Help me decide Colby v Carleton v Kenyon v Macalester

Not sure if helpful at all, as we visited all the Midwest schools listed above. The enthusiasm for Geology at Carleton came across in our tour - guide said he had no plans of studying the subject and took an intro class and was hooked and changed his major to geology. The group my daughter ate lunch with told her to make sure to take at least one geology course even if you think you have no interest - as she had asked what are some of their favorite courses/profs. The science/labs facilities were impressive.

My daughter loved everything about Carleton except it did not go as deep in the arts and creative majors vs the other schools. She chose another school - but already told us she will still take a Geology intro course based on all the positive vibes from Carleton about exposing your self to the subject.

Kenyon does talk about scientific writing as part of their program too and I believe that is an interest of the school President too.

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Carleton does tend to be known for its geosciences programs, as are some of the OP’s other choices:

Courses in Environmental Studies about the Arctic currently listed on the Macalester website:

ENVI 259 - Indigenous People’s of the Arctic

The Arctic represents one of the most extreme environments to which humans have adapted. These adaptations include both biological and cultural changes. . . It also explores the consequences of rapid global climate change . . .

ENVI 362 - Arctic Ecology

The Arctic is the Earth’s most rapidly warming region. It is also home to massive carbon reservoirs and diverse biological adaptations to extreme elements, as well as home to Indigenous populations, and the site of oil extraction and vanishing sea ice. We will examine how climate change is impacting the biodiversity, ecophysiology, and biogeochemistry of this crucial biome and, as a result, the rest of the world. As an upper level course, Arctic Ecology aims to challenge students to improve their science communication skills through varied written, spoken, and visual presentations. Students will also be challenged to synthesize content acrosssystems and create novel hypotheses about current and future impacts of change at a species, community, ecosystem, and landscape scale.

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Wow! A second wind for this thread. Thank you, everyone— so much! I will show D all of the posts. It is such a difficult thing to plan four years based off of nothing but info from the internet, but you all are very very helpful! D is no longer considering Colby. I believe Mac and Carleton are just a bit ahead of Kenyon, but only because D is worried she’d be surrounded by students who are consumed by the literary arts. Without a visit to help, trying to figure out where she’ll find her people is difficult and any little factoid becomes amplified. I suggested she attend some Kenyon classes - but the signups for this weekend were already closed. St. O has been a pet fav of mine from the beginning and especially since they offered great aid, but I doubt it will stand up to opportunities offered by the other three.
@Bill_Marsh and @CheddarcheeseMN @MYOS1634 @merc81 - thanks for helping us to think in terms of specific courses at Mac.

As for location, I really don’t have a feeling about where D would be most happy. The only extensive VISITING experience she has is with the Claremont Colleges - we are Pomona grads - (a topic for a whole other thread - legacy admissions but please not here
) and sister is at CMC. Out of Northfield, Gambier and the suburbs of MSP, would Mac be most similar?

@MinnesotaDadof3 Fantastic information! Very cool!

@coffeeat3 Thanks, yes, very helpful!

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I have not been to Carleton but have been to Pomona and Kenyon and Macalester. I know people say Mac is in a suburb of St Paul, but it really felt like a somewhat upscale urban midtown area with both residences and retail. Did not feel like a suburb (but maybe my definition of suburb is wrong!). Claremont felt more like a suburb to me. The kids at Mac were walking all along the surrounding roads that featured cafes, shops, etc. Son loved that he could step 20’ from his dorm and find himself in a cute local coffee shop or a Patagonia or a used record store. If anything it maybe felt more like Occidental (if you’ve been there) bc you could easily access everything without transportation. Kenyon was the exact opposite. Gorgeous campus but extremely remote. We stayed in the next town over (Mt Vernon) and couldn’t find a restaurant open on a Sunday night. Gambier had one restaurant option the next day (Monday). I think it really depends on the sort of experience your kid wants. My kid thought Kenyon was idyllic, but he preferred the energy of the Mac campus.

DS19 is at Carleton, majoring in Geo-Chemistry, favorite course so far was minerology, and has lots of smart but chill friends, so the impressions in this thread fit our experience pretty well. He is heading off to Patagonia and Antarctica for fall study abroad - penguins but no polar bears!

Carleton is wonderful, but I’m willing to bet the others are too. No bad choices here - congrats.

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In case you skipped over my earlier error today, it was with Admiral BYRD for whom Laurence M. Gould (later of Carleton) was in second command. My embarrassing bad. Admiral Perry fought in the War of 1812 – an entirely different story!

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@Onlineschoolworkstoo RE writing assistance, you might want to schedule appointments with the academic support/disability office for each school.

S’21 applied to Carleton (WL) and MAC (admitted). Looked at Colby College and Kenyon but applied to neither. Colby is more remote than Bates and Bowdoin and has a strong athlete and New England prep cohort. We were not sure if a non-athlete would find a social fit there. HOWEVER, it is rising in the rankings quickly due to it’s new program in AI which is unique and groundbreaking among SLAC’s. See link below. Wondering if this was the catalyst behind the huge application surge this year with 16,000 students applying. Colby College is VERY well regarded nationally and amongst graduate schools.

