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<p>Right. ED won’t help you get in if you’re not the kind of candidate the school is looking for, e.g., if your stats are below par for the institution. It may help you if you are the kind of candidate the school is looking for, because after they admit you and a couple of others like you in the ED round, several more like you may be left behind in the RD round—because by that time they’ll already have as many as they need.</p>
<p>The Twin Cities have expanded to the point that Northfield is really on the edge of the southern suburbs. In my opinion, the weather there is fine; when it’s cold in Dec-Jan-Feb, the sun is shining and the snow is sparkly. You just need to be sure you wear warm clothes when you are outside. 
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<p>Carleton has the reputation of being for people who really want to be at an intellectual college. Northfield is a fun college town and big city stuff is not far away.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot. Is it convenient for students at Carleton to access Twin Cities from campus? (Are there buses or trains from campus into twin cities)</p>
<p>There is a bus line, Northfield Metro Express Bus, that provides daily express bus service between Northfield and the Twin Cities metro area.</p>
<p>and…</p>
<p>the on campus WeCar program from Enterprise. These are Prius rentals available to Carleton students over 18 for $8/hr, $39 for evening-AM (gas included!). It’s a great way to inexpensively head off-campus into the Twin Cities (or elsewhere) when sharing costs with friends.</p>
<p>Sorry to partially hijack this thread, but I’m having trouble squaring two seemingly contradictory replies above:</p>
<pre><code> “Certain colleges do clearly state that ED offers no acceptance “tip” and historical stats bear this out (Brown, in fact, along with Stanford probably represent the two most glaring examples among top tier universities).” -> seems to imply that there is minimal “tip” for applying ED to Brown.
</code></pre>
<p>vs.
“If a school’s Common Data Set section C7 “Level of applicant’s interest” says anything other than “Not Considered” then you know that applying ED helps.” -> Brown’s CDS lists applicant interest as “Very Important”, implying that applying ED helps?</p>
<p>Which is it, or, more specifically, what are the nuances of ED apps to Brown? Does ED app at Brown provide much tip, minimal tip, or no tip - not worth applying if thinking that ED will provide a tip?</p>
<p>Brown 2014
ED applied: 2847
ED admitted: 567 (19.9%)
ED rejected: 400 (14.0%)
ED deferred: 1880 (66.0%)
RD applied: 27289
Total RD pool: 29169
RD admitted: 2237 (7.67%)</p>
<p>It’s true that legacies and other strong applicants apply ED, but is that enough to justify the higher admit rate? Let’s do the math.</p>
<p>Legacies make up 6-8% of the admit pool at Brown. Not all apply ED, so we’ll go with 7.5%. Brown had a total of 2804 admits this year. As a rough estimate, perhaps 210 were legacies admitted through ED. Legacies at Princeton have about a 40% admit rate, so we’ll say 45% at Brown – so around 467 applied. </p>
<p>Going back to the ED pool, let’s say that the 2847 applicants are composed of the 467 legacies (45% admit rate) and 2380 non-legacies (standard 7.67% RD rate). That would result in an ED admit rate of 13.8% – lower than the actual ~20% admit rate. </p>
<p>Dropping the legacy percentage to a more likely 6% lowers the predicted ED admit rate still further, to 12.6%. Are there other factors bumping up the ED admit rate? Possibly. Sometimes those applicants are stronger, as they don’t need first semester senior grades to be competitive. Still, it seems likely that there is at least a small bump for average ED applicants.</p>
<p>woah, seems like carleton is really accessible to the Twin Cities. This decision (vassar vs carleton) is really difficult to make. </p>
<p>Warbler - thats a whole new perspective to me. I never thought that excluding legacies in ED could bring the acceptance rate for normal applicants to such a level. Thanks!</p>
<p>Gotta agree with the posters who say that if you are really so torn you shouldn’t apply ED. If you are looking for financial aid, ED is doubly unwise. They are both great schools. You look like a strong candidate. Apply RD and see how admissions and financial aid shake out, then decide.</p>
<p>“There is a bus line, Northfield Metro Express Bus, that provides daily express bus service between Northfield and the Twin Cities metro area.” </p>
<p>Is this the whole extent of it??..
<a href=“http://www.northfieldlines.com/photos/NEWSCHEDULE040510.pdf[/url]”>http://www.northfieldlines.com/photos/NEWSCHEDULE040510.pdf</a></p>
<p>“…the on campus WeCar program from Enterprise.”
