I’m an international student who is chosing an ED school: I’m currently deciding between these two, and I can not determine which one is better for me
I will double major in Physics and CS. I know that both schools has open curriculum and easy to double major.
I have some concerns about Grinnell: - Being isolated and far away from any major city
Being less known than Rochester which makes it difficult to get a job or apply for grad school
But I also have concerns about Rochester: Their financial aid is not that generous as Grinnell’s.
The student body is kinda liberal with high engagement in Greek life, which I hate.
About 22% of Rochester students participate in Greek life. If fraternities and sororities offer little appeal to you, you’d land in the majority there.
Rochester more liberal than Grinnell? I’ve not heard anything that would indicate this at all.
I’m not familiar with Rochester but am very familiar with Grinnell. Compared with other LACs, Grinnell’s student mix is very international. While the location is fairly remote, the campus culture is vibrant and cosmopolitan. One of Grinnell’s strengths is the availability of research opportunities. Physics and CS are both strong departments. Graduates do very well in the employment market (especially CS and physics majors), so have no worries there. The alumni network is spread worldwide and very loyal. Grinnell is highly respected by top grad school programs. If you are interested in internships nearby during the school year, Des Moines provides many excellent opportunities. Over the summers, students find top internships anywhere or you can do research on campus. Grinnell does excellent reporting on student outcomes (employment, grad school choices, research, internships, location of graduates, etc.). You can find that here: https://www.grinnell.edu/after-grinnell/cls/about/post-graduation
Both are highly regarded by grad schools. Neither school is going to get a job for you. It will be up to you to network and apply as you approach graduation.
Are you basing this off statistics or an actual financial aid package offered to you? Statistics don’t tell the whole story as need-based aid can be drastically different depending on the applicant pool.
You’ll be hard-pressed to find a private university in the northeast without a liberal student body. You’ll also find that most of the student body is too busy with other crap to spend a significant amount of energy on political agendas. On a related note - at a highly ranked University, you’re much more likely to have intelligent discussions than mindless arguments that most people on other sides of the fence are having. Personally, as someone who grew up in a conservative area/family, I found it interesting to have conversations with people who had different viewpoints than mine. I think I’m much more well well-rounded now because of it.
As someone else mentioned, 22% of the student population is involved in Greek life. As a U of R grad, it definitely had a presence on campus, but not enough that it can’t be avoided. Even though I never thought I would, I chose to get involved because it’s not the stereotypical Greek life experience. For the most part, fraternities are a bunch of like-minded (socially active) nerds who like to drink on weekends. Sororities are kind of the same, but overall are larger organizations and more cliquey within. Many Greek organizations are highly involved in philanthropic activities.
I can’t speak as much to Grinnell, but U of R is regarded as one of the best universities in the country for undergraduate research. It’s accessible because of the size of the student body relative to the research output. Also, class sizes are small, so developing a rapport with professors is much easier (this is how you get into research as an undergrad).
I’m sure you’ve already made your decision on where to ED, but I wanted to chime in and say that while Grinnell has no greek life, the student body is INCREDIBLY liberal, more so than a lot of private universities in the Northeast.
Their curricula may not be as open as often believed.
At Grinnell, at most 92 credits out of 124 can be in one division (science, social studies, humanities). So you will need to take at least 32 credits of humanities and/or social studies. https://catalog.grinnell.edu/content.php?catoid=26&navoid=4407
