<p>To everyone who has applied or will apply - or to current students of Grinnell who applied in the past - what other schools did you apply to?</p>
<p>I have looked at a lot of universities and LACs. And Grinnell keeps standing out as a unique place in the middle of nowhere with a strong emphasis on academics and superb faculty in all areas. I am having trouble thinking of many other places to apply. I am also applying to Reed and Lewis and Clark; L&C is my safety and Reed also strikes me in a sense like Grinnell (although Reed's not in the middle of nowhere for sure!). </p>
<p>What other schools, LACs or unis interest you alongside Grinnell?</p>
<p>Wesleyan, Vassar, Carleton, Macalester
are you the one that's applying as a transfer? bc then i'd DEF reccomend u apply to Wesleyan. it's a liberal arts school (w/ all the general awesome liberal arts stuff) but it's double the size, so transfer admissions aren't as brutal.</p>
<p>My son applied to Grinnell, L & C and Reed also. In addition, he applied to Carleton, Goucher, Haverford, Macalester, Oberlin, Pomona and Vassar. I think he'd have been happy at any of these schools, but I know he's happy at Grinnell.</p>
<p>My son is a recent Grinnell grad. He also applied to Carleton and Macalester. My daughter applied to Grinnell last year, along with Lawrence University, College of Wooster, Earlham, and Beloit (where she ended up).</p>
<p>The other ones my son looked at were Antioch, Bard, Bates, Beloit, Evergreen State, Hampshire, Sarah Lawrence, Skidmore, St. John's (Annapolis) and Wesleyan.</p>
<p>My daughter applied to and was accepted by Oberlin, Vassar, Reed, Lawrence, Case Western And UNC-Chapel Hill (last one was instate financial choice) in addition to Grinnell. She's at Grinnell and loves it-she's missing her Grinnell friends terribly even though she's on break in a big college town.</p>
<p>I suggest visiting the schools and doing a dorm overnight once you are accepted. Spending time attending classes and hanging out with students, sleeping in the dorms were very helpful in my daughter's decisioning process. Any of the schools D got into would have been a great academic experience. Grinnell just felt right for her in a way the other schools did not.</p>
<p>I'm also applying to a lot of other interesting, small liberal arts colleges -- Macalester, Wesleyan, Vassar, Carleton, Bard (got in IDP), Oberlin -- plus a few that aren't so much like Grinnell: NYU Gallatin, University of Chicago, University of Vermont.</p>
<p>Yes, I'm the transfer student. I am definitely already considering Mac and Wesleyan. I would enjoy Wesleyan quite a bit, but I don't think I know enough about Mac.</p>
<p>Oberlin also appealed to me, as did Kenyon and Carleton, but for some reason Grinnell is standing out. Grinnell also has a slightly higher transfer acceptance than Oberlin, etc... transferring into some of these LACs really seems like hell. It's a different story for us transfers. I originally wanted to go to Haverford, but the transfer acceptance rate there is astronomically low.</p>
<p>I suppose I'd consider any school where the academics are very serious and the students are laid back, and Grinnell has certainly struck me in that sense.</p>
<p>Mac would fit your description also. My niece graduated from Mac 20 years ago and loved it. A friend's D is there now and also loves it. It has a wonderful international flavor. I would suggest you cast a wide net, because there's no way to know which schools will be looking for which types of students in any given year.</p>
<p>Parisha, you may also want to consider Hendrix, Whitman and Earlham. D has friends at each of these schools and they are very happy with the level of academics. One chose Hendrix over Grinnell simply because it was much, much cheaper for her and had some similar characteristics to Grinnell. The admit rates for these schools is much higher than Grinnell as well for both firstyears and transfers.</p>
<p>I absolutely don't want to be discouraging, but you probably know Grinnell over-yielded significantly this year, another reason to give yourself more options.</p>
<p>Over-yielded implying the freshman class now is larger than expected or that applications for the incoming freshman class are higher? Please clarify, I'm curious. Thanks.</p>
<p>Both occurred. The acceptance rate dropped to 33% and they still yielded 50 more students than they'd wanted. And I believe they accepted only 1 transfer students, when they usually admit 25 or so. Consequently, they are likely to be even more conservative this year.</p>
<p>Only the admissions office knows how many students have applied this year. Some schools expect app rates to be down because of the economy. My advice to any student would be to apply to appealing schools across a range of selectivity. as my son did and SmallColleges has done.</p>
<p>Lewis & Clark might be a safety for the OP and Grinnell might be attainable--even with more info we wouldn't know for sure-- but I would still suggest adding a few more options.</p>