Hi all! Been following this thread for a bit as my DD has been considering a few of the same LAC’s that you all are discussing. Just found out that she was accepted to Grinnell. Yet, no merit and no no aid. 
On the other hand, she was accepted to a number of other LAC’s with merit. Of those, Wooster and Depauw are still on our final list. So is University of Denver as a different twist (think weather, and job and and internship opportunities). My husband and I are both Grinnell grads. We LOVED Grinnell. Of course we are now very torn about Grinnell for almost $60k a year or Depauw for $38 (after merit). Macalaster didn’t ‘click’ with my daughter, which is fine, considering we had a long list of colleges and had to narrow somehow.
Congratulations to all on all the good choices. Now my DD just has to make a decision.
@lexluthor5 If you are torn between Grinnell and Mac I would check out the cost of flights from DesMoines and Minneapolis and see how they compare. I was looking at flights the other day and was shocked by the differences. I found that a flight from Pittsburgh to NY was far more expensive than a flight from Chicago or Indianapolis to NY. Depending on how often your dc will travel it can make a big difference.
@momtodd how do wooster, u of denver and depauw compare? i noticed that all three are known for good merit. did your child have a favorite campus, find one campus more friendly or vibrant? thanks
Does anybody have updated information about the party scene at Grinnell? I ask because academically it seems like it would be a good fit for my daughter. On line, however, I have numerous comments about the “work hard, play hard” mentality on campus and the self-governance/minimal policing of substance use that translates into excessive drinking on weekends and fairly widespread marijuana use. An admissions officer at a college fair also confirmed the existence of a substantial weekend party scene.
Yes, I am aware that there is substance-free housing and activities (limited) that cater to students who don’t partake.
I’m not a prude about these things and I wouldn’t care if my kid did some responsible partying as a college student. She knows that some degree of drinking and drug use will happen on any campus. However, if getting plastered every weekend were a dominant feature of campus life, that would be a huge turnoff for her and she would feel uncomfortable.
I don’t mean to hijack this thread; just asking because a number of posters have commented on Grinnell and it’s a school that the OP is seriously considering. So perhaps this might be a concern for him and his daughter as well.
@lexluthor5 Congratulations to your daughter on her many acceptances and sorry that Kenyon didn’t work out. It sounds like this year was especially tough for admissions and funding.
@momtodd : Have you visited Wooster? We loved it. I’m not sure where it shakes out on my kid’s list now that he’s received some other good news this week (including Grinnell), but it seems like a terrific place.
Wooster was extremely friendly. Everyone was ‘nice’ and made an extra effort to greet us, ask if we had questions, etc. On the positive side, seems the faculty are very engaged with students and the students are very comfortable in an environment that seems accepting of all types of individuals. The negative is their physical infrastructure. Dated student center (though physical center recently upgraded). Dorms also very dated. Wooster’s off campus study center was very impressive (from resource perspective). In my mind, it set the bar. Lots of resources to help identify and get internships and jobs. The best I saw of any college I visited.
Depauw’s physical infrastructure is the total opposite as it is top notch! New student center/cafeteria opens in the fall and the previous building will be upgraded to house many of the services such as student life, off campus study, etc. The newly renovated space allows these groups to work together. Depauw’s negative (or positive depending on perspective) is that 65% of students are greek. While my DD is interested in greek, she is worried that the emphasis on greek will cause the student body to be more ‘cliquey’. Depauw also has a lot of money, not as much as Grinnell, but definitely top tier. Thus, their program offerings, including multiple J term options that are overseas are OUTSTANDING. Two J (or May) term experiences are required and one must be off campus. The two required extra terms are included in tuition. Another example of investment in infrastructure is a radio and tv station. Another negative for Depauw is the town, or lack there of. Let’s just say it makes Grinnell look like a booming metropolis.
We fly out to Denver next week. The positive here is the city. Denver is a city with lots of opportunities. We did visit last summer and were impressed. About 5500 undergrad and 4500 grad students. Still feels like a ‘small’ school, though not quite the ‘cocoon’ of a Grinnell, Wooster or any of the other smaller LAC’s. Denver does have a lot more course offerings and my DD does have an interest in Marketing. at DU she could major in the LAC school and minor in Marketing in the Business School (which is highly rated). As you could guess, real estate is more expensive in Denver than in many of the towns where the LAC’s are found. Thus, even for a bigger school, DU is fairly condensed from a physical perspective so it feels smaller than the 10,000 students it has.
