Things you wish you knew before coming to Carleton.

Colleges and Universities A-Z Carleton College
1

<p>Anything?
You know, those little itttybitty things that only current students would know. The train wakes everyone up at night. People jump out in shorts when it's 40 degrees outside... How is the registration process like? Please enlighten a prospie/future Carl. </p>

<p>Oh and can we(students who will definitely be going/or parents of) use this thread to discuss how much we cannot wait until next fall and ask newbie questions like what's the best dorm on campus? What to bring to Minnesota? I feel really awkward asking these questions on Facebook, because then everyone would be like who IS this girl with million questions? Does she have a life? I'd prefer to do this here because CC allows anonymity...</p>

2

<p>I'll ask my daughter, but off the top of my head - she had no idea how loud geese are! Which was an issue when she lived in Goodhue on the lake side (however, the rooms in Goodhue are slightly larger on the lakeside than on the Arb side).</p>

<p>As far as dorms go - the most desirable are the Complex - Severance, Davis and Burton, along with the townhouses. Least desirable is open for debate - my least favorite are Musser and Myers. Nourse is very nice, but tends to be quieter. Evans has vertical entries and is known as the party dorm. Watson and Goodhue have the most freshmen and sophomores. Goodhue is next to the rec center and has a "superlounge", Watson has the Japanese garden behind it. The corner rooms in Watson have been used as triples - they are actually somewhat oversized doubles. There is a possibility they will be reverted to doubles with the opening of the new dorms this fall. The floor life in Watson and Goodhue is very good for freshmen! There are also interest and non-interest houses available (but not for freshmen). My daughter is currently living in one of the non-interest houses; she has enjoyed each of the places she's lived. The new dorms look like they will be very nice and blend with the older architecture on campus.</p>

3

<p>People ask questions shamelessly on facebook. Don't feel the need to keep them all here--you'll only get responses from the few people connected to Carleton who check in, whereas facebook will have dozens of people following the discussions. Just, um, don't be militant about your views on partying or argue needlessly with people or otherwise do something to sully your good name before you even come.</p>

<p>I agree with fireflyscout's assessment of the dorms. The general rule is the nicer the dorm (Nourse, Davis, Watson to some extent), the less interesting it will be for freshmen because studious upperclassmen tend to live there, while the scuzzier dorms (Goodhue, Myers, Musser) generally have good floor life because of the sheer number of freshmen and sophomores stuck living there. None of the dorms are in disrepair or terrible condition, but the nice ones aren't exorbitantly posh, either, so the differences between dorms are less stark than you might believe. You won't really be able to pick where you live beyond requesting sub-free or women's only floors, though, so it's not even something you should actively worry about.</p>

<p>The train noises in the middle of the night ****ing suck and while most people learn to sleep through it, some still have problems. I knew a fair number of people who slept with earplugs because of the train. </p>

<p>Registration is kind of intense at Carleton, moreso than it was for my friends at comparable colleges. You get assigned priority numbers for each term from 1 to 27 (ish), and the system is designed so that the sum of the three priority numbers is the same for everyone in your year. That means one term in a year you'll have a good number like 1-6, another term you'll have a crappy number like 22-27, and the other term you'll have a middle number, so nobody gets lucky all terms and nobody is screwed all terms. You have to meet with your advisor for 10 minutes to talk about your academic plans, and then you register online through an annoying ****ty interface that crashes basically every term. You get a specific date and time you can start registering based on your priority number, but the times aren't very far apart, so you have dozens of people trying to register at the same time and crashing the system. It works out with patience and repeated efforts, but it sucks. Seniors go first by number, then juniors, then sophomores, and then freshmen. If a class you wanted to sign up for fills up before you register, you can waitlist it and register for something else in the interim, but you won't be guaranteed to get that class, which is why it's nice to have a good number and register as soon as your time opens. The process is a bit different for incoming freshmen, who register over the summer online. There's lots of info about that at Carleton</a> College: Information for New Students: Academic and Registration Information.</p>

4

<p>Statistics is a very hard class to get into - it's a required course for a lot of majors. I think it took my daughter two or three tries before she finally got registered for it.</p>

<p>If you want to get a feel for what's going on on campus any given day, check out the Noon New Bulletin: Carleton</a> College NNB: Noon News Bulletin</p>

5

<p>^ Non-Carleton peeps can't read the NNB online. It is something I recommend prospies pick up from a dining hall when visiting campus, though.</p>

6

<p>If you stay in a Northfield hotel the Super 8 is really great and the price is right. Also the AmericInn was fine. Country Inn has a loud train in back. A bit noisy.</p>

7

<p>^ And if you end up at Carleton, tell your family to make reservations EARLY at the above motels for orientation, family weekend, etc. During the years my daughter was at Carleton, I would not always plan our trips far enough in advance, and we sometimes had to stay at a motel in Faribault.</p>

8

<p>And if you want to stay at Archer House for graduation, make your reservations as soon as you send in your deposit to Carleton. Not kidding. (But don't panic, there are other options for graduation housing, including staying on-campus in the dorms!)</p>

9

<p>
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tell your family to make reservations EARLY at the above motels for orientation, family weekend,

