<p>Bates has had financial issues while Grinnell is very wealthy. Lewiston is a dump. </p>
<p>Weather</p>
<p>[City</a> Climate Comparisons](<a href=“City Climate Comparisons”>City Climate Comparisons)</p>
<p>They are both great schools, prized for the quality of their academics and motivated, interesting kids. Both are liberal.</p>
<p>Most college kids spend most of their time on campus, not in the adjacent town or closest city. (Remember, Amherst isn’t in the greatest of economic areas, Weleyan is in Middletown and Williams is way out there in the Berkshires.) So, look at course catalogs for the classes in your major and check out backgrounds of your major profs. Then, look at the campus activities. That’s a good way to envision yourself there and can be more productive than worrying about Lewiston or Iowa corn fields. Good Luck. Great schools.</p>
<p>Both schools are great, but Grinnell would probably be my choice. I think it’s an unusually excellent place. Good luck.</p>
<p>I visited both Bates and Grinnell with my older son. Both are great school for reasons already mentioned.</p>
<p>Disagree that it’s easier for an international to get to Lewiston (Bates). The Chicago airport receives direct flights from all over the world. From there, it’s a short flight to either Des Moines or Cedar Rapids. Getting to either Bates or Grinnell should be about the same from where you are.</p>
<p>Whether one campus is nicer than another is purely subjective. Personally, I preferred Bates’s campus - filled with old trees, and with a small lake/pond. Grinnell has a train track running through campus, which some people dislike, though it didn’t seem to be a big deal. </p>
<p>Grinnell has some amazing facilities (science center, swimming pool), but I was also impressed with the rec center, Commons, and student center at Bates.</p>
<p>Grinnell has a much more diverse student body, which is remarkable since Iowa isn’t a very ethnically diverse place. Bates is trying to improve diversity, and its last few entering classes have been more diverse. Grinnell apparently has put resources behind its commitment to bringing internationals and students of color to campus. When I hear people say it’s hard to bring such students to out-of-the-way places, I always think that if Grinnell can do it so can small schools in New England and the PNW. </p>
<p>Good luck on your decision! Both places are great!</p>
<p>Bates is about 2 hours from Boston and about 6 hours from NYC. Chances are you won’t be making many trips to either city (trust me on this one…you will stay near campus because you will have work, friends, not enough time, etc.). Both are great schools but very different (one is the midwest while another is new england). So pick what fits the best.</p>
<p>Thank you for all the valid insights, the are helping me enormously! Any more responses are welcomed, as I will be deciding by July 15 :)</p>
<p>Compare the endowments:</p>
<p>Grinnell: $1.265 billion = $749,000 per student, which at a standard 5%/year payout = $37,450 per student (#4 among LACs)</p>
<p>Bates: $199 million = $114,000 per student, which at a standard 5%/year payout = $5,700 per student (#54 among LACs)</p>
<p>Which school do you suppose is going to have the state-of-the-art facilities, and the better resources, services, and amenities?</p>
<p>Warren Buffet is on the board of Grinnell, of course it will have a large endowment. Endowment to student ratios are silly because the allocation of that capital is not being used just for students. Plus, calculations of what encompasses endowments vary. I mean, do you include building, faculty wages, etc. etc.</p>
<p>Funny that no one mentioned how strong either school is in economics.
