<p>I wanted to know how hard the grading system is, like where is the average GPA for a student that studies pretty hard? How strong are the econ/political science/ East Asian studies ? How are grad school stats( for law, business, and econ)? </p>
<p>Also what does the town offer? Did anyone find it very very hard to adjust to the environment here? How's the housing and food?</p>
<p>Thanks for any info, I'm currently deciding between here and McGill.</p>
<p>Try the office of institutional research:</p>
<p>Great grad school stats. don't know about average GPA. if your a strong student I would assume you'll do good. All of those programs are strong. Town is tiny. small town midwest. It is cute and has what you need like two sweet thrift stores, 2 pubs, chinese, thai, 2 good resteraunts (phoenix, depot), fast food places, wall-mart, etc. As far as adjusting to its "environment" it wasn't a big deal because you really don't ever have to go into town. The town isn't why people come to this college. People from all over the country are at the college. Tons of stuff to do on campus. But if you need to wander off campus it is cute and friendly...des moines and iowa city about an hour away as well.</p>
<p>I like the small town environment here - it just means more interacting with the rest of the campus.</p>
<p>You mentioned East Asian Studies, and so I thought I'd mention the Japanese language department here is very slow, but I'd say the Chinese department is very strong.</p>
<p>If you like PoliSci/Econ/East Asia, one big thing to consider about Grinnell is their Rosenfield Program which brings in tons and tons of speakers all the time to talk about different international issues. THere was a big China symposium this year (about 2 lectures a day by visiting professors/diplomats/scholars/alums/people doing various work in China). And that is in addition to the huge number of international scholars that have visited. To give you an idea, some of the best ones I've been to were by a specialist in Africa-China and other South-South relations, a Bangladesh NGO representative from BRAC (biggest NGO in the world) speaking on the work BRAC is involved in, diplomat from China, speaking on the current issues China is facing in development,... and these are really just a few...</p>