How many cars do they keep there, for how many students? How far in advance do they need to be reserved before you have a good chance to get one, on a weekend?</p>
<p>Thanks sunmachine. Might have to seriously think about ED or not to ED. Both Carleton and Vassar are amazing schools.</p>
<p>Another reservation I have about Vassar is the lack of Sports culture. I heard that Vassar’s students are not as involved in Sports as students from other colleges (for eg. Carleton) . Im a fan of sports too, and I want to spend a portion of my college time dedicated to sports as well - rugby, tennis, basketball. And definitely be an avid supporter for college sports matches like football etc. </p>
<p>Is it true that Vassar’s students do not enjoy/immerse in sports culture as much as students in other colleges???</p>
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<p>borneo… good luck on your applications and decisions. I hope my comments help. My experience is that Carleton is rather well known among grad schools. Some data…it’s from Reed, but it gets the point across. </p>
<p>[REED</a> COLLEGE PHD HISTORICAL RANK](<a href=“http://www.reed.edu/ir/phdrank.html]REED”>Historical Doctoral Degree Productivity - Institutional Research - Reed College)</p>
<p>Carleton does really well producing PhDs for the number of students they have. Recently, they have been 5 or 6 in the production of PhDs per student. It can’t get these results without having a strong reputation among grad schools.</p>
<p>As for Carleton, you said your were interested in economy or political economy. I’m a Carleton Alum, and I genuinely enjoyed my econ courses there. The econ dept is quite good. They have a cool study abroad program at Cambridge. If I had to do it all over again I’d have tried to double major(I was a physics major), so I could go on this study abroad program. Info is below… </p>
<p>[Carleton</a> College: Economics: Welcome to the Department of Economics](<a href=“http://apps.carleton.edu/curricular/econ/]Carleton”>http://apps.carleton.edu/curricular/econ/)</p>
<p>&</p>
<p>[Carleton</a> College: Economics: Carleton Seminar in Cambridge](<a href=“http://apps.carleton.edu/curricular/econ/cambridge/]Carleton”>http://apps.carleton.edu/curricular/econ/cambridge/)</p>
<p>The disadvantages are that MN is effing cold, and the Twin Cities are farther away then you want them to be. Northfield is a cool city though, and the Twin Cities are nice when you actually have time to get away.</p>
<p>I see, thanks monydad, well i guess there are so many other things to do at Vassar/Carleton, i shouldnt worry so much about that. Just glad that both colleges have Rugby teams. </p>
<p>Still, what is college life without big-time college sports match support and cheering at the stadium. haha.</p>
<p>"Is it true that Vassar’s students do not enjoy/immerse in sports culture as much as students in other colleges??? "</p>
<p>IMO yes, if you mean big-time college spectator sports. But I believe the same can be said of Carleton. My D1 affirmatively didn’t want a place with a sports culture, and both Vassar and Carleton was on her list. Carleton did seem to have an unusually high proportion of students playing intramural sports, however.</p>
<p>I doubt that means you wouldn’t be able to find someone to hit a tennis ball with, or find a pickup game and shoot some hoops, at Vassar. I’m sure they have an intramural sports program as well. You should check.</p>
<p>Note: this should have appeared before #53 above, it moved when I edited.</p>
<p>I see, thanks monydad, well i guess there are so many other things to do at Vassar/Carleton, i shouldnt worry so much about that. Just glad that both colleges have Rugby teams.</p>
<p>Still, what is college life without big-time college sports match support and cheering at the stadium. haha.</p>
<p>“Still, what is college life without big-time college sports match support and cheering at the stadium.”</p>
<p>I think these are the wrong schools for that. These two schools (perhaps Carleton to a larger extent, by the future PhD rates) are academic institutions, the focus of which are on serious intellectual endeavor.</p>
<p>IMO PhD rates do not tell the whole story. Vassar has a subtantial presence in the performing arts, and attracts a portion of students who are interested in same. It attracts a lot of future media, writers and creative type people. These people no doubt take their craft and efforts seriously, and probably consider the arts to be quite “intellectual”. However a PhD is not necessarily the terminal degree of choice for many of these people. Of course students seeking an eventual PhD are also well represented, but it is a matter of porportion. The proportions are likely different.</p>
<p>FWIW I know three Vassar grads, one is a PhD psychologist, one got a top school JD and is a humongously successful entertainment lawyer, and the third got a top school MBA and was working on Wall street last I heard. In each case their future objectives were well served at vassar.</p>
<p>Vassar is IMO more widely known than Carleton, due probably to its historical membership as a “seven sisters” school and location close to NYC. They are both “good” schools, and if you have what it takes and desire for it ,both can provide training that can lead you to a future PhD. The Vassar student body may possibly have proportionally somewhat wider interests, or the same interests in different proportions.</p>
<p>To the extent that future destinations, contacts, location of alumni, have a regional flavor to them, Vassar will steer more towards New York region & Northeast, and Carleton will steer more towards Minnesota/ upper midwest. I was surprised, when I saw a “top destinations” list from D1s college (neither of these), at the extent to which the future destinations seemed regionally emphasized. Expect the Minneapolis Carleton alumni association group to be larger than Vassar’s. And vica versa.</p>
<p>vossron - that was just a light-hearted statement. 
I certainly look forward to a serious intellectual endeavour more than sports match supports. </p>
<p>monydad - thanks a lot for the honest post about Vassar. After reading it, I somehow feel that I ll be a better fit at vassar, and my interest is tending towards Vassar more and more. Particularly because I have interests in films and theaters, as well as sports. I will see Vassar as a college which can serve both of my interests well. And certainly, the campus of Vassar is known to be gorgeous. Plus it offers Urban Studies Program. AND its accessibility to NYC. </p>
<p>This thread has been immensely helpful. Guess I have decided to go ahead and ED Vassar!</p>
<p>Just a side note, I found this Vassar college blog, which I perceive to be truly reflective of the college. [Mads</a> Vassar Blog](<a href=“http://www.madsvassarblog.com%5DMads”>http://www.madsvassarblog.com)</p>