<p>Well, my daughter and I hop a plane to Minnesota today to visit Carleton. She's doing an overnight tonight and then we're doing the tour, info session, interview, class thing tomorrow. Any advice for things we shouldn't miss while we're there? She's particularly interested in sciences and performing artsy-stuff (singing, dancing, theater). As for me, I'm just hoping I can find someone to toss a disc with while she's in class :)</p>
<p>Take a walk in the Arb. If you like Indian food, there’s a great place in the Archer House building on Division Street. Also a great soup/sandwich place (Hogan Bros?). Hope you have a wonderful visit!</p>
<p>Definitely walk in the Arb. If you want a good burger, go to the Quarterback Club, an easy walk from campus. I’ve liked every place I’ve been to eat – Tavern, Kurry Kebab. For dining on campus, I like Burton in the dark, pubby part rather than the LDC. The downtown is charming so take a stroll there.</p>
<p>Hoping y’all love it. Oh, and I suppose you should check out the new Weisz (sic?) Center.</p>
<p>Well, she’s off. D’s host was late and seemed like an introvert, so I’ll admit I’m a little worried, but we only talked for a minute and I could have had a bad read. I will be most interested to hear how things went in the morning. </p>
<p>And what a nice little downtown Northfield has! Two of D’s other top contenders are Williams and Middlebury, which both had towns that were downright teeny. Northfield feels like it’s got a lot to offer compared to those places.</p>
<p>And we’ll most definitely check out the Weitz center (I actually already walked through it after I dropped D off). Theater and dance are big interests of hers, so that’s clearly a must see.</p>
<p>You should eat at Hogan Brothers. (My sister goes to St. Olaf and we eat there every time I visit her.)</p>
<p>Hah! Bad read is right. D just reported she spent the last two hours ballroom dancing (her latest passion) with the Carleton club, and is having a total blast :)</p>
<p>My D attended Oberlin her freshman year (now a sophomore at Carleton). Northfield is light years better than the town of Oberlin with respect to dining and shopping. I won’t even go into comparisons between the Twin Cities and, ahem, Cleveland.</p>
<p>I’m glad your daughter had a great overnight experience! Social Dance Club is a blast. I’ve taken all of the PE classes.</p>
<p>I suggest hanging out at the Contented Cow in downtown Northfield for a bit. It’s a British style pub with a veranda that overlooks the Cannon River. Have you been noticing the foliage? The leaves are just starting to turn.</p>
<p>Goodbye Blue Monday is a nice coffee house. (I’ll be there this am.)</p>
<p>Also, as you will see, the Wietz Center is spectacular. </p>
<p>Enjoy your visit!</p>
<p>Looking forward to the full report, OP.</p>
<p>Well, I’m happy to report that my daughter flat-out loved Carleton. Apparently, the predominantly freshman hall where she stayed was all excited to be hosting their first prospie, and it sounds like half the dorm took an interest in her and talked to her. They were all very high on Carleton. She said everyone she asked thinks their profs are fantastic which is exactly what she hoped to hear. Plus, everyone we met was just so darned friendly! The number of random smiles I got just walking around campus was noteworthy.</p>
<p>In a development that almost seemed like divine intervention, someone walked into the room where she was hanging out and announced they were heading to Social Dance (an open-to-beginners ballroom dance party) and wondering if anyone would like to come. Well, my daughter has fallen in love with ballroom in the last 6 months, to the point where she’s on the verge of ruling out schools that don’t have a team (I’m looking at you, Williams), and was delighted to volunteer. She had a wonderful time! She was literally jumping up and down with excitement when I met her for the tour in the morning. </p>
<p>We were both impressed by the beauty of the campus (loved the little bridges over the river as well as the arb) and charmed by just-big-enough Northfield. As a health food zealot, she was particularly pleased by the well-stocked food co-op.</p>
<p>Carleton seems to fit D like a glove–superb sciences; strong performing arts community and facilities; friendly, interesting and involved students; and fabulous teaching. I don’t know that she’ll apply ED, because we’d really like to be able to compare financial offers, but she’s most definitely applying and it would be no shock if we found ourselves taking another trip to Northfield next September.</p>
<p>So glad to hear it, it sounds wonderful for your daughter. I’m sure she’ll have really great choices.</p>
<p>Rayrick,
If your daughter really thinks Carleton is her first choice I would recommend she apply ED. Carleton’s financial aid office does not play any games and the financial aid offer she would receive ED would be the same RD (if family circumstances remain the same). Carleton can and does adjust aid based on circumstances (e.g., unemployment). Feel free to PM me.</p>
