<p>Hi everyone! I'm a first-year this year at Grinnell. I would love to answer any questions you may have about the application process, academics, club opportunities, and the College in general. I'll be as thorough as I possibly can!</p>
<p>Hi marya135,
Thank you for helping out!! I am an internatioal student considering applying to Grinnell. However, I still have a few questions.</p>
<p>What is the best aspect of Grinnell?
What are some factors I should consider before applying to Grinnell?
Is the community really nice (as many have mentioned on the net)?
What the main means of transportation? Should I get a car?
What were your main concerns when you applied to college and why did you choose Grinnell?
How are the bio and english departments?
About the location, I was an exchange student in rural MN for a year so I am quite accustomed to living in the middle of the cornfield, but would Grinnell’s location be harmful somehow? For example, I know a friend who goes to a LAC on the east coast and she knows a network of people from different schools, as far as you know, did any alums comment on Grinnell’s isolation? Actually that is probably the only concern I have for Grinnell otherwise I am thinking of applying ED : )</p>
<p>Thank you so much again :)</p>
<p>My son just graduated after 4 wonderful years. You do not need a car. You will get to know friends who have cars and the college has a rental program too. The campus is small and you can walk most places in town. There is a really nice bike shop in town if you decide you want a bike.</p>
<p>The sciences are amazing there and I think the English dept is good too.</p>
<p>My son has made friends from all over the US and all over the world. Right now, he’s in NYC and says there are lots of Grinnellians around. The college provides so many activities, concerts, lectures, other performances, free, that you wouldn’t be able to attend a fraction. Lots of fun parties and traditions.</p>
<p>Yes, the community is really nice.</p>
<p>Hey clairelisa0624! I’ll try to help you out here, but first let me say that I’M SO HAPPY YOU’RE INTERESTED IN GRINNELL. :)</p>
<p>1) It’s so hard to narrow it down to the single best thing about the school, but I’d have to say it’s the people. The students are all very passionate people with a huge variety of interests and talents. They are also ridiculously friendly and helpful! There is a zero-competition vibe at the school which I love, because it means you don’t have to stave off classmates anxious to know if they beat you at the last test. The faculty is also caring, brilliant, and amazing at what they do. </p>
<p>2) You should consider the location (though it seems you already have) because rural living can be stifling for some people. Sounds like it doesn’t bother you though! I should also warn you that it’s a very liberal school and extreme conservatives will feel challenged by that. If you are a very extreme conservative, proceed with caution.</p>
<p>3) The community is AMAZING. The townies are actually very friendly and most love having the college in town (Grinnell High students excepted). There’s actually a program where your parents can order you a birthday cake if your birthday is during the school year, and locals will make and deliver it to you!</p>
<p>4) Bikes are big. So is walking. The downtown is literally a ten-minute walk from campus. For trips to Walmart and Hy-Vee (a grocery store) there is a shuttle that costs $2 round-trip, and there are shuttles that go to Des Moines and Chicago airports during main breaks. There is also a pretty expensive car rental service if you want to take a day trip to the mall or something. Bring a car if you want, but it’s not necessary!</p>
<p>5) Grinnell was not my first choice, but I’m so happy with it now. I ended up choosing Grinnell after an overnight stay. That really helped me to see how absolutely fantastic all the students are! As you are an international student, this is probably not feasible for you, but I’d suggest looking up student videos on college websites as a partial replacement. Also, if you want to ask me any more questions, you can ask for my e-mail address and I’d be happy to help give you a more complete picture of the school!</p>
<p>6) All the sciences are very good at Grinnell. You might want to look into GSP, which is the Grinnell Science Program (maybe the P stands for Project, not sure haha). Basically it’s where you come to campus a week early and get to take seminars on scientific topics. It’s pretty cool. The English department is also great, as it’s one of the most popular majors.</p>
<p>7) Grinnell is isolated physically, but the alum network is huge and reaches to all 50 states and many many countries. The alumni are also extremely supportive of their alma mater and are always happy to help students find jobs and internships. So no, the location is not at all a disadvantage!</p>
<p>Wow this was long. Sorry. But I hope I answered your questions decently!</p>
<p>“Grinnell High students excepted”</p>
<p>Is there a story behind this?</p>
<p>bethievt --Thank you so much for answering! I think it’s really cool that parents are involved in cc : ) So is your son going to grad school (if you don’t mind me asking) because I heard that Grinnell is better for grad school than work?</p>
<p>marya135—THANK YOU!!! Your answer is throrough and extremely helpful :)) I am really excited about Grinnell, hopefully I can get in. I still have some questions to ask and probably more will come during my application process. Would email work better for you? Or should I keep posting under this? Thanks again :)</p>
