<p>Thanks so much to all of you. I think I'll try to visit sometime before ED deadlines, but if I can't, I'll just apply regular and hope for the best. I really think I'd be happy at either (and at the other schools on my list), so it should work out in the end whether I apply ED to one or wait until RD.</p>
<p>"-slightly bigger
-town seems a little less isolated"</p>
<p>These would be somewhat influential points to me.
D1's at Oberlin, which is bigger than either. There's tons to do there on campus, but she still wants to get away sometimes. Thank goodness at least Cleveland is 40 minutes away, for those times she just has to get out. She didn't go there at all the first couple years, but now, as same-old is getting to be same-old, she's been down there a number of times, and is glad to have access.</p>
<p>Based on her experience, I would say the isolation is more likely to be felt the last couple years than the first couple.</p>
<p>Going away, taking a semester abroad, just makes matters worse when you come back, in her experience, because she then she was starkly confronted with the fact that her college town is not London,etc. It's when she came back that she actually felt the need to start branching out more. She was fine staying on campus before that.</p>
<p>We were actually living not that far (relatively speaking) from Grinnell at the time she applied to colleges, and passed it on the highway a few times. We've been to des moines. Based on her perceptions from this, D would not visit or apply. Might be wonderful, but appeared too small and isolated for her tastes. Carleton seemed situated better for her. Which says nothing about the schools themselves.</p>
<p>YMMV.</p>
<p>monydad's post is reasonable and sensible and certainly how I'd feel. However, some schools have kids who just love to be there. Williams, which is fairly isolated, has groups of kids who refuse to go abroad because they don't want to miss one minute there.</p>
<p>Termperments vary so much that there are no easy generalizations. My D is getting stir crazy in NYC. I'm not sure how one accomplishes that. She is very excited to be leaving for London for a semester. She also feels that getting out of Morningside Heights on a regular basis is essential. She's felt that way since her freshman year.</p>
<p>On the other hand my S won't even step foot into the town at Williams (basically on campus) unless he absolutely has too. He loves campus life. His hair needs cutting so badly I am NOT going to be in the salon when his regular hair cutter yells at him for letting it go for three months.</p>
<p>Speaking in terms of traffic and time, Grinnell is closer to Des Moines and Iowa City than Carleton is to the Twin Cities (traffic around that end of MN is really bad).</p>
<p>Iowa City, especially, would be a fun get away.</p>
<p>I haven't been to Des Moines yet, but really liked Iowa City. It reminded me a little bit of Burlington, VT. And it probably is a similar drive, time-wise as from Northfield to Minneapolis. The size issue could become a factor later on--no way to tell at this point. He definitely plans to study abroad.</p>
<p>Mythmom, my son just figured out how to cut his own hair--didn't like spending the money.</p>
<p>Funny you mention it, those times we were driving by there we were en route, or returning from, Iowa City. D1 stayed there for parts of 2 summers and says it's a good college town. It didn't occur to me to mention it because, from my recollection, it seemed to me to be quite far away from Grinnell, but Mapquest says it's just a bit over an hour. So that's something, anyway.</p>
<p>Amana Farms is also kind of interesting. At least once.</p>
<p>I'll readily agree that practically any college, anywhere, is capable of holding one's interest for the first three months of attendance. The point is that this perspective can evolve over the course of four years. My daughter never expressed any desire to venture off-campus for the first two years; till she came back from her off-campus trips.</p>
<p>It's just nice to have options, in case you decide at some point you want to use them. It's true that not everybody will want to,necessarily, though.</p>
<p>Like maybe there's some kid attending Wellesley who never goes into Boston. Maybe.</p>
<p>I'm jealous, wife just reminded me that she went with D1 on the Minnesota college trip, without me, then they went to see Simon & Garfunkel in Minneapolis. It was a great, memorable trip for them. I could be wrong, but my guess is they weren't playing Des Moines*. Wife loved Carleton, says it would have been her first choice. However she was not the applicant.</p>
<ul>
<li>some people do though. Omaha too. Couple times there were acts playing at one of those places that weren't coming to some of the bigger cities in the greater area. But, let's face it, Minneapolis is a big-time city.</li>
</ul>
<p>When we went through Des Moines when we were out for admitted student's weekend at Grinnell, there were performances by Rod Stewart and Lewis Black. While Minneaposis is more metropolitan than Des Moines, Des Moines does get their fair share of entertainment. I would have chosen Oberlin for my S because of what i saw as the same advantage available to moneydad's daughter. But then, I wasn't the applicant either.</p>
<p>Regardless, both Carleton and Grinnell are outstanding schools, and again I recommend that the choice be made by which school is the best fit. When it's the right fit for your child and they are very happy, then the other factors pale by comparison.</p>