<p>I believe what you’re saying, Mom90, and I’m under no illusions that we’re going to somehow entice Carleton into a better offer by going RD. It’s just that I think we’ve got a few too many moving parts for D to contractually commit to Carleton just yet.</p>
<p>For one, we really like everything we hear about Whitman (in part thanks to Bopambo above 
) and I think she’s got an excellent chance of getting a good merit offer from them. We may find ourselves in a situation where we get little to no financial help from the non-merit schools to which she’s applying (except a pretty meager $2K from Carleton for NMF). If she visits Whitman and loves it as much as the kids there seem to, and it’s, say, $60K cheaper over 4 years, that’s going to be very tough to turn down.</p>
<p>A little aside about Whitman: we were talking to one Carleton student about what other schools he’d looked at and he asked about D’s list. When she mentioned Whitman, he perked up and said “I think I probably should have applied there. When I was at accepted student days here, it seemed like half the kids I talked to were deciding between Carleton and Whitman”. So I think the campuses have a similar vibe and attract a similar sort of student.</p>
<p>Another factor is that we live in the Northeast, and the idea of being able to get to, say, Middlebury, without any plane rides involved, is also pretty attractive.</p>
<p>Also, while these things are never certain, D has a strong record and is not a borderline admit for Carleton. So, while it’s possible I’ll live to regret these words, I don’t think we feel like it’s imperative that she seize the advantage ED confers in getting into Carleton. I think she’s got a very strong shot RD.</p>
<p>Finally, as much as she loved Carleton, I think D feels like it’s got a bit of an unfair advantage over the other schools she’s visited, since it’s the only place she’s done an overnight as of yet.</p>
<p>That’s probably way more info than you bargained for. Suffice it to say, she thinks Carleton is a very special place, and it’s probably top of her list as of now, but we’re not quite ready to take the ED plunge.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t treat Carleton as a safety or a definite admit.</p>
<p>What can I say…as my post made clear, we’re weighing a lot of factors. I never used the word safety, but I think D’s prepared to take her chances with RD, as an out-of-region kid with stats that put her in the top 20% or so of Carleton’s student body. Call us crazy, but there it is.</p>
<p>rayrick, I understand what you’re saying - a lot of the factors you listed are very similar to those in my college search process (I’m also from the Northeast). I was also RD and decided to attend Carleton (based on fit and financial aid) the night before I had to choose, on April 30th. I’ve never looked back - I’m really happy here. I’m glad to hear that your daughter had such a good time! If you have any questions about Carleton and life here, I’d be glad to answer.</p>
<p>Your approach is entirely prudent, Rayrick, and your explanation is more gracious than necessary. Most students shouldn’t apply ED and no one should question motivations or judgments in declining to do so.</p>
<p>My oldest is a freshman at Carleton, and while it was always was or among her first choices, she also needed the opportunity to validate her feelings and judgment in comparison to other schools and our family wanted to weigh merit and need offers, as she also was a top candidate with lots of choices. In the end, Carleton became an easy choice for her and has been a great fit so far, but she never needed to question what her choices might have been.</p>
<p>By coincidence, our senior daughter is taking a visit to Whitman at the end of the month and it is her first choice currently, though she brings different qualities to her application than her sister did. We will again be assessing an earlier commitment (she is a recruited athlete) versus a full and fair process that permits comparing financial aid offers.</p>
<p>Best of luck to you and your daugher- she is looking at some great schools.</p>
<p>Thanks for your supportive words, Illinoisdad.</p>
<p>The whole RD vs ED thing is an interesting issue, and one about which people have strong feelings. It seems that the conventional wisdom on CC is that if you want to get into Highly-Selective-Institution X, you’d best take no chances and apply ED. Of course, the adcoms at said institutions uniformly swear that it makes virtually no difference (as did the interviewer at Carleton). The percentage-admitted statistics suggest otherwise, but perhaps all the talk of a stronger pool of highly self-selected applicants isn’t entirely BS. My personal view is that the ED advantage is probably a bit overblown, and provides only a modest bump in one’s odds, but I readily admit that I don’t have any hard evidence to back that up. No doubt the situation varies from school to school, as well.</p>
<p>What I do know is that the highly competent and experienced college counselor at D’s school put Carleton in the ‘likely admit’ category, and her intuition is based on far more data than mine. Here’s hoping she’s right.</p>
<p>And thanks for the offer, reesezpiecez103! My daughter may well take you up on it.</p>