<p>My son has narrowed his college choice to St. Olaf and Denison and has visited both schools. He is leaning towards majoring in Chemistry, Biochemistry or Biology. I would interested in any thoughts regarding the strength of their respective academic programs in these areas, as well as any similarities or differences in terms of their student body, campus life and college experience generally. If you are not familiar with both schools, your perspective on St. Olaf would be helpful as well.</p>
<p>My oldest is a freshman at St. Olaf, and we toured Denison with S2 last summer. My Ole plans to be a humanities major, but says the recently-built science building is so beautiful, non-science majors sometimes study there too. My impression is that the sciences are very strong at St Olaf, and they have an excellent track record with grad school and med school placements. Socially, my son says the campus is more liberal, less religious, and more “damp” than its Lutheran dry status might imply (not that it’s a party school by any means-it’s just friendly/social/relaxed in a good way). My son is very happy there, in spite of the fact that another foot of snow is about to fall-in April. He likes and respects his professors and says he would definitely choose St. Olaf again.</p>
<p>I had a very good impression of Denison too, but S2 chose not to apply because he thought the campus was too hilly to ride his bike. Funny the things they base their decisions on!</p>
<p>I hope I’m not getting into this discussion too late for you OP. I haven’t been on CC once since my son chose St. Olaf last March but I just happened to drop in today. Son was accepted with scholarships at all 5 LACs he applied to, including Denison (my alma mater) and Grinnell (his putative second choice), so he could have gone to any of them, but it was no contest. We worried that he was bound to be disappointed by St. Olaf since his expectations were sky high, but they have been met 100%. He LOVES it–though he is finally willing to admit that he’s really, really sick of the weather (we’re from Texas but he wanted the cold and snow, up to a point at least).</p>
<p>He’s a math/physics major, 4Clarity is right (and maybe our sons know each other since they’re both 2016): Regents, the science building, is jaw dropping; the sciences are super strong generally; and math is a very highly regarded program, according to a math professor at the major university where I teach (I only learned this by chance, since my son was a music major going in (still keeping that scholarship, fortunately).</p>
<p>He is politically way on the left and completely non-religious, but he’s totally happy there. As it happens, he’s a complete non-drinker so that does fit the official profile, but he says lots of kids do drink, if rarely to the extremes found elsewhere. Interestingly, he feels completely comfortable as the only non-drinker among one of his several discrete groups of friends.</p>
<p>I made my first (and only) visit for parents’ weekend last September and was really impressed with how friendly and open the kids are. I went to all my son’s classes (so nice of him to put up with that!), met his teachers, and lots of his friends–but I also just started talking to kids on my own initiative when opportunities presented. To a person, they seemed genuinely interested in interacting with me. I didn’t get any “attitude” at all.</p>
<p>As for Denison, I went there so long ago that I can’t be too helpful on that, though I have tried to stay up to date with changes, especially after my son applied. It used to be said that though the town was dry (this is no longer true), the “hill is soaking wet.” I think that must be less true than once, since a brave president (Michele Myers) eviscerated the fraternity system about 20 years ago. The school has improved academically since then and like most of these LACs is quite strong for sciences. I do think Denison still has a large east coast, prep-school contingent (unlike St. Olaf) with attitude and I wouldn’t be surprised if it were more conservative politically.</p>
<p>Both colleges are on ridges, as your son must know, and both really beautiful. Denison has the advantage of being right above its town, Granville, while St. Olaf is a bit outside of Northfield. My son, for whatever it’s worth, almost never goes to town. Maybe if he had a bike he might, but then again, what do you do with a bike when it’s been snowy for 4 months!!</p>
<p>Good luck to your son.</p>
<p>Onlyone, our sons may know each other, and if they don’t, they should, because they have a lot in common! My Ole is not from MN, not Lutheran, not a drinker, and is quite liberal. He is not a music major either, but has a generous music scholarship, which was one of the deciding factors in choosing St. Olaf. The other thing our sons have in common is their love for their school, because the weather is the only complaint he has had the entire year. </p>
<p>For others who wonder what one would do with a bike on such a wintry campus: St Olaf provides bike storage from November-April. I don’t know how often my son used his bike last fall, but he said it was useful for occasional trips into town to go to the bank or get his hair cut.</p>