<p>okay i know this has been asked before but i still need more info!
here's what it's really come down to for me:
i really wanna get wrapped up in my academics and close to my teachers, which i'm sure i can do at carleton (small classes, high-rated professors, LOVE the trimester system) and for some reason that's not quite the vibe i'm getting from wesleyan.
BUT
i'm gay and pakistani (muslim) and diversity and open-mindedness are extremely important. carletonians seem welcoming and open-minded, for the most part, but i dunno if that's a defning characterisitic for them. and also i'm a dam hoot, so i feel like i'd have fun anywhere, but wesleyan just seems so much more active.</p>
<p>so basically i REALLY want to think one or the other is perfect so i could just go ahead and apply ED, but i either need more convincing of wesleyan's academic coolness or of carleton's open-mindedness.
OR if you guys could think of another option that would be a nice combination of the two somehow.</p>
<p>Why not apply RD to both of them? Unless you have a clear-cut first choice and can handle the possible financial implications, you shouldn't use ED, imo.</p>
<p>Grinnell is amazing, i loved it, but i loved wesleyan and carleton too. it's in the mix up there but i think i'll just apply regular. I'm visiting Vassar saturday but i dunno, Wesleyan just seems cooler haha</p>
<p>^I think if she really likes the trimester system at Carleton it's going to be difficult to find the same ambience at another college. Some people like the constant sensory bombardment and change of subject matter. She might look into Dartmouth which has a quarter system (I think there is a summer's worth of classes in there somewhere.) Also, if she's interested in the social sciences, Wesleyan's College of Social Studies (really not a separate college, but an interdisciplinary program with its own professors) also runs on a trimester calendar.</p>
<p>Yeah, if you want to get wrapped up in your academics, CSS is about as good as it gets: small classes, SUPER close faculty/student interaction, very tighnight group. It’s very intense, though. The College of Letters (similar, but more humanities and languages oriented, and not on the trimester system) also provides that kind of absorption in academics. </p>
<p>In general, I think you are able to get absorbed into your academics at Wes if you want to, though I agree that Wes is less inherently like that than Carleton; the sense I get from talking to a Carleton friend is that more students focus on ECs at Wes vs. academics at Carleton, though obviously people are both studious and active outside studies at both. </p>
<p>AH you guys are all so helpfull! my gut feeling is towards Wes. like i know i'd be happiest there i got that feeling on campus. and johnwesley is a God! i'm interested in political science, government.....really i was thinking about CSS anyways but i didn't know it was on the trimester system! it doesn't say that on the main page of the CSS website but after some more investigation ure right! (well of course you are haha). BLEH now i got the pain of having my heart set on a school!</p>