Deciding between Amherst/ Carleton-seeking feedback on social environment and service opportunities

Hi, my daughter is struggling with the decision between Amherst College and Carleton. We visited and liked both very much. She’s a probable Environmental Studies and Political Science major (or major/concentration, depending on how the school structures their academics). She’s also particularly into social and environmental justice. Does anyone know where Amherst students go for service opportunities? Carleton seems fairly circumscribed (to Northfield) by geography. Also, she is concerned about the student environment “vibe”–how preppy is Amherst as compared with the “quirky, down-to-earth” vibe she got and heard about at Carleton? Feedback would be most appreciated! Thanks!

My D volunteers locally in Amherst and will do an internship in that area this summer, with a non-profit that is also pretty local. But really anywhere - a group of students in one of her clubs goes to Peru to work in a medical clinic in the summer. Some go to NYC or Boston.

There are preppy kids at Amherst but I would say they are not the majority. A very wide variety of kids there, form all over the country and world, and from many different social and income groups.

Two great schools. You can’t go wrong.

With that said, Amherst historically was a preppy school, but those days are long gone. It has spent hundreds of millions in financial aid to transform itself into the most economically and racially diverse of all liberal arts colleges. I think only Vassar and Grinnell are close in that respect. Twice as many Anmherst students are on Pell Grants as there are at Carleton. It is the top of the elite LACs in racial diversity, far more diverse than Carleton.

While there still is a bit of a a preppy element there (as there is at any LAC), that element does not dominate the social life.

Environmental activism has long had a significant hold over the Carleton campus, from its early initiatives in reducing its carbon footprint with on-site wind turbines to the school farm. The adjacent 800 acre Arboretum is a phenomenal laboratory for environmental science students and its prairie restoration project an academic national model.

About 70% - a very large number - of students study off campus/abroad and there are innumerable related programs in poli sci/environmental studies. The local Northfield community is very diverse with a large number of farm laborers - Carleton students have historically been very involved in multiple causes in their support.

And while I agree that Amherst has come a long way to attract Pell grant students and racially diversify its campus, Carleton actually has a larger percentage of kids on financial aid - 80% vs 68% in the 2013-2014 year per NCES, 64% vs 61% overall. Independently it attracts a fairly large international population, ~ 10% of the student body.

Quirky and down to earth - yeah, the shoe fits. Would add accepting, intellectual, and fun loving.

And Carleton is also the former home of Senator Paul Wellstone, the most activist politician ever to serve in the US Senate…