I would like to major in Mathematics and Economics. Which of these schools would be the best? Which one has better professors and more undergraduate research opportunities?
I can’t speak to math at Grinnell, all I know is that it is very difficult.
As for econ, it depends on what you want to do. We are very strong for going into academia, but we have less connections in finance. Of course, I still know some motivated Grinnellians who have successfully gone into finance. It’s less a part of Grinnell culture to seek wealth rather than ideals. There is a Student Endowment Investment Group that you might want to check out if you are interested in finance:
http://web.grinnell.edu/groups/invest/
Undergraduate research opportunities are plentiful for those who take initiative. All you have to do is show genuine interest in a professor’s research and ask if you can help out.
There is actually an economics professor (Caleb Stroup) who just left Grinnell for Davidson College. You might want to email him because he would probably know the most about how the two colleges compare. If you do, make sure to be very professional and ask specific questions.
What I do know about Davidson is that the campus culture is very different. I find it difficult to imagine that a happy Grinnell student would enjoy Davidson’s culture. The same goes for happy Davidson students. Do your research on campus culture beforehand because it will make a significant difference for your future happiness.
@WiseStudent makes an important point: the campus cultures at Grinnell and Davidson are very different. My daughter is a very happy first year at Grinnell. When we visited Davidson, I couldn’t even get her to go on the campus tour after the info session, because it revealed that about 30% of students are sorority or fraternity members.
I can’t imagine that there’s enough difference in math research opportunities to make a person who would be happy at Grinnell willing to settle for Davidson and vice-versa. Have you visited both schools? My daughter didn’t visit Grinnell until after she was accepted because we live in the Southeast.
Good luck with you decision.
Actually, sororities includes almost none* of the women at Davidson. Instead, Davidson has four non-residential Eating Houses which are joined through a non-competitive self-selection process (http://www.davidsonpcc.com/eating-house-self-selection.html).
*a very small percentage are in historically African-American sororities: Alpha Kappa Alpha (http://www.davidsonpcc.com/alpha-kappa-alpha.html) and Delta Sigma Theta (http://www.davidsonpcc.com/delta-sigma-theta.html)
I would second the comments of @foosondaughter. We visited both places with our D who has no interest at all in Greek Life. We felt that Greek Life at Davidson was not overwhelming in any way and that D would be completely comfortable there, despite her disinterest in Greek Life.
With respect to Grinnell, I loved that school (as I did Davidson) but I just couldn’t get D to look past the endless cornfields outside of town. As a life-long resident of CO, the very rural, flat environs around Grinnell was just too big of a change for D.
Both great schools, and I don’t know if I’d generalize that a kid who would fit in well at Grinnell wouldn’t at Davidson. The friend of my son who attends Davidson is about as crunchy at they come (and his parents are grads of an uber liberal SLAC), and he’s been very happy there. I think he joined a fraternity there too. (I kind of doubt Greek life at Davidson is similar to that of SEC schools.)