<p>Hello everybody! So I was just wondering if I could get some help deciding what college to go to? The three that I am looking at are Luther, Gustavus, and St. Olaf, all in the Minnesota area. I really like all of them, and am curious as to what other people know about them, basic interesting information, where you would go ect. I plan on majoring in nursing also, so if you have any experience or information about the nursing programs I would greatly appreciate it! Thank you for your help!</p>
<p>One question to ask the nursing departments, is how many students pass the licensing examinations on the first try.</p>
<p>“am curious as to what other people know about them”</p>
<p>St. Olaf’s - good for Norwegian study, shares a college town with Carleton and reportedly has the best looking women east of Norway. It also the largest of the “Colleges that Change Lives”</p>
<p>Luther - also teaches Norwegian, it’s in IA not MN, Newt Gingrich’s wife went there, and because it’s in Iowa smoking is illegal anywhere on campus. Also choir sings on a PBS program.</p>
<p>Gustavus - Never head of it. Is it Swedish?</p>
<p>^sorry: west of Norway</p>
<p>St. Olaf has the strongest national reputation and the most geographically diverse student body of the three. I don’t know if those factors are important to you. If you hope to spend your career in the region, it may not matter much.</p>
<p>All 3 are great midwestern colleges. St. Olaf is know for it’s music program and choir, St. Olaf and Gustavus Adolphus are in Minnesota, and Luther in in Decorah, Iowa, so it might be a difference to you about where you want to live. Have you visited any of these 3 yet? They’re all three great Lutheran Schools.</p>
<p>I’ve actually visited all three, so, here go:
St Olaf is nationally ranked in math, science, and music, and is overall considered in the top 3 MN colleges. Their Christmas Festival is “a top 10 event” according to USAToday and is broadcast on PBS. Fairly liberal and while more diverse than the other two, nowhere near big city diverse. Good soccer team. read their “ROI” (return on investment) page, it’s important in this economy. Luther is regionally ranked, known for its choirs. Gustavus is Swedish, not Norwegian, and is very similar in level and general feel to Luther. I liked the St Olaf and Gustavus campuses best. All three are Lutheran and “'Minnesota nice”.</p>
<p>Luther is about 15 miles south of the Minnesota state line, in a corner of Iowa where the local public radio station is a Minnesota Public Radio affiliate and everyone uses the Mayo health system, based in Rochester, MN, which is the nearest town of any size. So for all practical purposes, it might as well be in Minnesota, except they get to participate in the Iowa presidential caucuses, so it’s crawling with presidential candidates probably 2 years out of every 4.</p>
<p>All 3 schools are more regional than national. St. Olaf draws a little over half of its entering class from Minnesota and another 20% or so from adjacent states, mostly Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa. Gustavus draws over 80% of its class from Minnesota and a smattering from other Upper Midwest states, very few from other regions of the country. Luther draws about 40% of its class from Minnesota, 30% from Iowa, and another 20% from Wisconsin and Illinois combined (more from WI than from IL), but again not many from outside the Upper Midwest. So while it’s true, as Hannah says, that St. Olaf has the most geographically diverse student body of the 3, it’s still an overwhelmingly Upper Midwest student body.</p>
<p>All 3 schools enjoy quite positive reputations here in Minnesota, and they’re ancient rivals. St. Olaf’s biggest rivalry is no doubt with cross-town Carleton–they even identify Carleton by name in their fight song:</p>
<p>[St</a>. Olaf Fight Song](<a href=“http://wp.stolaf.edu/about/mission/umyahyah/]St”>St. Olaf Fight Song – About St. Olaf)</p>
<p>But the Gustavus-St. Olaf rivalry is nothing to sneeze at, pitting the Swedish Lutheran Gustavus against the Norwegian Lutheran St. Olaf. The ancient tribal loyalties such a rivalry invokes may be mystifying to non-Nordics and non-Lutherans, but people here in Minnesota get it. And Luther was also founded by Norwegian Lutherans, so they’re in a contest with St. Olaf for pride of place as best Norwegian Lutheran college in the Upper Midwest.</p>
<p>St. Olaf is renowned for its music program, especially choral music, but so is Luther. I’ve known a number of students who have gone to Luther specifically for music, and they’ve all been quite happy with it. According to their common data set, about 11% of Luther’s bachelors degrees are in “visual and performing arts,” but I suspect most of these are music majors. That’s actually a slightly higher percentage than at St. Olaf, where just under 10% of bachelors degrees are in visual and performing arts.</p>
<p>St. Olaf is said to be quite strong in math and it draws a relatively large number of math majors.</p>
<p>Never spent any time in St. Peter, but Northfield and Decorah are both really cute little towns. Some may consider it an advantage that St. Olaf is only 45 minutes from the Twin Cities, but I’m not sure how often Olies actually use the Twin Cities, except those going home for the weekend and with that I’d be concerned it might have something of a “suitcase school” flavor, though I’ve never actually heard complaints about that.</p>
<p>St. Olaf is also right across the street from the factory where Malt-O-Meal is made, so if you like the smell of Malt-O-Meal, that’s probably just dandy, but if not, then it could be a negative.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for replying everyone!!</p>