<p>During a visit to Carleton I sat next to a couple of Carls at lunch and asked them what was their biggest surprise when they got to Carleton. They both said it was the rigor. These were smart kids – also accepted at the University of Chicago, Wash U, and a few other schools of that caliber.</p>
<p>PDad, SAY has it exactly right: unless you’re an academic, you’re unlikely to have heard of any LACs except maybe the top three. </p>
<p>My son is a senior this year, majoring in history. He applied to five grad schools for a master’s in urban planning and got in all of them (with a free ride to U of Minnesota, which he turned down–yikes). He and some other Carls got interviews at Google (although he opted out out for grad school). All his friends have either gotten into grad school or gotten jobs. I know this is a very small sample, but along with 1190’s post about Fulbrights, etc. and the grad school stats, you get the picture: the people who matter know Carleton.</p>
<p>It is somewhat frustrating when people haven’t heard of Carleton. I’m proud of my kid and what he’s accomplished and it would be nice if others realized that. 
However, that’s not what’s important. The incredibly broad and deep education that one can get at Carleton is. </p>
<p>Good luck to your D with her decision!</p>
<p>Just this morning I had a frustrating conversation with a friend. This is how it went:
Friend: Where is your D going to?
Me: Carleton
F: Where is that? Is it a university?
Me: No. It is a small liberal arts college near Minneapolis.
F: Does she like small colleges?
Me: Yes. She visited it and liked it.
F: The competition over here must have been tough. Another friend’s daughter is going to Claremont-McKenna.</p>
<p>Then I divert the conversation.</p>
<p>You could always list some other well-known schools she got into so they get this was a choice, not the last resort. People in my area seemed most impressed with Notre Dame. lol</p>
<p>PDadofanEph, I’m sorry to hear that. That’s really obnoxious and I’m actually surprised that anyone would say that about any school, especially since the other person also inadvertently dissed another student as well.</p>
<p>(Not denying that it is significantly harder to get into East Coast schools from the East Coast because of the sheer number of applicants…but that’s still really rude.)</p>
<p>You just don’t seem to get it. Across America most people believe that a Rolex is the best watch you can buy. In reality it’s not even close but very few people really take the time to know watches. This is true for almost everything you can name. You seem fixated on brand name to the public. Most Americans can’t name two supreme court justices or put the civil war in the correct century. Why do you care? Carleton’s quality is not subjective or based on a few parents or alums. If brand name is a big deal don’t go to Carleton or any LAC except Williams or Amhrst. Nothing we can say on some blog is going to change anything. If Carleton was in MA and Williams was in MN things would be reversed. It’s mostly about location and getting fewer applicants. The stats are nearly identical at all top 10 LAC. The one thing you won’t find at Carleton are students complaining they didn’t go elsewhere.</p>
<p>[Top</a> College SAT Scores - Compare SAT Scores for Top Colleges](<a href=“http://collegeapps.about.com/od/sat/a/sat_TopColleges.htm]Top”>SAT Score Comparison for 30 Top Liberal Arts Colleges)</p>
<p>I think Pdad gets it, intellectually, or his dd wouldn’t be going there. But emotionally, he’s bummed that no one else in his circle gets it.</p>
<p>The point is his circle(and most people) don’t really know very much about education. On the other college professors do and that’s why so many of their children go to LAC’s like Carleton.</p>
<p>On the other hand.</p>
<p>Is anyone else amused to be reading back and forth posts between “SAY” and “Youdon’tsay”?</p>
<p>Pdad, I do understand. In Texas there is virtually no recognition of LACs whatsoever. Williams is almost always confused with William & Mary (if they are even familiar with William & Mary!). But every now and then I’ve come across someone who is familiar with Carleton, with an abundance of good things to say about Carleton. Those moments make it worthwhile.</p>
<p>I am a smart, intellectually engaged person who has lived most of my life in the nation’s mid-section. Here are some superb East Coast schools about which I had more or less zero knowledge before starting to do research for my D. </p>