<p>Lots of his friends have started grad school. My son is in NYC for the summer, writing and recording hip hop music with a Grinnell friend. He will need to get a job at some point. The one friend of his I know about, who graduated last year, did find a job in Washington DC.</p>
<p>Kudryavka – I have not personally experienced the frights of the local high schoolers, but I have heard stories of them cutting off pedestrian college kids with their dirty pickup trucks and yelling swear words. Stories as in more than one occurence, mind you. <em>sigh</em></p>
<p>clairelisa0624 – You can post here if you prefer, and my Grinnell e-mail is <a href=“mailto:adamsmar@grinnell.edu”>adamsmar@grinnell.edu</a> if you would like to e-mail. It’s up to you! Also, anyone else who wants to e-mail questions and NOT spam can send me stuff too :]</p>
<p>bethievt–Thankyou for your help!</p>
<p>marya135–Thanks!! I’ve already emailed you.</p>
<p>Whats the reputation of this school in the academic community? What percentage of the students go on to prestigious MBA programs?</p>
<p>Very high reputation in the academic community. Very high percentage of students earn PhDs. I don’t know anything about MBA acceptances.</p>
<p>Do you know anything about their Computer Science major? I heard many LACs have limited opportunities (ex. research, different labs) with CS compared to state univs since they are small…I’m wondering how things are at Grinnell… Any help??</p>
<p>@Leloch, not everybody knows about Grinnell, but those who do know will be very impressed if you say you go to school there. I don’t know about MBA exactly, but I do know that around 90% of students get accepted into law school and around 80% get into medical school. Common law and medical schools are Columbia, Yale, UIowa, Princeton, Vanderbilt, and UChicago, among many others. </p>
<p>@Monjinho, I’m not very involved in the sciences, but one of my friends is involved with CS. He knows how to build computers and he still chose Grinnell, so I’m assuming the program is pretty good. I also know that Grinnell offers a lot of research opportunities for all majors, and they will help you find internships that relate to your major. Also, considering how much money Robert Noyce and Intel have poured into the college, it’s safe to assume that they’re doing some pretty good training to get amazing graduates to work for Intel.</p>
<p>I’ve heard that Grinnell is a party school, lots of drinking. True or false?</p>
<p>^I haven’t seen anyone drinking except on weekends. Saturdays are pretty crazy, since that’s when the weekly Harris parties are held, but other than that the students are extremely studious.</p>
<p>Also, substances are more common on South campus than North, and more common on North campus than East. If you’re not into that stuff, just ask for a room in Kershaw.</p>
<p>^ lol. You clearly haven’t been here long if you think that nobody drinks or parties(or does something else equally as loud) in the sub-free dorms.</p>
<p>Yes there is good amount of partying going on at Grinnell, considering its size and location. That being said, it is mostly limited to the weekend and usually limited to South Campus & some of North as well as off-campus places. Some weekend are crazier than others, depending on the events. Most students however limit partying to the weekend and are pretty tame (not necessarily quiet) during the week.</p>
<p>I’ve seen a few crazy Wednesday and Thursday parties, and you can definitely find parties to go to every weekend. And I have a lot of friends in sub-free so I spend a lot of time in James (a sub-free dorm), and I have yet to see a single disruptive person who actually drinks or smokes in the dorm building. They will sometimes, but they’ll do it away from the halls.</p>
<p>How many students of color are present on campus>? Do they tend to segregate themselves or does everyone hang out? </p>
<p>how is the dating scene?</p>
<p>I looked this up for you. The incoming class this year had 14% international students and over 25 % are “domestic students of color”. 47% males 53% female. I can’t answer the dating question, except to say that my son had a wonderful social life all 4 years and I would not have described him as being highly social pre-college. I don’t know about the self-segregation, but my son is white, his second-year roomie was Hispanic and one of his closest friends is African American. He had plenty of friends who were from other countries too. He was able to visit one of them in India.</p>
<p>Hey Marya135. Do you honestly think I even have a chance for ED II?</p>
<p>Male
Race : East Asian (a Korean)
Nationality : Possesses Korean citizenship, and U.S Greencard
Residence : Maryland</p>
<p>and I want to major in Political Science.</p>
<p>GPA :</p>
<p>freshman: esl english 9:A
esl literacy/lang :A
math assistance :A
algebra1: A
physic apple to bio : A
esl2 : C
art: C
creative music: B
PE: B</p>
<p>sophomore: eng12 :A
government honor:A
world history honor :A
alg 2 honr :A
bio honr :A
geometry : A
spanish1:A
career research : A</p>
<p>junior: eng 11 :A
us his hon : B
ap psyc : B
precal gt :B
chem gt: B
spa2 : B
health :B</p>
<p>unweighted gpa: 3.56/4.0
rank:171/451 </p>
<p>sat1: 1840
sat2: chem:740, math1: 730</p>
<p>Extracurricular :</p>
<p>Internship at Maryland State Delegate for about 144 hours.</p>
<p>Volunteer at Korean church(Teaching basic Korean) for about 289 hours</p>
<p>Volunteer at Korean church (as an Altar server) for 48 hours.</p>
<p>Young Democrat club</p>
<p>Spanish club</p>
<p>I know that i totally screwed my junior gpa… because the final exams had so many questions we’d never learned before…</p>
<p>I’m taking sat1 next month, and I guess I can get higher than the previous score.</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>