<p>I'm really unsure guys. I've always been a city girl(I'm from chicago). I love everything about the city. I can't imagine not hearing the "street music" as I call it. But I'm pretty open minded. I plan to go into diplomacy. I don't know which school would be better for me. Grinnell pretty much gave me a free ride, and it's the most like my high school, with it's small classes and friendly teachers is such. But Boston is more like where I'm from, and it's a port city so the international experiences would be amazing. I just don't know. Any help would be appreciated</p>
<p>It's hard for me to imagine being torn between two schools as different as this. If you must be in a city, Grinnell won't give you that. If you want small classes, close relations with profs and a campus, BU won't give you those things. If you'd asked me last year, I'd have suggested you apply to Macalester or Lewis & Clark, maybe Goucher.</p>
<p>I would go with Grinnell in a heartbeat.</p>
<p>I have a good friend, now a professor, who went to Grinnell. She wouldn't live in an area like that now, but absolutely loved the school and considers it essential to her intellectual growth and development as a person. Take that for what it's worth.</p>
<p>I think it goes without saying, when you ask that question on the Grinnell forum, you will get lots of positive answers about Grinnell. But you have to decide what is important to you. As bethievt observed, these are hugely different schools. It seems like you are choosing between a school where SCHOOL--studying hard, being part of a tight community-- is the thing for your four year stay and, on the other hand, a school where you will go to class while enjoying all Boston has to offer. Very different experiences, to be sure. But it sounds like finances are an issue; will you have the money to enjoy the attractions that Boston provides? Grinnell is probably an easier place to be a "starving student" because the college provides so much free entertainment and because Grinnell (the town, itself)is just plain less expensive than Boston.</p>
<p>So you have a lot to think about. You have gotten on offer of admission from Grinnell because someone there believes that you can make a real contribution to the life of the college. There were many highly-qualified students who did not get that nod this year. My hope is this: if you decide to attend Grinnell, do it because you have decided you can be happy there and make the contribution someone thought you could. Don't be one of those who attends Grinnell becasue it was your cheapest option, all the while complaining that you'd really rather be at BU. </p>
<p>Best of luck deciding!</p>
<p>Thanks Dairy, you were really helpful. At first I was undecided between Grinnell, BU and American University in D.C. I eliminated AU because it wasn't the school I was interested in but the location, and that was no way to pick a school. I think it may be the same situation with BU, but I'm not sure. I guess I just always saw myself going to school in a big city. I applied to Grinnell last minute, but the more I read about it/learn about it, the more it appeals to me. And it's not about money for me, because I got FA from BU, I just don't want to make the wrong decision.</p>
<p>Dairy makes some very good points and I won't repeat them. I think academically, your experiences would be different. Both are good schools, however, Grinnell, being significantly smaller in class size is going to require more writing and research and offer few multiple choice tests. Some students prefer a learning environment where the lectures are highly structured with little discussion and with more recitation of the lecture for evaluations. You would be more likely to have more straight lecture at BU by virtue of its size, particularly during the first two years. Labs at larger schools are often run in small groups at each station; at Grinnell, you have your own station and are expected to run the entire lab as an individual (with help, when needed). What type of learning environment works best for you?</p>
<p>Being in Iowa in the winter is brutal (it snowed yesterday) and the sense of being far away from the rest of the world can be intensified by the weather. However, according to my daughter, the isolation fosters a strong connectedness among the students and in her words "you come up with a lot of creative, fun ways to entertain yourself". She prefers being part of the entertainment and isn't much of an observer. In Boston, you do have a rich array of restaurants, music, and culture. How much would you long for these things?
Best to you. The decisioning is agonizing. Last year, my daughter spent all of April struggling between Oberlin and Grinnell. On the final day to accept, she chose Grinnell knowing there would be losses and gains with either choice.</p>
<p>if i were you i'd choose grinnell. </p>
<p>transferring from a more selective school like grinnell to bu is definitely easier than the other way around.</p>