<p>I'm trying to narrow my college list and my last choice is Mt. Holyoke or Grinnell. I've read a lot about Grinnell from the mail they've sent me, and online but I don't know as much about Mt. Holyoke. I know that it is an all girls school near Smith, and I visited-didn't take a tour- several years ago. What is the student body like? Is it as liberal and politically agressive as Smith? Are the academics rigorous? Thanks for any information!</p>
<p>Academics are strong. My perception is that it is not quite as politically aggressive as Smith. Some people perceive Smith as being so PC that anyone toward the center is suppressed. It is more isolated than Smith, being on the edge of a small town, but access is available to Northamptom and Amherst via the free buses. MHC is very good with grant money, more so than Smith.</p>
<p>I doubt that, in aggregate, Smith or MHC are as liberal as Grinnell, but they are all very liberal. MHC and Grinnell are both great schools, both in rural settings. MHC has the added advantage of the 5-College Consortium, which especially expands their offerings beyond those available at Grinnell in music, theater, and dance, and in international relations. MHC also has a higher percentage of foreign students. And Northampton, a happening town, is pretty close by. Both schools give out lots of financial aid. MHC is traditionally strong in the sciences, especially chemistry, and also has a strong writing program. </p>
<p>MHC is all women (no girls). You probably should visit before you decide that's right for you.</p>
<p>Oh please, save the PC rhetoric. 90% of the women i know--nearly all over 30--call one another "the girls"--as in I'm going out with the girls tonight. I NEVER have heard "I'm going out with the women tonight"</p>
<p>If you feel like going out with "the girls", that's your right. I think the colleges have the right to define themselves the way THEY choose. If you don't like it, why don't you take it up with them?</p>
<p>I agree with bandit about MHC. It's a friendly place with challenging academics and left-leaning politics for the most part. One advantage over Grinnell is that you can easily get to Boston and fairly easily to New York--if that is attractive to you. But women's colleges do not offer easy casual conversation and friendships with men--even if plenty of students do acquire boyfriends eventually--one way or another. Also schools in the Northeast have a different "tone" to the Midwest-- a little more sophisticated, a little less "laid back", I would say. MHC is usually considered less aggrressively PC than Smith.</p>
<p>Thank you all so much for your help! I have a few more questions. While I am politically liberal I tend to have a fairly conservative lifestyle. I don't dye my hair, pierce my body etc. I'm worried that Mt. Holyoke might attract more eccentric students than places like Wellesley or Middlebury. I also would love to know how academically excited and motivated the students at MHC are. I know that Grinnell is known for very enthusiastic students but I haven't heard anything similar about MHC. Any advice is appreciated!</p>
<p>My d. who is at Smith, but considered MHC, doesn't dye her hair (or even cut it - actually, just had her first hair cut in 15 years!), doesn't pierce, doesn't tattoo, doesn't do campus politics (though is active in the local Friends Meeting), doesn't drink, doesn't do drugs, and isn't gay (on the last, we wouldn't mind if she was.) There are hundreds of students at both places who would be able to say the same think. But for academic excitement, I think you try the MHC board, or the MHC livejournal.</p>
<p>You do see a fair amount of rainbow hair a piercing at Smith. I didn't see that MHC, but we weren't there long.</p>
<p>I didn't notice much rainbow hair or piercing at MHC--I suppose there is some, but definitely in the minority. MHC has some eccentric students but more in the realm of individually defined interests and preferences--people who don't care what others may think and have strong self-directed priorities, not so many people who have to copy a prescribed "alternative lifestyle". You will probably find fewer proto-Hillary Clinton's at MHC than Wellesley and fewer preppies than at Middlebury but you will find some social and political conservatives--not to mention a diverse population of foreign students.</p>
<p>I wouldn't call the boston thing such an advantage at MHC, it's IN South Hadley, and while they take the bus to North Hampton and Amherst, the students I talked to said they very rarely went to Boston (a drive that took us more than 2 hours)</p>
<p>Yes it's two hours to Boston but gives you access to films, concerts, museums, restaurants that you won't find in Iowa--sorry to be an East Coast "snob". They also occasionally offer chartered buses to NYC--access to even more!</p>
<p>Yep, Boston is a fair trip. It takes most of an hour from Wellesley.</p>
<p>pyewacket, I don't mean to alienate you or anything, I REALLY WANT to go to MHC, but do you think it's fair to include Boston as an attraction? I'm assuming you go to MHC, if so, how many times did you go to Boston or New York in a given month?</p>
<p>I am an alum whose D is applying to MHC, we visited the campus twice recently. Back in my time, students had boyfriends at Dartmouth or Yale or even in New York--also close to two hour journeys or more --they visited about twice a month. I had a good friend in Boston my senior year--we saw each other either in SH or Boston about once a month. Bus can take two or more hours but people offer rides on a ride board ( or maybe now online). On one of my birthdays in college, MHC friends organized a car trip to Boston just for an evening at a fancy restaurant.</p>
<p>I don't mean to imply that Boston is like your own backyard or that MHC is an "urban environment" but that you can get there without too much hassle and even twice a semester would be a cultural plus not available at Grinnell. I thought that MHC's rural campus with access to Boston was like having the best of both worlds--also now many MHC alums are in Boston or New York for careers so the contacts are there. My response here was meant to highlight this as an advantage over living in Iowa for four years-- not as an integral part of MHC.</p>
<p>Wholeperson,</p>
<p>Where is your hometown?</p>
<p>I live in San Francisco</p>
<p>For what it's worth:</p>
<p>Grinnell is about an hour from Des Moines, a city of 200,000. I'm sure they have movies in Des Moines. Not much for zoos or concerts, but Omaha has both, and that's three hours away. Omaha also has a pretty hip little downtown area, by the way. Not exactly next door, but hey if you're driving two hours already, what's one more!!!</p>
<p>Kansas City is 4 hours, Chicago is 5 hours, and Minneapolis is right in between.</p>
<p>It is about 1-1/4 hours from each of the two big college towns in Iowa- Ames and Iowa City.</p>
<p>Don't get me wrong, I've driven past Grinnell and I thought it was in the middle of nowhere. But I'm just not sure how different the situation really is in practice; two hours is a long time.</p>
<p>If kids from Grinnell decide they want to make a road trip, there are a number of destinations they can choose from. No they're not Boston, but they're something to do.</p>
<p>If you live in SF, then either MHC or Grinnell might seem isolated. But isolated can be a plus if you're easily distracted and want to concentrate on your studies. Also New England landscape with mountains is different from flatter Midwest with cornfields--so it could also come down to personal taste and aesthetic sense. Academically, either school offers a great deal and I think Grinnell's advantage is the coed environment.</p>