Son has these 5 to chose from. He’s an New England kid, valedictorian, soccer team captain, a bit nerdy and introverted. Academic interests are wide : math, physics, Latin, Euro history. Somewhat liberal, hasn’t found his cause to support other than studying and soccer. Has merit aid from Grinnell (the most), Kenyon, and Macalester and some grant aid from Carleton, zip from Haverford.
Thanks to all those who posted to my previous posts. First timer dad, lots of help from this forum.
Those are some good choices. Carleton sounds like a good fit but you won’t go wrong following the money to Grinnell. Has he visited any of them yet?
Congrats! That’s a wonderful list of schools and I like them all. All schools have a friendly, accepting, cooperative vibe to them.
Does he plan to play college soccer?
The $ from Grinnell is nice but the school is a bit isolated and his traveling costs will be higher than some of the other options.
My two favorites from your son’s list are Haverford and Carleton, both of which are very strong academically.
Haverford and Macalester benefit from being less isolated with Haverford having very easy access to Philly and Macalester being in the midst of things in St. Paul.
Another benefit to Haverford is the Bi-Co with Bryn Mawr and the Quaker Consortium w/Swathmore and UPenn which expands upon the course offerings of a typical small LAC.
The differences between these schools will be variations on a theme. All are comparably great schools that would offer your son a good fit based on your description. In my opinion, you need to visit each one if you haven’t already. Your son may just feel a personal connection to one student body and campus over another. If he feels equal about all, then you’ll just have to figure out some way to decide what factors are most important. Money and location would seem to be the biggest differences, and it is up to you and your family to weigh in on the importance of that. I would not go on what someone else’s “favorite” is from this list. There just isn’t enough substantially to separate them in terms of a clear winner for academic reasons or general fit.
Has visited all of the above. On first visits, liked Grinnell and Kenyon best. Likes the rural, campus centered feel. Planning for second looks at Grinnell, Carleton, and Haverford. He’s not quite sold on college soccer and was not recruited but we are encouraging him to at least consider it given what a huge part of his life it has been.
If he liked Grinnell and Kenyon the best, and Grinnell has the best financial offer – then Grinnell seems the easy answer. We have been to Grinnell and Kenyon probably 5-6 times, visiting with two different kids, and I went to Bryn Mawr and did all my academic work at Haverford, so know that community well, and considered it for our kids.
While reactions to these small schools – all of which are fabulous academically – are deeply personal, Grinnell is just a fabulous place. Beautiful campus, strong sciences AND humanities/social sciences, diverse and deeply tolerant student body, the town offers good pizza, coffee, doughnuts, bike shop and organic grocery and movie theater a few blocks from campus. Yes, travel from the east coast is a little trickier than Mac or Carleton, where you can fly into Twin Cities, but it is doable. I believe they do shuttles to Chicago at breaks etc. to simplify air travel.
What we felt at Grinnell was the a sense of “best of all possible worlds” – amazing facilities (especially sciences), strong faculty, dynamic new President, student body which was not one dominant type but all kinds of kids, from blue hair to Vineyard Vines. The size of the endowment allows the college to support programs deeply, and the opportunities for funded research, internships etc, plus merit and financial aid, are great. As a transplanted east coaster, living in midwest for long time, Grinnell struck me, as a genuine, “down to earth” community. Coach “Jaws” – the soccer coach, is a wonderful man, deeply caring about his team. My kid talked to him, met a bunch of players, and would have been thrilled to play for him, but couldn’t get his scores up enough to make it work, so had to move on. Our sense was, Grinnell likes ED for recruits, but has a very high bar for admission requirements, so probably looks to its RD round to fill out the roster. Worth a shot to email Coach, send film, and start that conversation about being a walk-on.
Kenyon is a great place, and again, these schools generate deeply personal responses. Same number of visits with our kids as Grinnell but neither of them really took to it, too small a village, a slight air (in their 17-18 year old minds) of overly precious snowflakes all brought together to celebrate their amazingness. My kids preferred Grinnell for that reason, just seemed more “normal” for want of a better way to describe it.
Haverford is a place you either respond to and embrace, or not – the Quaker tradition, Honor Code and smaller size – all make it its own place. If a kid doesn’t walk around campus and say “this is it” – I wouldn’t worry about walking away from that option, especially if the money isn’t as good.
Congrats to him, and good luck.
As the parent of a Grinnellian, i concur with Midwestmom’s assessment of the school, the students and the overall feeling of the area.
Now that you’ve said he has visited the schools, it seems proximity to a city is not a concern for your son. As for course offerings – your son will find plenty to fill his schedule at Grinnell, especially given his range of interests (which is not atypical of students there), and will always have tough choices about what NOT to take each semester! And, no doubt, once at college, his lists of academic interests will grow even further as he explores subjects that were not taught in high school.
I don’t know how this compares to the other schools, but Grinnell offers short courses and special topics each semester, too. The short courses are for a few weeks and for fewer credits, and often include alumni or others who come on campus to teach a somewhat offbeat or profession-related subject.
I do know that the Classics Department has sight reading nights (every other week?) at a professor’s home. Also, Monessa Cummins (department chair) was rated one of the best professors in the country on one of those ratings things that are done — not that i usually take stock in those, but after taking her class, my son raved about her (this was before this rating had come out).
Kenyon has a nationally ranked soccer team. Has he contacted the coach? He might love the program, or it might be too intense.
