<p>Does the Wellesley class attire have something to do with being a women's school, perhaps?
For the record, 56% of students at Carleton get need based grants form the college vs. 43% at Bowdoin. At Wellesley it is a relatively hearty 58%.
Now to shift directions, there is something to be said about experiencing a new part of the country for four years.
To shift once more, if it were me, I would chose Carleton simply because Carleton is such a wonderful college.</p>
<p>"there is something to be said about experiencing a new part of the country for four years."</p>
<p>i agree. i live in western PA, so i will be experiencing a different part of the country for four years. </p>
<p>I think i'm leaning towards carleton...the facebook group for the class of 2012 is so awesome. </p>
<p>Thanks again!</p>
<p>My S goes to Williams and D goes to Barnard, bastions of the east coast. Both are down-to-earth kids who go to class in labeless jeans and t-shirts all the time.</p>
<p>So do all their friends.</p>
<p>Perhaps the midwestern LAC's are friendlier and more laid-back, but they haven't found an elitist atmosphere at their schools.</p>
<p>Comparing percentages of undergraduates receiving any form of financial aid (institutional, federal, state/local, loans):</p>
<p>Carleton 79%
Wellesley 60%
Amherst 52%
Williams 51%
Swarthmore 51%
Bowdoin 39%</p>
<p>Looking past the numbers, anyone who knows Carleton will tell you its an extraordinary yet remarkably unassuming, down-to-earth place.</p>
<p>danas: yes, I think that the fact that it is a women's college pretty much accounts for the attire. </p>
<p>Re financial aid comparisons, I was thinking more of the fact that Bowdoin has recently decided to join the "no loan" group. Carleton does give a lot of grants, which is very admirable, but I have the impression that they are not necessarily meeting need. Interesting stats, though.</p>
<p>As someone else said, these are all wonderful schools loaded with great kids. We visited Bates because our friend who is a hs GC in Maine told us it was the "least preppy" of the Maine schools. We felt like we'd walked into a North Face catalog, so it's not preppy by some definitions, but it felt so to us. And we all had the same reaction without talking about it. Maybe conventional is a better descriptor than preppy. If there was a quirk factor there, it was deeply in hiding during our visit. Of course this was just a one-day visit, but we visited 20 colleges all over the country, some for multiple days, and the ones that felt friendliest, quirkiest and most down-to-earth (to us) were mostly in the midwest.</p>
<p>Consolation, fyi:</p>
<p>Carleton has long guaranteed meeting full need in financial aid packages. From their website:
"Carleton is committed to meeting the full demonstrated financial need of all admitted students for all four years."</p>
<p>They also recently joined the "no loan" group phasing in the eliminatation of all loans for students with family incomes below $75k.</p>
<p>bethie - my non-preppy kid (who spent Katrina semester at Bates) will NOT wear designer/retailer labels of any kind. No A&F, no GAP, no Tommy Hilfiger... probably hasn't even heard of any "real" designers. No name t-shirts and jeans for him. BUT... he does wear NorthFace fleece, LOL. Always the cheapest model, even if it's not the warmest. Because, hey, he's a New Englander... who needs actual winter outerwear?</p>
<p>So.... what do non-preppy kids wear when it's cold? Inquiring moms want to know.</p>
<p>great question jmmom</p>
<p>I wear North Face in the winter too because someone gave it to me and it is warm. It didn't feel like a place where the kids were really thinking unconventionally. Smart--oh, yeah. Great place, oh, yeah--just not my son's tribe.</p>
<p>and the plot thickens! i got into haverford today! i'm really happy because i love the honor code, but now my decision is much more difficult!</p>
<p>We visited Colby and Bowdoin 2 yrs ago. I would agree with Consolation that Bowdoin's location was appealing (to me) as it is in Brunswick, a charming small town with a variety things to do off campus, and not far from Portland, which offers even more without that "big city" feeling. On the other hand, the Colby campus was beautiful, and everybody there was incredibly friendly. We visited a lake nearby where their crew team practices - really breathtaking. I would think that one would have to like winter sports (Hockey, Skiing) to love being at a place like Colby because it is a pretty rural location, and the winters in Maine are LONG!
