ever feel overly confined (due to their location/size?) Also it seems like Carleton gets a lot of its students from MN? Does it make the student body much homogenous? Because I really want a place that’s very diverse, where people think differently and thus intellectually stimulating… blah blah blah. and it’s really for this reason am I even considering universities like Emory. </p></li>
<li><p>any information on any of the 4 would be MUCH APPRECIATED!! I feel like I’m not as interested in Emory or Oberlin only because I don’t know enough about them. Also information regarding the cities/ states they are in would be really useful too (I know little of Northfield, Altanta and Cleaveland. San Diego is okay.) </p></li>
</ol>
<p>okay… I’m starting to feel guilty for asking so much! So many many thanks in advance, everyone!!</p>
<p>Carleton and Oberlin are the two most similar colleges on your list–on paper, they’re nearly identical in most respects. What distinguishes them most are the differences in character, temperament, personality–things that are quite difficult to discern unless you have a chance to visit. I think the best way to get a sense of what Oberlin students are like is to read the [Oberlin</a> Blogs](<a href=“http://blogs.oberlin.edu/]Oberlin”>http://blogs.oberlin.edu/). Feel free to ask any of the student bloggers any questions you have by writing a comment–they’ll be happy to respond. Good luck with your decision!</p>
<p>Check with the admissions folks from each school and see if there are current students from your country or region. You might be able to connect with them via e-mail and/or if they’re home for the summer to ask some specific questions.</p>
<p>wrt feeling “confined” - I did not feel that at Carleton. 1800 students, with 500 new ones each year was far more folks than I could really get to know. However, that’s an individual thing. How big is your high school? your town? that may give you a bit of sense (unless your hs is 50 and your town is 500,00:)</p>
<p>~20-25% of Carleton students are from Mn so 3/4ths or 4/5ths are from elsewhere. Also remember that students from in-state are not all white lutherans, there will be diversity depending on whether they’re from the Iron Range, or a farming community, or Minneapolis. 10% of last years class came from outside the US. Also about 2/3 of Carleton students study abroad which will provide additional diversity of thought and experience.</p>
<p>Carleton has a bit closer to even on men and women; Oberlin is 45% men/55% women.</p>
<p>I can’t speak to the accuracy of Fiske - but I would highly recommend physics (or any of the sciences) at Carleton for women - the departments have lots of women faculty, majors, and alums which provides a good support network. </p>
<p>Finally, if you post to the specific college boards you’re more likely to get feedback from current students/parents and/or alums.</p>
<p>And one last “finally” - Facebook has student groups for each class - if you peruse those postings, you’ll get a feel for their “style.”
good luck</p>
<p>Judy - You said you’re an international student; your mastery of English could mean that you’re British, in which case some of the smaller humanities-focused colleges that make up Oxford and Cambridge could be good analogies for LACs. But since your username sounds Asian you might be halfway across the world from these schools, making campus visits impractical.</p>
<p>You’ve done enough research to know that Carleton and Oberlin will have close-knit campus communities; Emory is not only larger, but in my opinion seems to have somewhat of an inherent lack of internal focus, with the campus integrated into a huge medical complex. I’m less familiar with UCSD. All have excellent reputations.</p>
<p>Northfield is a small town, about an hour from Minneapolis-St.Paul, and Oberlin is only slightly closer to Cleveland. Both could accurately be called rural - you can readily get to a metropolitan area, but it wouldn’t be a regular occurrence unless you made a special effort to get there. Emory is about 10 miles from downtown Atlanta, and UCSD is about the same distance from downtown San Diego. I’m sure school and public transportation are even more available there to get to the city, but the immediate environments are decidedly suburban. Minnesota and northern Ohio are very frigid through the winter, which makes up about half the academic year. Atlanta’s weather is lovely fall through spring, and miserably hot and humid from June through early September. San Diego may have the most perfect weather on the planet.</p>
<p>As far as endowment, things are really strange right now in American higher education. Schools with huge endowments are accustomed to operating off the investment interest from their endowments, which right now are down as much as half from a year ago. So in a bizarre kind of way, huge endowment schools may be hurting more right now than more limited-endowment schools, which have always had to depend on other sources of revenue. But every college is cutting back right now - “scrimping” as you say - even Harvard.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for your replies!
Yes… I realized how little I gave about myself. (grrr… I did write a bunch in the original post that I failed to send! but anyway…)
gadad, you’re right, I’m actually Asian. So campus visit is unlikely (with my finals coming up in 3 weeks!).
I go to an international school in China and I’m from Taiwan. The school is about 1500-ish (K-12). That’s probably what I meant by “confined”. Our graduating class only has 60 people. So it’s the same people, the same thing every day.
How cold is cold in Northfield? I don’t usually mind that much about the weather… unless it’s -30 in the winter. It should not be too much of a concern though, right? With heaters… etc?
Thanks for your suggestions! I should definitely try contacting the students.</p>
<p>I think Carleton is the choice here. It might now have the International zing to its name, but it will once you get to an Ivy league for a grad program. Carleton students do very well and it is one of the TOP LAC’s in the nation.</p>
<p>In terms of school size, Carleton is 33% bigger than your school, but all the kids will be about your age. I can imagine that 1500 would seem small when so few are close to your age. 3 yrs difference is alot less from 17 to 20 than from 13 to 16:)</p>
<p>If it matters, Carleton has a slightly higher % of Asians (10 vs 8 at Oberlin), however since O is bigger than C, the actual numbers are closer.</p>
<p>I don’t know much about Emory or UCSD other than the fact that they’ll still be an option in 4 yrs for grad school. Carleton and, for the most part, Oberlin are opportunities available now for undergrad and you’ll get all the resources and all the attention of the faculty. I’m only a bit biased;)</p>
<p>-A trick for posting (that I’ve learned the hard way many times) is to create your post in word or notepad or something and then copy and paste into CC. I often get bounced out before I’ve finished composing the post and by the time I sign back in it’s gonzo.</p>
<p>Oberlin is significantly larger (2800 students) than Carleton (1986 students), if you think that would make a difference to you. Oberlin also has a more geographically diverse student body, with only 9% being in-state; there are actually more students from both California and New York at Oberlin than from Ohio. I believe Carleton has a significantly higher percentage of Midwestern students.</p>
<p>Carleton definitely has lots of Mn (20% of entering frosh last year) and if you add in WI, MI, and IL you get to about over 35%. CA, OR and WA contirbuted 16% and NY, PA and MA 15%. About 10% came from other countries.</p>
<p>Consider what type of diversity you’re looking for. I’m guessing that a higher proportion the west coast kids are asian. The northeast and west kids are likely to be urban and suburban. The midwest kids will probably have more rural than the other regions. Being from Taiwan, I’d guess that all the schools you’re considering will have mostly kids with very different backgrounds than yours. If you’re looking for variety among the students at the school, I would say Carleton is more homogenous than the other 3. If you want sheer numbers of students who don’t look or think like you, the 2 big schools are clearly the way to go.</p>
<p>The good news, wherever you go will be very different from home and you’ll have a great time:)</p>
<p>From the way you wrote your first post, it certainly seems as though you, however subconsciously, really are more interested in Carleton. It’s a great school and considering how small your graduating class is, I wouldn’t be worried about it feeling confining, especially since you get ~400 new students every year.</p>
<p>I really think you need to do a bit more research on each of these schools and thier individual programs offered. Personally, I lean toward Emory because it’s very well known and recognized. If you don’t think an LAC is for you then I think that your best bet is to consider the one that gave you the most money. (If that’s even an issue)</p>