The Grinnell coach sounds great from what Midwestmomofboys had to say…
There is a kid from my town (we are also in New England) who is going to Kenyon and playing soccer. This particular kid plays soccer year round. He was recruited to play at Kenyon.
He has fantastic choices, can’t go wrong with any of them!
I wouldn’t suggest it would be worthwhile contacting Kenyon soccer program – the coaches are great (my kid talked about recruiting there too . . . .), but it was in the top 10 (even higher at times) last year and made it deep into the national tournament rounds. Highly competitive program, not a walk-on situation generally.
I have never visited Grinnell, but a New England colleague’s (OK, Upstate NY, but on a recent radio program abotu the presidential campaign, the commentator said that residents of our area identify more with New England than NY, whihc is true) daughter went there and adored it. She sounds a lot like your son. She recently received a Ph.D (I think from UCLA) and is now a prof at Carleton, so Grinnell obviously gives a strong academic background. The biggest drawback for some people is the location. My daughter prefers the city life, so didn’t look at Grinnell. If that is not an issue for your child and they gave you the most money, go for it!
I grew up in the Boston area and later moved to the Midwest for 5 years. Best thing I ever did for opening my mind. I learned that Northeast and West Coast people can be some of the most provincial out there. Iowa is different from New England in many ways, and attending school there might broaden his horizons as much as any semester abroad.
Well, contacting the coach with a simple email will let him know if being a walk on is even possible. I agree though, unless he was recruited he is unlikely to play at Kenyon.
@uncommondad I have been only reading this site for over a year, and just registered myself to reply here 
I couldn’t help it, because it was so interesting to see your son’s stats - mostly the same with my son! I was seeing how your son would decide.
My son is not a NE kid; we are in Pacific NW. He never had opportunity to be exposed to Latin. Other than that… valedictorian, soccer team captain. Played Div 1 club and 4 year varsity. Lots of extracurricular, wide academic interests - math, physics, chem, Spanish.
He got merit aid from Kenyon (most), Grinnell, Whitman, Oxy, grant aid from Carleton. He’s leaning towards Kenyon though, because of money. He’s also accepted at UW Honors Chem DA, and we as parents have agreed to pay for State education, and the difference is on him (we’ll be helping as much as we could). We didn’t get qualified for FA.
When he visited Grinnell during his junior year, he met Coach Jaws, and loved him. Actually when my son submitted the Recruit Me thing, the coach contacted him (he said that he had his boys check on my boy and found that he had HS soccer awards in Seattle Times as a sophomore). He’s invited to join (no commitment yet, obviously.)
I never visited any of these schools but my son did. He had most fun at Kenyon. I don’t know with your son, but they are really pushing him, it seems like. He likes the fact that he’s wanted, but he also knows that walking on to Kenyon soccer may be tough. (He’s contacted coach but not much interaction, hasn’t sent in videos yet. ) Tough choice for him.
I’ll let you know where my son will end up at. We can’t pick his brains where he’s at… he’s thinking quietly (introvert trait?). Good luck to you and your son!
@ichibanmama Enjoyed adding your post. Many similarities between our 2 boys! We met with the Asst Soccer Coach at Kenyon a year ago but he was not all that encouraging, mentioning they were primarily looking at Academy kids and D1 prospects in their quest to win a national championship. Son is at the point now of having narrowed to Carleton and Grinnell, both excellent choices I think. Was unable to meet either soccer coach though visited both campuses this week. 10 days til decison day!
A vote here for Carleton as the strongest school academically of the bunch. We have visited all as well (some more than once), and I have spent quite a bit of time at Carleton (many quiz bowl tournaments there for my kids in HS). I really like the academically strong but laid back vibe of Carleton.
@uncommondad for my boy neither Grinnell nor Carleton is out of the picture quite yet, so who knows, our boys may be playing in the same team in the future 
wouldn’t that be fun!
(I did not grow up in the US and not familiar with colleges here at all, but from what I have learned I want him to go to Grinnell, but dare do I tell him that!!!)
Grinnell is likely to be school where soccer walk-on is most do-able. Coach Jaws (Jaworski, I believe, is his actual last name) is a warm, kind, caring coach, the kind of person I felt we would happily “give” my son for 4 years, and he would come back to us an even better person. Kenyon is on the march to a national championship, could taste it, so is not going to spend much time on walk-ons, and Carleton went into the NCAA tournament, I believe, a few rounds, so is highly competitive soccer program.
For a kid who wants to play soccer, in an intellectual environment, with great kids, faculty, and resources, Grinnell is a fabulous fit.
Son is newest member of Carleton College Class of 2020! He was most impressed with the academics and will find some way to continue playing soccer, perhaps the club team if varsity does not fall in place for him. Thanks for all the helpful posts and I will try to do my part to reflect on his experience from time to time for future prospective Carleton students.
Congrats to you and your son on Carleton - fantastic school! Curious as to whether NESCAC schools were ever in the mix for him, given their similarity in many respects to Carleton and proximity to your home…
@CodyChesnutt Thanks for the congrats. Son Applied to 4 NESCAC schools - William, Amherst, Bowdoin, Middlebury. Waitlisted by every one of them. He did much better with acceptances in the Midwest.
I am a Northeasterner, but lived in the Midwest for several years. I think he will love it there. People are so down to earth there, and, in general, I found them to be very accepting and less judgemental than East Coast folks. Congratulations! Carleton is a great school.