<p>Everyone has been such a tremendous help on CC! </p>
<p>We have a tentative list for S. His stats are 4.1 UC gpa, 2190 SAT. Retaking SAT II in December. Decent ECs. </p>
<p>His major criteria: at least 3% Asian, low to moderate frat influence and the opportunity to play IM baseball/softball. He is interested in English/writing. If possible, he would like to have a car so he can go fishing.</p>
<p>Our EFC is $6,000 so he will need financial aid.</p>
<p>A good educational environment but not so intense that he doesn't have down time.</p>
<p>Amherst (reach)
UCs (reaches, matches and safeties)
Occidental (match)
Redlands (safety)
Denison (safety)
Grinnell (reachy match?)
Carleton (reach, reachy match?)
St. Olaf ??? (I am more interested than he, but it is a free app.)</p>
<p>If you have any input, let me know! We are visiting Occidental and Redlands this weekend. We are especially looking for more info on Carleton and Grinnell (and St. Olaf).</p>
<p>We have never been to the midwest but are planning a visit during spring break.</p>
<p>Double check on the Asian enrollment at St. Olaf. My understanding was that it was not a very diverse campus. Although, if you're going to be in Northfield anyhow to see Carleton, it's worth a visit. Very nice school, strong study abroad, and unusually large for an LAC (3,000 students).</p>
<p>Carleton is one of my personal favorites. It is an excellent school and I have two close friends with connections there. The husband picked Carleton over Harvard, Princeton and Stanford and never regretted his decision. He went on to graduate school at Princeton and post doc at Carleton. He is now a head of the astrophysics program at UC Santa Cruz. The wife (my best friend since childhood) did her undergraduate work at Harvard but spent two years as a visiting professor at Carleton. She has also taught at Cornell, Princeton and Cal Tech. She has always told me that she was incredibly impressed with the students at Carleton. She says it was the one school that she's taught at where all of the students came to class prepared and seemed passionate about learning. The both say they will nudge their daughter towards Carleton when the time comes for her to apply to college because they feel it is a wonderful place.</p>
<p>fresnomom:
Funny that your son fishes! My son is an avid fly-fisherman, but did not bring a rod to school. He says he just doesn't have time (plus he has no car). As you know, he is at Denison. We also know one other kid there who LOVES to fish. He brought equipment, but I don't know if he's gone. There is a river near by (the Licking River) which according to an Ohio friend of mine (who works for an environmental group) is really clean and does have fish. There is also a bio prof that my son knows who is into fishing.</p>
<p>It's just funny to find teenage boys who like to fish these days.</p>
<p>I'll take part in the mini-hijack-My teen-age girl fishes, does that count? We have three stock tanks (man made ponds) filled with blue gill, sun-perch, and catfish, one of which has largemouth bass to ten pounds. She couldn't master fly fishing , though. Didn't like the cold water at all. In Utah. In the winter.</p>
<p>I would imagine Northfield is close to some great fishing.</p>
<p>My daughter attended Grinnell, and we have friends whose son attended Carleton. Both are excellent schools. </p>
<p>Someone may refine my view, but here's the difference I see: </p>
<p>Carleton is a little more extroverted and preppy to Grinnell's serious/social conscience atmosphere. Grinnell gives very good financial aid. It tries hard for diversity, since it is in the middle of freaking nowhere: quite a few internationals, and also kids from the "Posse" program for underprivileged high schoolers. </p>
<p>Carleton kids are cooler and wealthier; Grinnell has more nerds. Both have good sports! Good luck--</p>
<p>My husband loves to fish. He majored in Wildlife Fisheries Biology at UC Davis and spent 4 years with the Peace Corps in Papua New Guinea assisting their Fisheries Dept. Shortly after returning to the U.S., we moved down here by Fresno, dug some ponds and started a catfish farm. He is the perfect example that you can live your dream....</p>
<p>At first it seemed that none of our sons would share my husband's love of fishing. When you are surrounded by fish as a business, perhaps fishing loses some of its appeal. And then about two years ago, Son #1 started fishing on his own and now he is hooked!</p>
<p>When we discuss potential colleges, S googles to see if there are any good fishing spots nearby. It is such a wholesome activity, but you're right, we don't meet many teens that are into fishing nowadays. Son will definitely bring his fly fishing gear to college.</p>
<p>Did you know that St. Olaf lists fly fishing as one of their intermural sports? </p>
<p>How does your daughter like Grinnell? Is she OK that she is in the middle of nowhere? Is it all "serious" study or do the kids at Grinnell have fun, too?</p>
<p>Great to meet someone on CC with a child at Grinnell!</p>
<p>Actually, my daughter is not now at Grinnell--but in a mud hut in Africa! (Peace Corps). She graduated in 2002, so my info may be a bit dated. (I know that Grinnell has built some fabulous new dorms since then!) I know that there is at least one current Grinnell parent on here--Robyrm? </p>
<p>My daughter loved Grinnell! She made a lot of good friends. She wasn't into sports before she got there, but then did very well on the varsity track team. Sports are second to academics. </p>
<p>As for fun? It was enough for her because Grinnell, with its wealth, provides a lot. Speakers, musicians. There are a lot of clubs. There is no frat influence, but there is moderate partying. She had a lot of fun there. She did sometimes feel pretty stressed by the academics, but then she was always taking on a lot. I think that Grinnell's no-whereness might be a problem for some. AOur daughter regularly found someone with a car to drive the hour to Iowa City (U. of Iowa) for Indian food and funky clothes shopping. </p>
