I am a prospective international undergraduate student from Bangladesh and currently I am considering Grinnell College and Connecticut College for applying in Early Decision - I round for the Fall of 2019.
I have a SAT score of 1500 and I am sitting for the test again on October 06, 2018. I have also scored 800 in Math II-C and 700+ both in Physics and Chemistry in SAT Subject Tests. I am planning to do my major in psychology and I am interested in creative writing/literature for my minor. I have a few literary publications, two national level awards in writing, and an international essay writing prize. Besides, I was involved in the student government in my high school and worked as a peer counselor.
My EFC is around $3000 per year and I am well-aware that this might prove to be a huge downside in my college application. But, I believe there is no sin in hoping and to my knowledge, both of these colleges have students with almost full-ride scholarships.
There are a few things that are pushing me into indecisiveness regarding selecting a college finally to apply to in the ED-I round. I am impressed about Grinnell College from what I have learnt online and its huge, diverse international student body is in my consideration too. But, I am a bit concerned about the negative reviews I have found online on Grinnell’s location. In contrast, Connecticut College appears to be in a better location and I happen to love its beautiful college campus. Moreover, there is a large Bangladeshi community in Connecticut in contrast to Iowa.
Does Grinnell College have a strikingly better academic reputation than Connecticut College in reality? According to US News, Grinnell College ranks much higher than Connecticut College in the Top LACs list and I want someone to put honest opinion on this.
Financial aid is a matter of obvious consideration for me and it would be a great help if anyone could shed light on this based on a comparison between these two colleges.
Another thing I am considering here is that Connecticut College has a higher acceptance rate than that of Grinnell College. In case of ED acceptance rate, it is even much higher. I assume that I have a slightly higher chance to get into Connecticut College considering the average SAT scores of its students.
For now, I would like to have a comprehensive comparison between these two LACs so that I can make my mind about which college I should apply to in the ED-I round. Thank you!
Congrats to you on all your hard work to get to this stage in the application process.
I think as an international student you would do very well at Grinnell b/c being global is such an important part of their culture. Connecticut College is going to be a bit more insular feeling, in my opinion, despite its more convenient location with respect to East Coast cities.
Grinnell works hard to provide a lot of opportunities and events for all its students so I don’t think you’ll be bored. And because there are so many international students you will be surrounded by many other people far from home which will help with bonding.
It would get my vote, but I’m curious how others may weigh in, as I admit I don’t know much about Connecticut College. My D briefly considered it and from the research I recall the town or city is not great and it’s quite preppy and not super diverse.
Grinnell is an excellent school and there are many international students there. You would not be spending much time at all off campus. It is a highly ranked LAC and overall for a strong student like yourself it would be a better fit academically.
OP: I think that you understand the differences quite well. Grinnell College is an exceptional school not only academically, but with respect to community building.
Connecticut College is located in a beautiful region of the US & is near water (The US Coast Guard Academy is nearby). It is a more preppy environment than is Grinnell College.
Your main concern should be on getting adequate financial assistance. In that respect, I think that it would be wiser to apply ED 1 to Grinnell College which is a wealthy school & generous with financial aid.
Psych and English/creative writing are standard fare at most LACs. Both Grinnell and Conn College are perfectly fine for your interests.
I recommend putting down the rankings and picking the college that seems like a better fit for you. You’ll get conflicting opinions here – there are many vocal Grinnell alums/students/parents on CC, whereas other posters (like me) much prefer Conn College. To each his/her own!
Conn and Grinnell both offer great aid for qualifying students.
That being said… Conn and Grinnell are VERY different types of schools. I find it odd that a person would consider them equally, because they are so very different. Usually if one appeals to you, the other might not be some appealing.
I personally prefer Grinnell.
Have you visited? You should visit. Choose the one that you feel best at.
@BB: It would be interesting to learn of the perceived differences from the viewpoint of an applicant from Bangladesh. I doubt that it would reflect those of an American applicant.
Nevertheless, the primary factor is financial aid as OP has an EFC of $3,000.
@Publisher
Clearly they would be different than an American student … which is why I didn’t offer my detailed opinion or give reasons for preference but recommended a visit should be made, if at all possible.
Grinnell and Conn are generally pretty equal in aid. At least they are for an American student with that income. BUT… Neither school guarantees aid to international students at all. They both merely say that an international student can apply for aid.
I believe Conns International aid averaged around 47k per student and Grinnell averaged around 38k per student. But, Grinnell is maybe 7-8k(ish) less expensive than Conn, so it works to be about equal.
But this kid is talking about applying ED-1, and neither school guarantees aid for international students.
@BB: But Conn College has about 7% international students, while Grinnell College has about 18% international students. To me, this suggests that Grinnell College is more willing to award need based aid to international applicants.
ED agreements are not binding if the school is unaffordable. With an EFC of $3,000, OP would need full ride assistance.
Grinnell College awards financial aid to about 68% of its student body, while Conn College awards financial aid to about 57%.
@Publisher, I have learnt from different sites and blog online that Grinnell College is wealthier and much generous with financial aids for international students.
But, when I looked into its Common Data Sets of last two years, I found that the average financial aid package for “non-resident aliens” were around 36,000 USD or so.
Should I really be concerned about this? I well understand that this average might appear to be considerably lower than of Conn College because the range and standard deviation of financial aid for international students at Grinnell College might be much higher.
It would be really helpful if anyone could provide any specific statistics on how many international students got substantial amount of financial aid from Grinnell College.
@BB, I have personally emailed Grinnell College and I was informed that it is committed to meeting 100% financial needs of all admitted students regardless of their citizenships (in contrast to what you said that international applicants are only welcome to apply for financial aid and it is not guaranteed).
If I am not wrong, Conn College also claims on its website to meet 100% demonstrated needs of all international students.
As an international applicant, it is not possible for me to personally visit any of these aforementioned college campuses. So, the only way I can determine which college is the better fit for me is going through the online blog sites and posts. That’s why I am repeatedly asking for the opinions of others so that I can get a vivid image about these colleges.
@BD2023 – You’re absolutely doing all the right things!
I assume you have found the You Tube videos available for colleges – both ‘official’ from the colleges and ones that students put up? My D found those very helpful last year.
Also, spend some time looking at the course catalogs online to see what you think about courses. Read about profs in your favorite disciplines.
Finally, if you are female, Mt. Holyoke is another great college that I believe offers 100% aid for international students (though you’ll need to confirm.)
That’s true, but I bet the Indian food is better in CT than in Iowa.
I recall an info session where an International student from Thailand, said one of his criteria for picking a college was that there needed to be good Thai food in the area.