Questions for current/past Grinnellians

<p>Hi, I have 3 main questions about Grinnell. I've been interested in it for a while, and it was the first college I "officially" visited. Assuming I get accepted (and I know that may be a big assumption), here are my two questions:</p>

<p>1) How generous is Grinnell with financial aid? I know they have a massive endowment, how much does that translate into scholarships and such? I don't mean to sound money obsessed or anything but, well, its kind of an expensive school.</p>

<p>2) The culture of the campus concerns me, just a tiny little bit. I'm a fairly laid back student, and from what I've read the students at Grinnell are also fairly laid back, which is good. I'm also moderately liberal, but I don't want to have liberal principles drilled into me by everyone around me; I love hearing opposing arguments and will actually go out of my way to play the devil's advocate if no one else around will provide a quality debate. That's something I love doing. Would I be ostracised for expressing slight interest in conservative viewpoints or daring to agree with conservatives from time to time?</p>

<p>3) What do students do on weekends, or in their downtime? Or is there even a significant amount of downtime? I've taken the hardest classes at my high school, so I'm no stranger to hard work, but I don't want to devote my entire life to writing papers. I'm fine with working my posterior off as long as I get some "me time" to relax afterwards.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance to anyone that responds.</p>

<p>1.) It depends on your income I’d say. In general the Finaid office works with you and they are really generous. I’ve heard some upper middle-class students complain about the finaid but I can’t really say anything about that. </p>

<p>2.) You should be fine doing this. I can’t guarantee you that there won’t be someone who ostracizes you for being slightly conservative but a lot of students carry a whatever-attitude. I can’t speak for all, of course, but in my opinion most will accept conservative ideas if you accept their liberal viewpoints. But likely people will challenge your viewpoints. I know that I do it all the time. Really all I can say is that even for Grinnell I am very liberal but I do accept conservative as a point of view if a.) the person tolerates my views and b.) the person will not run away screaming if I start a heated debate about it; it’s just something I feel like doing every now and then. So really, you should be fine. </p>

<p>3.) They do what they do at other colleges: They party, they go out for food, they go see movies or sometimes a play, they just hang out…</p>

<p>My son will be a freshman at Grinnell this year, and he has the exact same attitude as you, mkshort – he will play devil’s advocate if everyone is arguing one side only! He asked about the tolerance for different arguments when he visited, and seemed satisfied with the answers. While he is liberally inclined in his politics, he does not make snap judgments about anything and reads all sides thoroughly before making a decision. Here’s to hoping there will be others like him at Grinnell!!</p>

<p>Even though my son is a Democrat, I wouldn’t be surprised if he attends events where the Republican candidates for President appear, if they come to Grinnell. While it would have been really exciting to have been at Grinnell during the last presidential election, I think that he will find it really interesting to be in Iowa in the leadup to the presidential caucuses, even if he’s not interested in the candidates. There was a story in the NY Times about how the “Trek to Iowa” has begun for the Republicans. </p>

<p>I suppose it might be interesting if there were a primary challenge to Obama, at least from the viewpoint of being in Iowa for elections!</p>

<p>_Silence, would you mind if I picked your brain about a few more questions? If not that’s fine, I understand.</p>

<p>SDonCC, I’m glad your son liked Grinnell so much, I hope it lives up to his expectations. What does he intend to major in, or is he undecided?</p>

<p>In our son’s first year, during the presidential primary season, on campus he went to see Bill Clinton, John Edwards and I think Obama. I don’t recall his ever mentioning that a Republican presidential candidate came to Grinnell.</p>

<p>mkshort no, not at all. Just ask and I’ll try to help as much as I can.</p>

<p>Joe Biden appeared too, I think. Don’t remember if McCain or other Republicans were campaigning there, but the college does have speakers from all sides because I remember reading about Bob Dole speaking on campus (not during the primaries).</p>

<p>My son, a history major, will be a senior this year. He’s having a great time at Grinnell.</p>

<p>Wow, that’s an incredible oppurtunity, seeing so many important politicians on one campus. That’s definitely something to remember.
bethievt, do you know what your sons favorite thing is about Grinnell?</p>

<p>_Silence, I have a few questions: What’s the music scene like at Grinnell? I’m a musician, and though I don’t plan to major in it, it’s still important to me and I’d like to keep up with it. I’m sure it has its share of musicians like every school, but do you know what the musical facilities are like? Also, when I visited, the food was honestly better than my average meal at home, is that always the case or did I just come on a good day?</p>

<p>Thanks again, it’s great to be able to talk to people that go to the school, I really appreciate it.</p>

<p>^And the parents that have posted, too, I’d love to hear any more you’d like to tell me, and thanks a lot, I mean it.</p>

<p>mkshort–The academics are great, but I’m pretty sure my son would say that his favorite “thing” is the students. This is why a good fit with a college matters. I felt at home immediately at Antioch College, my husband at Oberlin and our son felt (and feels)this at Grinnell. Have you ever been in the midst of a sweltering day and walked into a cool, beautiful space and thought, “Oh, here is a place I can breathe!”? That’s what a good fit feels like. </p>

<p>The food is way above average. Lots of variety, but even so I guess it gets boring at times. Friends cook together in the dorm kitchens or go out sometimes in town. Cafe Phoenix is my son’s favorite restaurant.</p>