<p>Bowdoin: Knew it was in Maine because I passed through Brunswick on my way up the coast on vacation. Wondered how it was pronounced. Had no idea it was so selective. </p>
<p>Colby: Having made a stop in Waterville, also en route to a vacation stop in Maine, I would not have imagined one of the nation’s finest LACs being nestled there. </p>
<p>Hamilton College: Quite simply, had never heard of it. </p>
<p>Moving south a bit, I had never heard of Davidson College until its basketball team went to the Final Four and, even then, didn’t know it was an elite school until I hired someone who graduated from the school and googled it (ooh, I thought–he’s tall, good looking and a terrific writer. AND he went to a highly selective liberal arts college … fancy). </p>
<p>On the West Coast: Knew about Claremont colleges but had no idea of the relative selectivity of different members of the consortium. Berkeley: Oh, yeah, I’d heard of that place. Whitman College: Even after having visited Walla Walla (don’t ask) I didn’t know it was home to a top-notch liberal arts college. </p>
<p>So, you know, depending on where you live, you’ll see a variant of the kind of cluelessness that makes someone on the East Coast stare blankly (or say something dumb) at the mention of Carleton.</p>
<p>You are right Youdon’tsay. I don’t have a problem with Carleton at all. In fact, I did all the research for my D and recommended Carleton as a good fit for her, knowing her personality. What bums me is not the ‘I don’t know or haven’t heard of Carleton’ reply but the clam-like attitude of ‘I don’t want to know about it’. All they had to say was, ‘Tell me more about Carleton’ and I would be glad to tell them all about it.</p>
<p>What I’m gathering, PDad, is that you want people to know your D is going to just as good a school, if not a better school, than their kids are going to? (Not making any judgments about that as a motive, it just sounds as if that’s where you are with this.) Regardless of your reasons, you should remember that people in general tend to get wrapped up in themselves. I’m not surprised people hear Carleton and want to move on to the next topic; you could tell some people your kid won the Nobel prize in physics and they’d want to move on to talking about their deck project. So if you want them to know more, you’re just going to have to TELL them. You could come up with your own high-rise elevator speech: Ranked (U.S. News; take with grain of salt if needed) just above Haverford, Vassar, Wesleyan and just below Bowdoin. Very selective (choose your stats). But, most important, this is the place where your D feels she fits best. And she, being the wonderful, thoughtful, articulate, driven, intellectual (choose your adjectives) creature that she is chose this ABOVE schools nearby because … Because why? Because of what Carleton can offer her, because she’s interested to see if people in Minnesota really are that nice, because she’s tired of the East Coast, because, because, because …</p>
<p>absweetmarie, thank you for your intelligent posts that also make me laugh!</p>
<p>You’re welcome, kolijima. And thanks for your kind words.</p>
<p>I live in the midwest-5.5 hours from Carleton, where my middle child is a freshman. Someone actually asked me if Carleton is a “technical school in the Twin Cities.” I had absolutely no reply to that one…</p>
<p>The best reponse is a smile and a change of subject. As previously stated a large percentage of even educated people are surprising uniformed about many topics. The important thing to focus on is that everyone important to your child’s educational future will know Carleton quite well. I would suggest you buy a Carleton Shirt and walk around any busy public place frequented by professionals and you will be surprised by how many people will show recognition. The other thing to keep in mind is that 75% of Americans don’t have a college degree and only a couple of percent fall into the category of having attended/aspiring to attend elite colleges. Football on the other hand has a much wider audience and hence far more people know Penn St than Penn. I grew up in PA and spent some time at Penn and that confusion occured almost daily when discussing where I was studying.</p>
<p>SAY, I think there is a ring of truth to the fact that professionals know of Carleton. A lawyer friend of mine and my D’s physician said, ‘Great school - she will get a good education’.
Maybe, the Carleton marketing machinery should start something of a ‘Twitter’ revolution and spread the good word. :)</p>
<p>‘Quality’ categorically outweighs ‘Popularity’!</p>