<p>so i cannot decide between these colleges. first i have to decide if it is worth paying for private college. macalester and grinnell both cost about 27k a year and iowa would cost me 15k so about a 12k differenece. next if i decide private college is better then i have to choose between grinnell and macalester. can anyone help. what would you do? and i don't really care for answers like "it depends". thanks ;-)</p>
<p>Iowa would be the best choice by far.</p>
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<p>That’s too bad, because the only honest answer really is “it depends”. You cannot rationally get past “it depends” without sharing more information and exploring what is really important to you. If this were not true, then the choice would be easy. There would be one universal answer to your question; everyone accepted to these three schools would always make the same choice. They don’t.</p>
<p>But you asked what I would do. I would choose one of the two liberal arts colleges, despite the higher cost, because they are much smaller, more intimate, more selective schools. Smaller classes and more capable students result in a better environment for good discussion, which I consider an important feature of liberal education. Of the two LACs, I’d pick Macalester. The two are almost equally selective (Grinnell is very slightly more so). Both have excellent student:faculty ratios (Grinnell’s is a little lower, but Mac has a slightly higher percentage of classes with fewer than 20 students.) Grinnell has better facilities. So far, the advantage is slightly in Grinnell’s favor. But Mac has two big advantages, in my opinion. First, Mac’s annual research expenditures are more than double Grinnell’s (over $2M v. less than $1M). Second, Mac is located in a thriving city, Grinnell in the middle of cornfields. These two differences indicate that Mac has better opportunities for research, internships, entertainment and culture. My oldest kid, a recent college graduate, tells me that work and internship experience is the single biggest factor in friends’ ability to get jobs straight out of college.</p>
<p>This all assumes that your family can afford the additional $12K year. If you would have to borrow all of that difference, I think it probably is not worth it and you should go to Iowa.</p>