Hello! I recently got off the waitlist at Carleton College and have a little less than 90 minutes to decide between these two.
I’m into political science, international relations, economics, business and all encircling that! I have pros and cons for each college but making this decision is impossible for me.
Colorado: offers “international political economy” which in my eyes is a mesh of all the things im looking for. My issue is I really don’t know how Id fair in the block program and there isn’t really a way to try it out without just going for it! I don’t skip class and honestly don’t get sick too often so that wouldn’t be an issue.
Carleton: academically it’s much more prestigious and stronger than colorado, but I honestly don’t know much about their political science and international relations programs, I can only muster so much from a nights worth of online reviews. My main issue with Carleton is that I’m a very outdoorsie and very social kind of guy and I have heard that many people at Carleton are rather introverted and socially awkward, which is fine! But i don’t know how Id fair in that atmosphere in the long run. I also never had the opportunity to visit carleton as its in Minnesota and i live out in Oregon, and it’s hard for me To make a decision of this magnitude based on pretty much just a few friends opinions and online ranking systems. Anothe concern I have with carleton is that their international programs don’t mesh as they do at colorado, and it just seems more efficient at colorado? I don’t know and im freaking out
I’ve had the previous 22 hours to look into it, and I’ve gotten a ton of stuff done, I just never realized I could use college confidential until last minute
90 minutes? I would definitely ask to think it over the weekend. If they say no, then cross them out. They waited till the last minute to accept you anyways.
I would lean towards Colorado personally. You’ve already come to the terms that you would be going there, visited, loved it, enjoyed the school and the location, seem enamored by the academic offerings (international political economy)…I would stick with it.
Technically they gave me a day, which in my mind is still rather ridiculous, but I’m definitely leaning towards colorado, I just know that carleton is the stronger school, and a degree from carleton would look much better than one from colorado in the eyes of grad school
Carleton is a fine school with impressive students. But I think it would be impossible to fine-tune your graduate school ambitions through consideration of the modest academic differences between your choices. Good luck with your decision.
Grad schools don’t care about the name or prestige of where your degree came from; they care about the degree-holder. Make the most out of your experience at Colorado and you will be fine for grad school or employers.
Call and tell them you have been learning a lot about Carlton over the past 24 hours but there are still things you would like to learn more about, like …, and ask them nicely if it would be at all possible to extend your decision deadline to Monday.
Got an extension till Monday! I realized that the most important thing for me at this point is to figure out whether or not Id mesh with the student body, which is difficult since a visit wouldnt really solve that because everyone’s gone on summer break, a visit would only solidify what I already know about the college campus that I can see from virtual tours
Hey - I just graduated from CC (colorado) …I may be biased, but I loved my experience and hope you lean towards Colorado! if you want, feel free to shoot me a message if you have questions about what the student body/block plan is like!
Well I don’t qualify for financial aid and since I got off the waitlist at carleton college I won’t be getting any sort of merit aid, so regardless it’ll be quite expensive… I didn’t receive aid at Colorado college either
Both good choices. Neither decision is going to be “wrong”. Congrats having to make a tough decision!
We don’t have a student in either school, but have started looking at some to apply to down the road.
One thing we like about Carleton, as the parents of an out of state student, is the trimester calendar. Winter break begins before Thanksgiving, so that extra hassle of flying home (or going somewhere else) for Thanksgiving and then back for a couple of weeks saves on the travel expense. You come home for Thanksgiving and go back right after New Year’s. For us, this would go into the “Pro” column for Carleton for those keeping score at home!
Carleton only awards a max of $2K for merit aid, for NMFs. Otherwise their aid is all FA and they meet need. Carleton is more geeky in my D’s words (it was her top choice).