We’ve been really analyzing this, can you tell? I admit (this is mom by the way), I am a bit of a detailed person. We even created a decision analysis spreadsheet to help DD make her decision. 
Wow. I’m surprised at the max of $10K for Kenyon. Very different from our experience but that was 7 years ago.
@momtodd thank you so much. that was great information!
@porcupine98 am I reading your post correctly – your kid is in at Grinnell? If so, congrats! Nothing to worry about sciences at Grinnell – gorgeous facility, lots of student research support – (if I am remembering correctly that your kid is a science/music kid, who had been looking at Wooster and some others, trying to narrow down list before RD decisions came in).
@mamaedefamilia My “sub free” D is a first year at Grinnell. At first she was taken aback by the partying, in part because she wasn’t exposed to it in HS. I know, sounds crazy, but true. Anyway, my take, based on her feedback, is that there is just as much partying at other colleges as there is at Grinnell, but given its small size and relatively isolated location it feels more pervasive. On the other hand, my D really loves Grinnell and has made great friends and they find other things to do on the weekends. Also, no one pressures people to drink or smoke, so it’s not obnoxious in that way. Indeed, she has commented more than once on how nice people are at Grinnell.
So, yes, there’s partying, but if that’s not your thing, Grinnell still appears to have much to offer. Feel free to message me if you have more questions! I was worried about the same issue when she applied.
@Dawnpaige Thank you, I may take you up on your offer as we work on refining her list!
@mamaedefamilia I second everything Dawnpaige says about Grinnell. My S is also a first year living in substance free housing. He is very happy with his social life and stays busy. The non-judgmental attitude extends to partiers not judging non-partiers and vice versa. In fact, substance free housing is so popular S probably will not get into a sub-free dorm next year. A large group of his friends are trying for another dorm on the same side of campus so they can stay together and are not worried about too much partying.
DS was active on both Grinnell and Mac’s accepted student pages on facebook along with several other LACs. He found them very helpful in finalizing his decision.
Still trying to decide if we should go to both Grinnell and Macalester accepted students days. I tried to see if Mac was interested in upping there offer some today, but they weren’t going to budge on the merit aid.
With Mac on the very high end of the budget already, plus extra travel costs vs east coast schools, they may fall out. That COA for an east coast school without the travel time/expenses, maybe barely.
Grinnell at $12K/year lower COA seems to be more desirable, at least the parents at the moment. We (parents) think that’s the perfect school for her anyhow. We’ll never get a direct flight, which is a pain, but Southwest has some reasonable priced options and there are lots of other flights to Des Moines (or even CID) as well, so it’s not too bad.
@lexluthor5, FWIW, I know of a current Grinnell student who is very happy there now. I believe she got wait-listed at Mac and didn’t care for it when she visited anyway. My son, OTOH, got wait-listed at Grinnell and accepted to Mac with a nice FA package. We hadn’t visited either school and were kind of relieved he only got into one because we couldn’t figure out how to visit both this time two years ago. We did visit Mac, and while I loved it, he really did NOT care for the school. In retrospect, I don’t think he would have cared for Grinnell either, but we’ll never know.
Traveling to the Twin Cities from Philly ended up NOT being the easy-peasy trip I expected it to be. I can’t imagine traveling to Des Moines and driving would have been any more stressful. I would definitely try to visit Grinnell before you commit, but it sounds like a good fit for your student.
We are definitely visiting Grinnell for 4/10-4/11 accepted students day. Very excited.
We did both – flew into Minneapolis for Mac’s events and then drove down to Grinnell for theirs (it’s four hours of farms). Flew back home out of Des Moines. I’m glad we saw both just to confirm and compare. If you have the time it might be worth it. The biggest difference between the 2 schools (as far as I could tell from tours and other insider knowledge) is the living situation, campus and campus life. Educationally, especially for social sciences and humanities, probably about the same give or take a major for each. The things that differed mattered a lot to my D so Grinnell prevailed. Once we finished each event I just let my D talk and didn’t offer input until she was finished. But I knew from her demeanor how she felt.
Whatever you do, have fun (and book your hotel in Grinnell now)!
@Dawnpaige would be nice to contrast and compare, but Mac is stretching the budget, may just pass.
Thanks for the reminder on that restaurant. I had looked at it the other day. Just made a reservation.
Did you ask Kenyon to reconsider merit aid? Curious about that