<p>I was struck by a comment here that international students depend on sites/books with anonymous reviews to determine a college's reputation. Approach looking for a college the same way you would do serious research for a paper. If you couldn't cite a source in a paper because it is not reliable, why use it to determine where you are going to college? May I suggest that Carleton's own website has much information about the college, including pictures and a video that can give you a pretty reasonable picture of what campus life is like. Take a look at the calendars and see what events are coming up. My daughter is particularly excited about the Friday Convocations which feature interesting speakers on a variety of topics. She has also enjoyed watching the student-produced videos shot for an annual contest. She is thrilled that she is going on the pre-frosh trip. Moreover, even coming to College Confidential gives you a way to talk to students and even some parents about a college. If you have a question, post it and I'll bet someone can answer it.</p>
<p>The problem with using the college's websites is that they are all pretty homogenized. I mean we do check the website but say as a hypothetical example, in a college everyone is very pretentious and preppy and conscious about their "reputation" in college. Obviously the college website for that particular college won't keep a video clip of one student telling another "you can't hang out with us because you don't wear prada and like wear the same outfit twice (in my highschool it is a "crime" to wear the same outfit twice) and use cheap makeup from like k-mart and so its kinda embarassing for us to hang out with you"... for an international student coming from a low income family it won't be a good idea to end up in this college but if this student only does her research based on "the official sites" she wont have any idea that this kinda attitude is present around the college campus</p>
<p>supern3rd, I understand what you're saying, but you'll need to exercise some common sense when trying to glean info about the general ambience of a school. Anonymity breeds excess, in certain cases, or--at the very least--means no accountability. So keep that in mind with any info from anonymous sources. </p>
<p>I also think that you can still get good clues about a school from official sources. What struck my son about Carleton was that many of their mailings had a sense of humor. That really appealed to him--and it's turned out to true about the school. And, as a side note, from what I've seen (my son will be attending this fall), you won't find that sort of snobbery at Carleton. All the kids seem very smart and very down to earth.</p>
<p>As a veteran of the college search(boy, am I glad I'm done), I have to say that I felt that the college websites we looked at really did present a pretty fair representation of the college and the students. This time we looked at mainly Midwestern LACs like Carleton, Grinnell, Kenyon, Denison, Beloit, etc. Heck, Grinnell had photos of cornfields on their viewbook. When we visited, we were not surprised by how the students and the campus looked(except that Grinnell was one of the most beautiful campuses we saw). I would suggest that by looking at statistics such as the percentage of students who went to public school as opposed to private schools, the type and amount of aid offered, whether there are Greek organizations, how many athletic teams there are - these will give you an idea of what kind of school it is. Look at the events offered. Take a look at the student sites. All official college sites will offer the same type of information - what is different is how they distinguish themselves from other colleges.
I suppose I am rather passionate about this because I don't want a young person to be so cynical about the college process. Colleges don't flourish if they misprepresent the type of student they attract.<br>
My observations about Carleton are the same as limner's. I also found that the students were friendly and quick to offer help if you asked for directions. My daughter loved the classes she audited. She talked to people who had gone to Carleton and they uniformly loved the place. Carleton just felt right to her.</p>
<p>Oh lol I wasnt talking about carleton in the hypothetical example... I was talking more about my high school. When I moved to this country I choose my school based on their official website... They talked about how their students are do so much community service and are passionate about helping the less fortunate (and had photos of students with like old people)... And when I there I found out apparent community service was compulsory here (and so the photos) and people were seriously so pretentious and were such show offs. I mean if u don't carry a prada bag or wear gucci shoes or use chanel or body shop make up you are a looser here... I mean ofcourse there are people who dont or cant afford to do so but they are the ppl who get like food thrown at them in the canteen. So there you go... while we DO get some idea of what a place is like from their official website... like say if they send a large number of people to med schools then they have good academics etc... some of it can be deceiving... and thats when the unofficial sites are more helpful... </p>
<p>limner I dont mean using annonymous sites... ofcourse they are unreliable, I mean unofficial sites like princeton review...</p>
<p>I don't think a prep-free college exists. There will be schools where fewer kids look or act "preppy" but the idea that there is some school that has just one type of student is not realistic. Colleges need all types of students to flourish. Not every activity offered at a college is for every student. You can still grow intellectually and socially without being exactly like each of your classmates. I can't imagine how boring a college of just nerds who never have any fun would work out. Nor a college of just jocks, or party kids or (insert stereotype here).</p>
<p>I don't get the hang up over Prada and Gucci. I don't own any, but I don't resent people who do. I think a more open minded approach to college searches might help. To judge someone because they have a certain type of clothing is no better than to judge someone because they lack that certain type of clothing. </p>
<p>I can honestly say that Carleton is not about the clothes. It isn't full of ugly people with poor sense of style or hygiene, either. If you insist on putting your faith in the anonymous web sites, then you will cut yourself off from some pretty fantastic schools.</p>
<p>I would be more than happy to field pms from students who are interested in Carleton beyond what people look like or what they wear to class.</p>