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</p>

<p>...Do parents visit Carleton a lot? Are there lots of events that ask parents to participate in? Looking at CC and Facebook group for PARENTS of Class 2013, I've been getting the impression that Carleton parents seem somewhat very involved with the school (The most helpful/talkative people in this forum are parents hahaa). I've also encountered some discussion about "vicariously" living through their children? Um. Is this just like a tiny demographic of the whole population or what.... I'm not even planning to ask mine to come help me settle in, and I'm down with them never seeing the school once for 4 years.</p>

10

<p>Most students get moved in as freshmen with the help of their families, and many families visit for Parents' Weekend their first year. After that until graduation, I think most peoples will have family on campus one more time, max, unless they're local or something. Mine were only on campus for my freshman year Parents' Weekend and graduation, and I don't think they would have wanted to spend any more time flying in to MSP, getting lost in rental cars, and putzing around Northfield than they did.</p>

<p>The parents who are gung ho about Carleton online and freaking out over a bunch of little details are not really representative of most peoples' parents, who are by and large more hands off. You need look no further than the parents' forum on these message boards to convince yourself that parents who are obsessed with their child's post-HS life are not unique to Carleton, either. I think that parents of HS seniors and new college students tend to mellow out after the first winter break comes and goes. They're in neurotic planning mode from application season clear through buying extra-long twin sheets, are anxious for the first term their precious is away from home, are dismayed when precious is texting college friends all day and staying away all night partying at high school friends' places over winter break, and realize they don't want to know all that much about precious' daily goings-on after that. Just how it is.</p>

11

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I'm not even planning to ask mine to come help me settle in, and I'm down with them never seeing the school once for 4 years.

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<p>I'm a Carleton parent, and I'm not obsessed with my daughter's post-HS experience up there. But at $50,000 a year (minus FA) tuition/board, she'd better welcome her old mom and pop with open arms if we decide to show up for family weekends!</p>

12

<p>I've been to Carleton 4 times - once when my daughter toured, when daughter moved in, and twice for Family Weekend (both times I asked her first if she was OK with us coming). I don't expect I'll be back until she graduates. I'm pretty hands-off with her experience. I don't know what her grades are, she chooses her classes and activities, she's researching and applying for internships, etc. I don't know the last names of her roommates. It's her life. That's as it should be.</p>

<p>However, that doesn't stop me from appreciating Carleton and wanting to promote it. I think most Carleton parents will tell you they wish they had attended Carleton (except the alum parents, of course).</p>

13

<p>^^ and we (the alum parents) say we're glad we did:) I expect I'll visit more than most, I have many friends on the faculty and staff. Coupled with free places to stay in town... But I did ask d if she'd mind if I continued my involvement. Since I've gone practically every year since she was born for volunteer weekends, I think she figured I was part of the package, LOL. She certainly got mileage out of it for her Why Carleton, as she explained her determination to hate the place.</p>

14

<p>My husband and I are Carleton alums, so we particularly enjoyed our visits to Northfield while our daughter was a student, but we never overdid it—drop off and pick up at the beginning and end of the year, a couple of Family weekends, and graduation. Give your poor folks a break, starbucks, and let them help you settle in freshman year. I needed to make up the bed, hang the posters and fold the towels as part of saying good-bye—and then I backed off and left her to her own devices for the next four years (and beyond).</p>

15

<p>We missed family weekend during our daughter's freshman year, having just moved her in a few weeks before. But we drove up from Kentucky last fall for the occasion and had a blast, bringing a grandma and an aunt along with us. The key to having a wonderful time all around, for us at least, was to spend some time with our daughter, but also to wander about independently. We did NOT attend her classes, which is apparently an option if you stretch your stay. We did, however, take her and some friends to a nice dinner and brunch, then went to a play that our daughter was directing. She loved having us there, but certainly wasn't heart-broken to wave goodbye as we drove away. Which made me feel really good, because I could see how happy and at home she was at Carleton. :)</p>

16

<p>Mary13 - I had to laugh about your "needing" to make the bed as part of saying goodbye/letting go. I never make my son's bed at home, but felt that need as we dropped him off too. Funny.</p>

<p>All in all, I think each family has its own dynamics and some parents and/or students will reach out more or less than others and there is nothing wrong with however it works best for them.</p>

17

<p>dietcoke, as usual, I think your comments on Carl parents are spot on (and, also as usual, refreshingly acerbic). </p>

<p>I think I (and several others on here whom I know personally) use CC and the parent e-mail list to <em>avoid</em> being too involved in their kids' lives. CC (and Carolyn Lawrence's Admissionsadvice.com) were great for saving my sanity during the admissions process as well as keeping me from driving my son insane. </p>

<p>And these days I still check in every so often to see if I can help other parents and hear news (like about Sweet Lou's). My son is (usually) happy to tell us about his classes, etc., but not at all interested in passing on news about Sweet Lou's or a number of other things that I'm curious about. </p>

<p>I've made the "living vicariously" joke, but I think it's actually better than living vicariously: we get to watch our kids (whom we love more than anyone else) have an amazing college experience and see it through them.</p>

<p>As Mmomm said, everyone's family is different and different visiting styles go for different folks. ;)</p>