<p>We did visit the campus last April. Son loved the Bauhaus (sp?) architecture and the Hogwarts-like dining hall. Great facilities, a cute little town that looked like a movie set for a 1940's or '50's Midwest town. Town was sleepy, but campus was vibrant with cultural and other activities (the Chips and Dips Club?). And they have a quiz bowl team; we attended their "trash" tournament last year. The library has a tree-house-like loft. I know the academics are rigorous, but the place has a wonderful, whimsical feel.</p>
<p>Son was (happily) surprised by the $15,000 per year merit offer which they said would increase with tuition increases. And they said this didn't include National Merit money. Nice to be wanted. He said he'd wave the acceptance letter in my general direction whenever I accused him of wasting time online.</p>
<p>We're still hoping my son will get one of those early writes here in Washington state. Grinnell is a great school. Congrats to your son, bethievt!</p>
<p>Thanks much bethievt. My son is pretty enthralled by Carleton, but I get the distinct impression that Grinnell is very similar. We visited Carleton, but not Grinnell yet. I'm sure it will come down to $ for us, with their interpretation of need-based aid weighing very heavily.</p>
<p>My son is a NMF also. Do you know how much they give to NMF?</p>
<p>Yes, my son loves Carleton too, but there are a lot of similarities between the 2 schools. I'd be happy to see him at either. Carleton does have a truly wonderful quiz bowl coach. And I loved the stuffed penguin in the library!</p>
<p>I think Grinnell gives maybe $2,000 for NMF, but don't quote me.</p>
<p>Good luck to all of you who are waiting. This early write practice is really humane; put me out of my misery!</p>
<p>Bethievt,
Congratulations to your son! My daughter was also a Trustee Honor scholar and NMF. They do give $2000/year for NMF. She was also deciding this time last year between Carleton and Grinnell. She visited and did overnights at both. Academically they were ,as far as we were concerned, identical. It really came down to $$ and her "feeling" she was more comfortable at Grinnell.
Yes, the town is small, but a student would have to work really hard to be bored. The academics are rigorous but the faculty and staff are extremely helpful. There are many resources available for students needing help academically.
Good luck to your son with his decision~</p>
<p>yes! I can finally breathe....got my letter today. Grinnell is ideally my first choice but tuition increased this year by a lot and only got 5k/year merit aid. good luck to everyone who's still waiting. I'm from IL, btw.</p>
<p>ugh everytime i hear more info about grinnell i like it more which is bad b/c its making my decision in april (if accepted from my schools) so much harder. i applied as an afterthought...only school not on a state touching the ocean...now that ive talked to professors, coaches, students, stayed overnight....small liberal arts PLUS good math/phys/engineering (near auto-accept at COLUMBIA/rpi/wustl? yes please!) etc etc?</p>
<p>um question: do any of you parents get disconcerted by the drinking/partying/sex at grinnell?</p>
<p>The reputation Grinnell has as a work hard/play hard school was a definite concern to us. My daughter actually applied to two "dry" schools but felt very comfortable at Grinnell. She is living in a substance free dorm (and yes, it does appear that it is really is substance free). She has no problem finding non-alcoholic activities on the weekend. The Dean of Student Life actually told me last year that they had more students requesting substance free dorms than rooms available. Last year they cohorted students requesting substance free but not getting a room in the sub free dorm together on floors of other dorms. They may be adding another substance free dorm for 2007-08. Having gone to a large state university many years ago, I don't see Grinnell's drinking/partying/sex scene as being any worse than other schools. Yes, it is definitely there if you want to be a part of it, but it is not the only thing happening on this very active campus.</p>
<p>Even though I have not visited Grinnell, I know people who have graduated from there & have talked with a number of people about the environment. I hear that it is pretty loose/liberal, as you suggest. But I don't believe Grinnell is alone in this, as faithsmom said. Certainly when I was in college, drugs & alcohol were readily available and partaken by a large population, but not everyone was involved, by any means. </p>
<p>I am not terribly concerned for my son (if he gets accepted & attends) because I believe (hope) he has pretty strong standards. Of course, you never know how kids will react to being away from home for the first time.</p>
<p>Congrats bballvas, bethievt, and alinhappyland!
I also got into Grinnell early acceptance (lots of merit aid)- I found out monday and I'm really excited!</p>
<p>A big congratulations to those of you who have heard already!!</p>
<p>We haven't heard anything yet, which may or may not mean anything...</p>
<p>I'm just wondering if the fact that my son didn't submit his Common App until the deadline (Jan. 20th) may mean that they haven't even read his app yet.</p>
<p>For those of you who have already heard, when did you submit your app?</p>
<p>In response to the concerns about alcohol at Grinnell-
I visited Grinnell in November and talked with a bunch of kids about this. Although they do admit it is a drinking school, they also said everyone is really accepting of drinkers and non-drinkers, and that no one really cares either way. It had such a community feel- so great!</p>
<p>My son did submit early to Grinnell, though an RD app. Sometime in Nov maybe. SBDad, Your son is an incredible candidate. Hope it goes well. I understand the stress. We were yesterday visiting at Haverford and they were just starting to read RD apps.</p>
<p>yea i did an overnight and the school is DEFINITELY tolerant of anyone in anyway, including substance preference. obviously, though, in such a tight community, if a big group is partying (esp in big campus wide parties) it will affect the whole student body. i was just curious as to how parents react to that. additionally though, i think when you have such smart, mature students (which seemed to be every student i met) they are going to use substances in a mature manner despite illegality or not. i agree that it shouldnt be much of a worry.</p>
<p>Thank you bethievt. Grinnell was really "off the radar" when the search and selection process started, but I'm sure glad we found it. I'll be anxious to hear where your son ends up.</p>
<p>SBDad, did your son interview or visit the campus? Grinnell wasn't on D's radar screen until the very, very end either but once she discovered it, she really liked it. Her stats are similar to your son's and she has strong ECs. We are wondering if her late submission coupled with the fact that she didn't visit the campus or interview may have hurt her.</p>
<p>Believe me, I understand the stress. Now I'm afraid that the lack of early write here bodes poorly for the other applications.</p>
<p>Of course I don't know, shoshi and SBDad, but I would guess applying early and visiting, as my son did, may have gotten him on the radar screen earlier, but I can't imagine that your kids would be penalized for either of those things in RD. They just might be on a later radar screen. They (Grinnell) must surely know that not everyone can visit every school ahead of time. The fact that we're from VT might also be a tip, because all these schools want students from all 50 states and the Midwest schools probably get few apps from VT. I know I'd be having the same worries you are because I worry about everything, but your students sound like really strong candidates and will surely have some good choices.</p>