<p>Sure, Grinnell is small, but is it isolated? What's the community like?</p>
<p>It’s 45 minutes away from both Des Moines and Iowa City. It’s not hard to get a ride out of Grinnell and do something if you start to feel cut off from the rest of the world. I wouldn’t really call it isolated.</p>
<p>The community is definitely very insular. They call it the Grinnell bubble. Campus feels like a different world compared to the rest of the town, though you still get a fair amount of interaction since plenty of townies come on campus for events and the college students go out to the stores, parties off campus, and various educational/community service programs with the local schools and libraries.</p>
<p>Basically, if you want to hole up in your room and never see the outside world for an entire semester, it’s pretty easy to do it. If you want to get involved and get away from the campus once in a while, there are also plenty of opportunities to do that.</p>
<p>Unlike many LACs in rural areas, Grinnell is IN the town of Grinnell. As in, across the street from the town. You don’t need a car to get there or a 15 minute walk down a hill in freezing weather. It is, however, a very small downtown area. If you are in need of a town with lots of places to escape the campus, Grinnell probably isn’t a great choice. That said, Grinnell spends a lot of money to bring events to campus - and part of what makes the school what it is, is that students don’t tend to leave campus on the weekends.</p>
<p>And it’s the kind of town where people look you in the eye and say hello, and has local merchants who offer friendly service. (But, there are also chains there, too…) I was able to have a home baked cake delivered for my son’s birthday. He bought his bike from the local shop, and gets it stored there for free over the summer. Town-gown relations are really good, and Grinnell was the only small college to win the social action contest sponsored by the White House, in part because the town residents voted for the project en masse (such as the town mass is!) and because the project itself gave back to the community!</p>
<p>In terms of the college community, in addition to the events available on campus, the students have a unique bond through the self-governance structure. It creates a sense of responsibility to and for each other. </p>
<p>And, then there’s the political community – Iowa is an exciting place to be come elections, and whoever wins in November, there will be a parade of candidates coming to campus over the next few years in anticipation of 2016. Just think of the students who got to meet Barack Obama back when he was getting his start in Iowa…</p>
<p>Grinnell brings the world to its campus through activities. If you’re into music, for example, in addition to the events sponsored by the college and the music department, the students have this:
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<p>I’ve noticed my son '11 has returned to campus whenever possible, even when he was living in NYC. It really is a special place.</p>