<p>Fang Jr was also looking at small LACs in the Midwest. Here are our impressions of several:</p>
<p>Carleton: The top LAC in the Midwest. Admissions officer told a group of parents that “Carleton students idle on high,” which kind of scared me off because Fang Jr. doesn’t. Carls (grads) are famously loyal and devoted to one another. In a suburb an hour away from Minneapolis/St. Paul, up on a hill. Pleasant campus a walking distance from pleasant main street. Students are liberal and a bit scruffy (and, I thought, tall). It’s multiethnic. Just across town is St. Olaf.</p>
<p>St. Olaf: We didn’t tour, but drove through the campus. It looked like they were holding the World Blondness Championship there. Students are reputed to be more conservative and religious than crosstown neighbor Carleton students, but I’m been reliably informed that irreligious students would feel perfectly comfortable there. Great choirs.</p>
<p>Macalester: Right smack in the middle of a busy residential neighborhood of St. Paul, with a busy street running through campus. This is definitely a college in the city. Very political, very very liberal. The food in the cafeteria is fantastic. International emphasis. Kofi Annan went there.</p>
<p>Beloit: Prettily located on a bluff above a river, in a town that has seen better days but still has life in it. Everyone here, students, faculty, staff, is amazingly friendly. Prides itself on flexible, personal, interdisciplinary education. Professors work closely with students. Has an anthropology museum on campus; students can work there, and anthro department is excellent. Students are artsy.</p>
<p>Grinnell: In the middle of nowhere. If you go there, you’d better like cornfields and flatness, because there’s nothing in Grinnell but Grinnell College. Due to generous contributor and Warren Buffett directing their investments, sloshing with money (even though like all other colleges, they’ve lost a packet). Lots of new buildings put up recently. Great for writing.</p>
<p>Kalamazoo: Wonderful little gem. Less arty than Beloit, less selective than Carleton. Big emphasis on study abroad, internships, capstone project (=senior thesis). Almost all (85%) of students study abroad. Kalamazoo runs its own study abroad programs, and has done so for decades. Lots of academic structure: distribution requirements plus requirements to attend a number of the many campus-wide forums (performances, lectures, presentations) available each week. Alums have told me that employers not in Michigan have never heard of Kalamazoo, but grad schools all over the country know how well it prepares students for further academic study.</p>
<p>Except for St. Olaf, which we didn’t tour and which I don’t know much about, all the above schools are classic liberal arts schools with strong academics. [And St. Olaf might be as well; I just don’t know much about it.] IIRC all have freshman seminars that emphasize writing skills. I am confident that Fang Jr would have gotten a strong education in history (or poli sci, or international relations) at any of them.</p>