Is if fair to say that Grinnell, while academically challenging, might not have as “cuttthroat” of a cultrue as your NESCAC or Ivy League school? Might it be a better choice for a kid who performs better without too much pressure or competition? In particular, Grinnell vs. Wesleyan (Connecticut)?
To save you some time here’s a recent Grinnell vs Nescac school “Bates”. It morphed into a Wesleyan vs Grinnell thread later on after a Wl offer.
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/2142034-grinnell-vs-bates-p6.html
@privatebanker The OP is the same for both threads.
@wisteria100 ???♂️?
Lol
I would not say Grinnell is “cutthroat” at all, and I am very happy with having picked Grinnell over a nescac school. Many people find their own niche here- I can’t think of anything where there would be brutal competition. My experience has been Grinnell students are generally very down to earth. Academics here are incredibly rigorous, but I still feel almost no external pressure to be perfect at everything. People and profs are very supportive, and grades are rarely, if ever, talked about (which I think contributes to a less competitive environment).
I think in general because of the midwest/Iowa vibe, people are much more chill than an average New England SLAC.
I’ve toured all 11 Nescacs. None of them struck me as cutthroat. As far as other lacs go, Carleton seemed more stressful (but not cutthroat), because of the trimester calendar and Swat seemed extremely intense, more so than the nescacs.
We toured Connecticut, Bowdoin, Bates, Colby, Amherst, Middlebury, Macalester, St Olaf, Carleton, Wesleyan, Reed, Lewis and Clark, Puget Sound, Earlham, Occidental, Oberlin, Kalamazoo, Bard, Willamette, Butler, Purdue, Indiana, UVa, between two kids. The only place that came across as hyper competitive was Carleton, and my kids may disagree with me, but, I think it was just the tour guide’s attitude.
Carleton isn’t competitive at all. If you got that impression, they need to replace the tour guide.
I don’t see either Grinnell or Wes as particularly competitive, per the OP’s actual question.
Re: #7, #8
Was that Carleton tour guide pre-med?
@ucbalumnus don’t recall.