<p>any thoughts?</p>
<p>I’ve visited Grinnell twice and Oxy once, but don’t have first hand knowledge. So take my impressions with a grain of salt. Both Grinnell and Oxy seem like excellent schools, with Grinnell appearing to be more academically intense. Grinnell’s facilities (science, music, athletics) are better, but the college is absolutely in the middle of nowhere. Oxy has a great semester at the UN program and is pretty close to LA. Both schools are classic LACs, placing emphasis on teaching.</p>
<p>We looked at both and DS is going to be going to Grinnell in the fall. Grinnell is ranked much higher(although that was not really that important to us, but may be to you). They have a much better endowment and better name overall. Grinnell graduates one of the highest number of future PHD holders in the country. It’s more intellectual if that is the kind of school you are looking for. The facilities at Grinnell are superior too. Grinnell has a lot of money and over 50% of the kids study abroad and or do programs in DC etc…The have very good merit aid too. I do think Grinnell is more intense academically. We visited both and liked both, but Grinnell just seemed to fit better. Also, you should consider the price. Oxy is about $52k per year and Grinnell is $45K per year. That is $28k more over four years and many(check the statistic) kids at oxy do not graduate in four years. That was important to us as that would be another 52k plus the $28k = $80k if our DS took five years to graduate. I think the campus at Grinnell is nicer as well. They have really put a lot of money into the buildings in the last five to ten years. Another thing is that the students don’t pay for anything at Grinnell once they are in. The schools does an incredible job hosting parties, dances, lecturers etc…Everything is free. They have activities every single weekend. Oxy, although near LA is very hard to get around. The transportation system is bad in the Oxy area. Unless you have a car it is very hard to get anywhere. Kids told my DS that they rarely need spending money at Grinnell. If they want to get out of Grinnell there are free shuttle buses to Des Moines and or Iowa City on weekends. Grinnell is definitely more remote, but DS figured he would be so busy with school, that the trade off was well worth it. We did a three day visit and absolutely loved Grinnell. Oxy was nice, but not even in the same league in our opinion.</p>