<p>Just wanted to post a true tale that might offer hope to those of you considering spending $50,000 on a Carleton degree. After spending four years at Carleton, my daughter graduated in June with a Geology degree. Even in this incredibly challenging job market, she was lucky enough to secure a job this summer, and a good one at that. She is now gainfully employed as a hydrogeologist in New York state. What made her now-boss pick her resume out of the pile of hundreds that he received? The fact that he had gone to grad school with Carleton grads, and therefore he said he knew that my DD had learned not only the technical knowledge necessary for the job but also had developed the critical thinking skills that would be required. And her new boss was right. She had entered Carleton as a hard-working kid from a community with a strong high school, but she left Carleton as a much more intellectually engaged thinker with a lust to be a life-long learner. She, and her parents, will forever feel indebted to the college.</p>
<p>Carlmom:
I'm pretty sure your daughter would echo Emily's sentiments. And while she's graduated, I doubt she'll ever really leave Carleton behind. Most remain intimately involved with the school and their classmates for the rest of their lives. Last year, 1/2 of the graduating class of 1957 showed up on campus for their 50th reunion (I can only hope to still be around for my 50th). My guess is your daughter will be one of the many returning to reunite on campus for many, many, many reunions to come.</p>
<p>1190, that's a great video--and a great ad for Carleton. My H and I feel so lucky that our son found a school that he loves and that challenges him. And I think he's really taking advantage of all that Carleton offers. For him, it's a great place.</p>
<p>Well, the video brought tears to my eyes. Partly because the Carleton experience seems so wonderful ... and partly because my own college experience an eon ago was anything but Carletonesque. :(</p>
<p>Emily's willingness to share her experiences and work on behalf of fundraising efforts is not unique. Last week, almost 500 students showed up for the Volunteer for Carleton effort to call alumni to recruit donations and write letters thanking for donations already made. I'm pretty sure it was the pure love of their Carleton experiences (and not the gratis Carleton pint glasses?) that explained the turnout.</p>
<p>I prospied during the Volunteer for Carleton--it was really cool to see how many people got involved there :] (i filled out postcards with my host! haha.)</p>
<p>This message caught my eye during some recent random internet surfing. As a relatively recent graduate (2007) I'd like to give my humble opinion. Carleton is no doubt worth every penny, but it has to be the right place for you. I am grateful every day that my parents were able and willing to pay for about 3/4 of the total cost while I was there. Carleton taught me to value learning for its own sake; I too will forever feel indebted to that place.</p>
<p>That being said, I found the one major weakness of Carleton was its prep for life after those fast four years in Northfield. Students that aren't interested in attending graduate school right after graduation are basically left to fend for themselves in the brutal job market. With a couple of exceptions, virtually no employers recruit on campus. The career center resources on campus are a joke compared to other MIAC schools (particularly St. Olaf, Mac, and Gustavus). That being said, through hard work (and about 25+ interviews) I was fortunate enough to gain a great job after graduation, which in typical Carleton student fashion, I quit within a year to pursue a calling that actually makes me happy. </p>
<p>So here is my advice, if you are the type of student looking to make a ton of money after school, you won't like Carleton anyway. My friends that did choose Carleton because they thought the prestige would land them a great job ended up being pretty indifferent to the Carleton experience, and probably would have been better off at the business school at a random Big 10 university. You must be at least a closet nerd to make Carleton worth the price.</p>
<p>There is a big initiative in progress to improve the career resources, though. The college definitely recognizes that this was a weakness in the past and they're taking decisive steps to change it. New director of the Career Center, new alumni career volunteer programs gearing up, new internship/externship/career exploration opportunities, much better/more communication about career planning services, etc.</p>
<p>I second lunitari. I think (and hope) someone who enrolls for this fall will probably have a fairly different experience with the career center than people did who are a few years out. </p>
<p>I agree with most of what mgrav45 said, though. If you want to go to a good college so you can make lots of money, Carleton is absolutely not the school for you. Besides the job placement issues coming from rural MN, your peers' strong resistance to figuring out their own post-college lives will drive you nuts. Carleton students like thinking about academics, but don't like thinking about jobs. If you ask freshmen and sophomores what they want to do after Carleton, they'll basically all tell you that they want to go to grad school ("though I'm still choosing between poli sci, history, environmental studies, and English", you'll hear right after that).</p>
<p>What about law school/ med school after Carleton? How does C do in placing kids into these professional schools?
I know that Carleton has an amazing reputation among regular grad schools for Ph.D... Does it have the same prestige in law and med?</p>
<p>A lot of important and complex issues brought up here. </p>
<p>First, the easy stuff. A Carleton degree carries significant weight with ALL professional and grad schools. Law schools/med schools have enormous respect for the long recognized serious rigor of the academic program here. This is a place where senior level classes and comps approximate grad level work. A la carlmom, seniors place VERY well.</p>
<p>In the non-profit field, again, Carls do similarly well. For its size, Carleton sends more kids to the Peace Corps than almost any other school in the country. Loads of others head off to Teach for America, a host of other government/public service jobs, and jobs related to the environment, energy and conservation.</p>
<p>Jobs directly out of school with for-profit industries represent a different animal. As mgrav45 points out, campus recruitment by IB's, for example (in that once-upon-a-time of towering Wall Street) was always much thinner than at schools with undergrad business majors and a student body that in large numbers aspired to Wall Street and corporate boardrooms. These companies head off to Wharton, Ross and Stern, to steal a Willie Sutton line, "because that's where the money is." Yes, Carls can be found at Goldman and at hedge funds but those aspiring to these careers certainly represent a minority of the student body. Despite this, interestingly, economics remains one of the most popular majors at the school.</p>
<p>Finally, I honestly remain skeptical about the real impact college career offices directly have on job placement. They can teach you how to best market yourself and then point you in the right direction. But I'll add my voice to the chorus applauding the recent change in leadership in the Career Center and their expansion of services. Possibly the most important thing they have started to do is more intimately involve alumni in their work. Carl alums are as devoted to their alma mater and alma mater's future offspring as any anywhere. A small but incredibly dedicated network can have a significant impact.</p>
<p>I don't believe where you went for undergrad matters much at all in law school admissions and I know nothing about med school admissions, so I can't say very much about how much going to Carleton would help in applying to those professional programs.</p>
<p>There are definitely a decent number of Carls at top law schools. More relevant would be if there were a lot of Carls who wanted to go to a top program, had a GPA/LSAT combo that gave them a fighting chance, and got shut out everywhere. I can't I've ever heard of this, if it's any comfort?</p>
<p>I just looked in our alumni directory for med students and I see people from the past 5 years all over the place, including some obviously name-brand top schools like Stanford and Duke, but again, I can't say if having gone to Carleton helped them get in to med schools.</p>