<p>The facilities are definitely good, you can take lessons in a lot of different instruments, and there are a couple of choirs and bands. I can’t comment too much on the practice rooms and such because I am not taking any lessons, but I know that if you take lessons you can borrow the instrument and the college itself has a collection of a lot of (rare) instruments that can be borrowed.
I know a couple of people who’ve started their own bands and play every now and then. A lot of people bring their instruments and just takes lessons.
Not sure if that matters to you, but the only thing that disappoints me about music at Grinnell, is the lack of good concerts. Although there are concerts almost every weekend in Gardener Lounge, most of them sound the same to me. Outside of Indie-Soft-Rock there is few variety and I’d like to see the occasional Hard-Rock or Metal concert.</p>

<p>The food is better than at other colleges I guess, although chances are you also came on a good day. You can’t really complain about the food, but it tends to get really repetitive after a semester. Also, somehow the Dining Hall fails to balance - meaning on some nights there is virtually nothing to eat while on others there are so many different things. There a couple of things that bug me with the D-hall, but only because I am vegetarian. I can’t really complain though.</p>

<p>When students take lessons, does that mean from a faculty member/local teacher or from another student? Also, are there any student traditions at Grinnell? While I don’t want to go there, I love MIT’s famous pranks, and I love some of the traditions at Carleton (Schiller, broomball). While it’s not a deal-breaker, does Grinnell have anything similar?</p>

<p>the course offerings available for first-year students include all these classes (and I may have missed copying some instruments!):</p>

<p>Piano
Jazz piano
Voice
Viola
Lute
Tuba
Cello
Bass
Bassoon
Guitar
Oboe
Baritone horn
Percussion
Violin
Trombone
Trumpet
French horn
Saxophone
Clarinet
Banjo
Harp
harpsichord</p>

<p>Whether the instructors are professors or local teachers, I can’t tell from this, but there are names listed in the catalog, so it can’t be students who are teaching.</p>

<p>I am not exactly sure what you mean by traditions but there are very well known , reoccuring parties like Block Party, 10/10, Mary B James (Girls are Guys and vice versa) or things like Rocky Horror Picture Floor Show (showing of the movie combined with some students acting it live on stage) Titular Head (it’s student a Film Competition, try searching Youtube for Grinnell Titular Head, some of the videos are extremely well-made). There is the bakery run to the bakery downtown at 2 am in the morning…there are definitely quite a few traditions, some of which are more fun than others, depending on what you like.</p>

<p>mkshort, In answer to #1, I am not clear whether you are asking about financial aid or merit aid (scholarships). Grinnell gives significant merit aid, which is unusual in a school of its caliber. I can’t speak to financial aid–some folks on CC seem to think Grinnell is generous, others disagree. On Question #2, you sound like my son–moderately liberal with a penchant for playing Devil’s Advocate-- who is a junior and very happy at Grinnell. </p>

<p>There seems to be a lot of music going on at Grinnell. Son takes lessons on a brass instrument and also takes voice lessons. Lessons are taught by both professors and adjunct faculty, who are not professors at Grinnell but may be instructors at another college, or professional musicians or even high school music teachers. Son was considering taking lessons on another instrument from a fellow student, so that’s a possibility too. There are some a capella groups that get school funding. The orchestra is first-rate (although the conductor is on sabbatical during the upcoming school year) and there are a number of other musical groups to pick from. </p>

<p>As far as how hard you have to work, it is very intense, especially at the end of the semester, but the fact that everyone is working hard seems to make it more bearable. You can have a life and do well in your classwork too. Good luck in your search!</p>

<p>Just for context, I’m a current junior.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>My financial aid package at Grinnell was the second best of six packages I received (and it only came second because my best was a merit-based full ride). It is, like many private schools, VERY EXPENSIVE, but I feel like the financial aid here is WAY above average. Most of my friends who are not upper or upper-middle class say the same thing. I honestly have no idea how generous they are when you’re higher income.</p></li>
<li><p>Grinnell’s a very liberal campus with many vocal students. There is a conservative minority, but they definitely aren’t as vocal. I consider myself very liberal and I sometimes (though not often) tire of hearing certain liberal viewpoints over and over again, but I can imagine it would be worse if I were conservative. That being said, a lot of the “liberal” viewpoints that are most commonly preached have to do with tolerance and social justice in general, and I never get tired of that (I don’t think conservative students do either) because it makes the vast majority of the students feel more comfortable and accepted. If you have conservative views on social issues, you will probably either end up debating with a lot of people or decide not to talk about them because you’re sick of debating with people. Also, even though many students are vocal, there are a lot of politically apathetic people.</p></li>
<li><p>This all really depends on what you want to do; it varies from group to group and scene to scene. The work load, at least for me, is almost always very manageable. People often get really stressed for about 3 weeks during the semester (mid-sems, Hell week [the week preceding finals week in which there are invariably a large number of assignments due], and finals week), but my friends and I almost always have a generous amount of free time every day, especially on the weekends. I very rarely study on Saturdays.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>There are a lot of options for free time, especially with the resources around campus and social life. A lot of people do party (probably more than you’d expect, but I’m not sure how similar schools compare) and choose to do other things, like walking to town with friends, watching movies, playing games, cooking, etc. There are tons of clubs on campus and people are very inclusive, so it’s generally pretty easy for people to find their niche.</p>

<p>Let me know if you have any more specific questions!</p>

<p>Regarding your first question, we were happy with the financial aid package Grinnell offered my son. It was the third best out of the eight he received (Whitman and Carleton offered him better aid packages).</p>

<p>Regarding merit scholarships, Grinnell is amazing. My son was accepted to all 10 LACs he applied to and only Goucher offered more merit $$. Lewis and Clark and Oberlin were close. This is not why our son picked Grinnell, but it’s a nice side benefit.</p>

<p>My son is currently a senior at Grinnell.
He finds everyone very accepting of EVERYTHING except conservative poliitical views – even moderate ones.</p>