<p>I think if you visit the Carleton and Grinnell campuses you will get a feel for the differences between the two, and your son will feel like one is more "him." Grinnell has a huge endowment (thank you, Warren Buffet!) and gave our daughter the best financial aid of the four colleges at which she was accepted. </p>
<p>Like others here, I think of St. Olaf as a very blonde, Lutheran college! </p>
<p>My S and I visited both schools last Spring. Grinnell is a beautiful college that is in the middle of nowhere. My S, after driving out of Grinnell, said: "Just to far away from civilization". It is really pretty remote. We have a neighbor, here in Massachusetts, with a D at Grinnell who likes it a lot. She is a scientist and finds the academics great.</p>
<p>Carleton is within an hour of Minneapolis and is in a great college town with restaurants, bookstores, things to do locally. My S thought Carleton was "preppy and uptight" and was very turned off. I thought it was one of the most beautiful small colleges I had ever seen; however, I'm not going to college in Fall 2006.</p>
<p>So...neither Grinnell not Carleton are on S's final list (although each continues to fill our mailbox with literature).</p>
<p>
[quote]
I would imagine Northfield is close to some great fishing.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Ya. Ice Fishing.</p>
<p>FresnoMom, this list looks great. It has excellent schools and a lot of balance. My only comment would be that Denison might be a little more drinking-oriented than the others; just a FYI</p>
<p>SBmom,
Since I worry a lot about drinking, I just wondered where you got that information from? It is so hard to assess this stuff. My niece (a party girl - I worry about her, but she is a very good student) spent a weekend at Denison and declared it not party-hearty enough for her taste. I guess her hostess took her to a comedian performance.</p>
<p>My daughter looked hard at Carleton, although she was accepted early, and did not send in her app in the end. They have, by far, the best run admissions office we dealt with, if the school is run half as well as the admit office, it would be a great place to attend. There was a small mix-up between her and the next student in the alphabet - when we called to report, the answer was "Oh, we apologize, we have been waiting to hear from you, we heard from student X, we knew there was a problem, just not sure if it was one up or one down in the alphabet, please do XYZ." Very efficient - acknowledged the mistake, ready with the solution.</p>
<p>I am a current freshman at Carleton. I find it kind of funny that Lantern's son found this school preppy and uptight, since I have always thought of it as the exact opposite. Everyone here is very laid back and almost noone I know has a very preppy attitude. Then again I made a similar judgement on other schools and I suppose on a quick visit it is quite easy to come to fast conclusions based on the small population you see. </p>
<p>Anyway, OP if you have any Carleton specific questions a student can answer feel free to ask me or head over to the Carleton board where there are a few other Carleton students and parents. :)</p>
<p>Peacenik, I got this impression from guidebooks and it was sort of confirmed by anecdotes from alumni and those who visited. It could be exaggerated, though, because we got this impression 2nd hand and never visited the school. </p>
<p>I agree that visits can be misleading. Your host determines what slice of school culture you see.</p>
<p>I'll have to echo wbm....I have a freshman at Carleton and preppy or uptight is not the feeling we get from the campus at all. (nor do we fit those stereotypes) Carleton gave us wonderful financial aid, and over 80% of Carleton students take their work study. It is also socially conscious, and for those who can't find something to do on campus (I don't know how that could happen) you can take a bus into Minneapolis. </p>
<p>My son also started out thinking mid-sized uni, large city, but changed his mind after doing an overnight at Carleton. In fact, he had just done his post acceptance visits at U Chicago and Northwestern the day before, and was pretty set on Northwestern. Meeting the students at Carleton made all the difference. </p>
<p>I can't speak about Grinnell from personal experience, but there is a large cross-over in applications between the two schools. They are listed as overlaps in Fiskes.</p>
<p>My son is a sophmore at Grinnell and is quite happy there. He had his own set of criteria when looking for a school which was somewhat unspoken and seemed to include.... unpretentious, down to earth, friendly and intellectual students along w strong relationships w professors, all as part of a liberal arts college in a rural setting....and that's Grinnell! It really is in the middle of nowhere, altho as mentioned there are plenty of activities taking place on campus. I haven't been to very many campuses really, but I find their parent programs to be fairly casual and "unpolished" for want of a better word....they just don't seem all that interested in selling themselves! But it is a very welcoming school, there are a lot clubs and organizations (and sport teams as mentioned) that are very easy to join and to feel a part of and it's also easy to start a new one. To me, the students all appear to be friendly and outgoing. The classes seem to be challenging, my son spends a lot of time preparing every night. I would agree that it does seem to have a more "serious" feel about it.</p>
<p>I am a huge Carleton fan but was under the impression that students aren't permitted to have cars. That shouldn't stop him from going to this wonderful college.</p>
<p>A nice 3-5 day midwest LAC visit for someone with your son's stats is Grinnell, Carleton, St. Olaf and Macalester. Most kids are pretty alert to the social and cultural cues in campus settings, and will be able to identify one or two favorites among this group. Academically you can't go wrong with any one of them.</p>
<p>You may want to take a look at Macalester, an hour's drive north of Carleton. I don't know about the percentage of Asians who attend Macalester but St. Paul, where the college is located, has a decent sized sizeable Asian community. </p>
<p>Many people in Minnesota fish but it is fishing in lakes -- and yes, ice fishing is huge here!</p>