Kenyon was too remote and isolated for my S‘21.

S‘21 loved Carleton (visited in 2019) for the collaborative and intellectual vibe and access to nature and relative access to Twin Cities and major airport. Downtown Northfield is also quaint and nice. It‘s students take pride in it’s all inclusive Social Environment. It‘s trimester program moves the material along more quickly but is also more of a deep dive because they take fewer classes at a time. Not sure if this will work in your D‘s favor re writing but I read that Carleton provides great academic support services to help the students tackle the academics.

We visited Macalester a few weeks ago. Very vibrant campus and felt larger than we imagined. Very international and friendly. I had read it is a good fit for a SJW, and with strong political science internships, this is not surprising. Yet, the student body seemed diverse. They have athletics, but it isn’t a strong focus. Surrounding area is a residential URBAN neighborhood with quaint local retail areas woven in. It is about 10 minutes to the airport in one direction and 10 minutes to the University of Minnesota in the other direction. It is not urban like Boston University or Marquette if you are familiar with those schools. Imagine an oasis in the middle of a well-established, moderately well-off urban neighborhood with modestly-sized and well-kept older homes with great access to urban transportation. The Mississippi River with parkways and and endless bike paths linked into the Twin Cities bike path network are about 1.5 miles away. If she likes biking, this is the place. MAC is part of a 5 school consortium, including St. Catherine‘s, St. Thomas, Hamline and Augsburg. St. Kate and St. Thomas are right down the Street. FYI, we loved the approach of their academic support program - look at the MAX Center offerings (writing link below but they offer academic support across many subjects). We really appreciated the compassion of their faculty and staff in explaining their programs. Note, MAC had a 40% increase in applications this year.

One more thing to consider is where will D feel more comfortable in cold winter and whatever activities are offered during that season. Carleton has a larger campus and has more outdoor activities. Not quite sure how MAC students spend their time then, but with access to the Twin Cities, the possibilities are more expansive.

http://www.colby.edu/news/2021/01/28/colby-becomes-first-liberal-arts-college-to-establish-major-academic-program-in-artificial-intelligence/

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Last night, D and I went through all of your responses and she was so happy to hear what you all had to say. She liked your correction @MinnesotaDadof3 , “wow there are real people on here and they are giving great input for Me!”

@annaliese67 Thank you. I feel like you just took me on a little tour just now. All of that was exactly what I was looking for. I can’t wait to share that too.

D really likes aspects of MAC and she really likes Carleton. She has had a lot of ‘Hey, you guys are smart, you’ll figure this stuff out on your own’ teachers in high school which has made her tough and very resourceful, but has not served her well when it came to her writing skills. No feedback, except for grades has been a painful journey. Carleton’s rep for excellent teaching appeals greatly
like the answer to a prayer maybe. We are talking a lot right now about strategies for college success and how to build those in from the start. I think at either place she will be challenged
a lot, just maybe in slightly different ways.

As for the cold
LOL
if D can hack life at above the Polar Circle next winter, I think she’ll do OK in Minnesota. But if she hates it, I guess we’ll be going back to the drawing board on this whole thing. UT might start looking a whole lot better. Right now she just can’t wait to escape her Covid confinement and flee this house, the State of Texas, and yes, the whole USA. We’ll see.

Thanks all!

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With respect to enhancing your daughter’s writing skills, Carleton would seem to make the stronger choice over Macalester:

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Thanks, @merc81 I hadn’t seen this.

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Just want to say thanks to everyone. D has decided on Carleton College!

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Congratulations! Wonderful school.

Congratulations!! My S22 is strongly considering Carleton. I would love to hear what drove your D’s choice?

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Sorry to respond so late, but for future readers, it came down to 4 things. First and foremost, Carleton’s rep for great teaching. D’s high school experience wasn’t great, especially when she wanted to ask questions and dig deeper and was shut down by teachers. Second was the feeling she had that she really and truly could wander through the liberal arts and find her real place at Carleton rather than just build on what she did in high school. She’ll keep doing music and definitely study environmental science to start, but wants to have the space to explore. She felt like Carleton is really set up for that. Third - was the sum and compilation of comments and advice in this thread. It helped her to look from different perspectives and to let go of Colby. Finally, and probably least important to us, but important to her was that Carleton is well-known in the academic world at least, and highly ranked
It wasn’t the most exclusive school she got into, but it was the highest ranked by most lists and if she can succeed there, graduate school is a possibility. She has still never been to Northfield or any of the eight schools that she was admitted to save one, so there was no opportunity for her to have that “I just knew when I stepped on campus,” moment.

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Thanks for sharing that. Much appreciated.

So helpful, thank you! I am so drawn by that excellence in teaching - the fact that they train their professors how to teach! funny that is odd! - I would like to go to school there myself right now! It will be interesting to see how my S22 will weigh that in. My S22 was able to visit Northfield a few weeks ago - no formal tours yet - but he really liked the campus and the feel.

Good to hear that your son liked Northfield. Hoping my D will too!

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