<p>Is there any reason to turn down Williams for Grinnell? Any at all?</p>
<p>Umm a lot. They are very different schools. Grinnell is more laid back, and has more economic diversity. There is less of a sense of entitlement at Grinnell. Williams has more prestige, but Grinnell's is rapidly growing. Academically, Grinnell is at least as strong, and may even be slightly stronger. Grinnell students are more liberal then williams, and not very preppy.</p>
<p>If I had to make the choice it would be Grinnell, I like Williams, but Grinnell is a much better place for me.</p>
<p>academically comparable. geographically different.
visit both and compare feel.</p>
<p>I agree with post #2. Grinnell is very liberal & extremeley gay friendly. Williams is one of the best schools in the country with respect to academics, especially science. Williams tends to be a bit preppy. If you visit, you will know. Both are isolated campuses.</p>
<p>Different feel. Grinnell was my son's top choice in the end due to academic excellence and lack of pretension. The facilities are incredible and they give really good financial aid. He didn't apply to Williams so I can't make a direct comparison and even if I could, it might not apply to you. The system of advising is, I've been told, better at Grinnell. If you could visit and hang out with students on both campuses, that would tell you a lot.</p>
<p>I agree with the above statements based on what I have heard from D's friends who visited Williams. It is obviously an outstanding school.</p>
<p>My neighbor's child was accepted to Williams and chose not to go due to the lack of money offered by Williams. We have similar family statistics (SES, 2 children, both parents working and in home) and the children were very matched academically (SAT, GPA, sports -their child was an outstanding athlete, ours a musician). We were offered about 12K a year more in scholarship money at Grinnell than they were at Williams. If money is important, perhaps Grinnell would offer a better situation.</p>
<p>Academics and research opportunities are more important to me. What about grading? I've heard it's really hard to get A's at Williams. Would a lower Williams GPA be superior to a higher Grinnell one? I'm considering graduate school(possibly anthropology and/or economics).</p>
<p>Both schools--and their toughness-- are well recognized by grad schools. The schools probably are both good on research--I'm sure Grinnell is. Grinnell has a very high percentage of grads going on for PhDs. Don't know about Williams.</p>
<p>I looked up PhD production at both school (percentage-wise) and Grinnell is #10, Williams #19. Grinnell is #2 nationwide in Econ PhDs and #3 in Anthro PhDs (again, accounting for size).</p>
<p>It would be awesome if you could link me to the source.</p>
<p>The odd thing about Grinnell producing so many PhDs in Linguistics is that they have only one course in that area and just a concentration, no major or minor.</p>
<p>When i visited grinnell, the interviewer said the all the classes, except intro to blah blah, are graduate level work. There is no easy path in grinnell, and everyone works extremely hard. They have very evenly distributed majors (34% Social Science, 33% Science, 32% Humanities) so there is no slacker major, or no better majors.</p>
<p>D's experience at Grinnell has been exactly as the interviewer suggested to small colleges-like graduate school. For example, D she scored a 5 on the AP bio. Grinnell gave her elective credit for the AP but still required Grinnell's Intro biology before proceeding to upper level courses. Grinnell's intro biology has been nothing like intro bio as I know it at our flagship state u. The "classic" Campbell intro text is used a a reference along with a research methods text. There is very little lecture on either of these books but the students are expected to know the content and are tested on it. There are additional journal readings assigned as well. D is constantly researching, conducting experiments, cranking out a statistical analysis for each project and writing what resembles a smaller version of a thesis on her research. Class time is used for discussion and presentations. I did not have an experience like this until I was a senior in college conducting an independent study. The focus at Grinnell, from what I have observed, is preparation for graduate school. I will also add that many of her classmates are the children of university and college faculty and chose Grinnell for the graduate school preparation.</p>