We did not visit Bates, but I know two young ladies who attend/addended the school, and they are among the most "down-to-earth", outdoors oriented and non-materialistic well-rounded individuals that I know. They both come from a wealthy NY suburb, but something at Bates that made them like they belonged there.
Another thing, just because parents may be able to afford to send their child to college without financial aid doesn't mean that the child will not be "down to earth". Not mutually exclusive.
It may be interesting to note that my brother-in-law and his wife live 10 miles from Brunswick, ME and their son is a junior at Carleton. He wanted to leave Maine and exerience something different....
Our son decided he felt more comfortable in an urban environment. He also focused on which schools had the best programs in the field in which he thought he was most interested. Granted, that may change, but to start off trying to narrow down 10 schools, take a close look at the programs of study which interest you most at this point - good place to start.</p>
<p>My son loved Haverford too. Enjoy your process woohoo!</p>
<p>And I know all the Maine schools are tremendous. They, like every other school, are not everyone's cup of tea. Nor are the midwest schools. I guess keeping an open mind should be the goal here.</p>
<p>Macalester doesn't feel like it is in a city. It's not like Penn for example. Google Earth it and you will see it is in a residential area. There are businesses on Snelling, which runs along the east boundary of the campus, but the area around the campus is residential. You have access to the city but you are not right down town. I wish you could visit Macalester. Such a nice neighborhood.</p>
<p>^^I visited Macalesster and Carleton in the fall. the reason Mac came off is because a lot of students live off campus junior and senior year. i don't really want that, because i reaaaaaaaaaaaally buy into the idea of community: living, working, and playing with the same people every day. I don't want the distraction of a city.</p>
<p>Now, you may be thinking, "not haverford!" but i am going back to vist (close enough to home to only take one day) to figure that out. I hear that haverford is really great with the community feel.</p>
<p>Then, there's carleton which has a much prettier and larger campus but a student body twice the size. an awesome town that is MUCH better the ritzy 'burbs. </p>
<p>I think it's clear that i'm choosing between carleton and haverford! yay! i love them both!</p>
<p>You can't lose with those choices. Mac is great too, but you have to be narrowing down at this point.</p>
<p>OK, woohoo, by "ritzy burbs", was that a slam on the Macalester location?! If so, I must protest. I live about 3 blocks from the campus and I would call my neighborhood neither "ritzy" nor "burbs". (OK, if you live directly on Summit Avenue maybe the ritzy part applies.....) Actually, I'm probably typical of other folks in the area in that we enjoy being directly in the city and enjoy the small town ambiance of residential St Paul (including walking my 2 dogs on the Mac campus). How many people in the burbs walk to the grocery store and hardware store?!</p>
<p>I think she is thinking of Haverford as a suburb and St. Paul as a city.</p>
<p>ok, I'm appeased. Done ranting!</p>
<p>1190, we have an FA package from Carleton on the table right now that expects us to borrow more than 3X our EFC per year, and includes smaller, more realistic loans for our S. I can report, however, that Bowdoin's FA package contains no loans, but requires us to borrow about 4X our EFC per year. It's basically Carleton's minus the loans for my S. Our income is below the figure you mention.</p>
<p>The upside is that my S got into these great schools. The downside is that their FA seems to be just about equally unrealistic.</p>
<p>woohoo: Haverford is a great place too. Congratulations!</p>
<p>1190, Carleton is committed to meeting 100% of the demonstrated need of all accepted students (using the FAFSA and CSS Profile). Unfortunately (from both their perspective and that of applicants), it is not true that they are phasing into eliminating student loans for students with incomes under 75,000. They have created "access scholarships" to reduce the loans for the lowest need applicants, but I'm fairly certain they have not declared that this policy will lead to no loans for anyone under 75,000. The sad truth is Carleton simply does not have enough money to sustain the type of programs that have been implemented by Amherst, Williams, Harvard, etc. Frankly, I am absolutely baffled as to how Bowdoin is going to pull it off in the long term either...</p>