[Bates</a> College | Courses](<a href=“http://www.bates.edu/ECON-courses.xml]Bates”>Courses | Economics | Bates College)
[Economics</a> Curriculum - Economics | Grinnell College](<a href=“http://www.grinnell.edu/academic/economics/aboutmajor/economicscurriculum]Economics”>http://www.grinnell.edu/academic/economics/aboutmajor/economicscurriculum)</p>
<p>From each link you can look at the faculty pages.</p>
<p>Grinnell is better than Bates academically. And the Midwest is very underrated; Iowa is a cool place with nice, decent, down to earth people.</p>
<p>Note that the Bates link includes the entire catalog listing, while the Grinnell is just for one year; for an apples-to-apples comparison, the OP should compare the catalog listing of all courses offered for both schools AND the year to year offerings to see how many options there are in a semester. </p>
<p>Grinnell also offers a number of special study programs which an Economics major might find of interest:
[Academic</a> Programs - Academics | Grinnell College](<a href=“http://www.grinnell.edu/academic]Academic”>http://www.grinnell.edu/academic)</p>
<p>Perhaps the OP might also find it of interest to compare internship sponsorships, etc. That’s one place I know the Grinnell endowment comes into play, in the subsidizing of opportunities, including during the summer.</p>
<p>Here are some of the internship programs at Grinnell:
[Summer</a> Internships - Rosenfield Program | Grinnell College](<a href=“http://www.grinnell.edu/academic/rosenfield/internships]Summer”>http://www.grinnell.edu/academic/rosenfield/internships)
[Donald</a> L. Wilson Professor of Enterprise and Leadership - Wilson Program | Grinnell College](<a href=“http://www.grinnell.edu/academic/wilson]Donald”>http://www.grinnell.edu/academic/wilson)<br>
[Internships</a> - Center for Prairie Studies | Grinnell College](<a href=“http://www.grinnell.edu/academic/cps/internships]Internships”>http://www.grinnell.edu/academic/cps/internships)
[Grinnell</a> in Washington - Grinnell-in-Washington | Grinnell College](<a href=“http://www.grinnell.edu/academic/giw]Grinnell”>http://www.grinnell.edu/academic/giw)
[Internships</a> - Grinnell-in-London | Grinnell College](<a href=“http://www.grinnell.edu/academic/gil/internship]Internships”>http://www.grinnell.edu/academic/gil/internship)
[GRINNELLINK</a> - Career Development | Grinnell College](<a href=“http://www.grinnell.edu/offices/cdo/internships/grinnellink]GRINNELLINK”>http://www.grinnell.edu/offices/cdo/internships/grinnellink)
[Student</a> Internships - Peace Studies | Grinnell College](<a href=“http://www.grinnell.edu/academic/peacestudies/intern]Student”>http://www.grinnell.edu/academic/peacestudies/intern)</p>
<p>Grinnell also participates in a midwestern consortium that offers a semester in Chicago which combines study with an internship. I can’t find it right now on the website. </p>
<p>(I don’t think Grinnell markets its internship opportunities very well to the general public. You have to find these by hunting through the academic programs. They should update the internship page of the website to give a prospective student a more comprehensive, easy-to-find idea of all the opportunities that are available.)</p>
<p>The Office of Career Development will also work with students on finding internships and work that are NOT Grinnell sponsored, but available to anyone.</p>
<p>Spouse is an economist and was favorably impressed with the analytical and quantitative rigor of Grinnell’s econ major. Notes that if you plan to pursue graduate work in economics this is very important. (And indeed, a relatively high percentage of Grinnell students go on to pursue PhDs in all fields.) Grinnell also has a concentration in Global Development. Since he didn’t look at Bates, we don’t have anything to say about their offerings in this area.</p>
<p>Here’s the apples-to-apples course comparison. It’s not so easy to find! This is the fall '11 Economics offerings at each school. I have no idea how they compare, but I’m just presenting, fWIW!</p>
<p><a href=“https://wa2.grinnell.edu:443/WebAdvisor/WebAdvisor?TOKENIDX=2071603768&SS=2&APP=ST[/url]”>https://wa2.grinnell.edu:443/WebAdvisor/WebAdvisor?TOKENIDX=2071603768&SS=2&APP=ST</a></p>
<p><a href=“https://quoddy.bates.edu:4500/bprod/bwckschd.p_get_crse_unsec[/url]”>https://quoddy.bates.edu:4500/bprod/bwckschd.p_get_crse_unsec</a></p>
<p>Just so prospective students understand: colleges list all courses offered in their catalogues, but not every course is offered every semester. To get a sense of how often courses are offered, you need to spend some time going through the schedules on the website. This can take some sleuthing, but if that level of detail is important to decision-making, then it may be worth the time.</p>
<p>Also, there are prerequisites at any school, so a first-year student generally has to start with the introductory course and move on up. Sometimes students can skip introductory courses with second-year standing, but this can only be known by perusing the requirements within a particular department.</p>
<p>Looking at the Econ schedule for Grinnell, reminds me of another opportunity at Grinnell, the MAP. Here’s what it is: [Mentored</a> Advanced Projects - Academic Affairs and Dean of the College | Grinnell College](<a href=“http://www.grinnell.edu/offices/dean/map]Mentored”>http://www.grinnell.edu/offices/dean/map)</p>
<p>One big difference between the two econ majors is that at Grinnell, the 100 level intro course is done in one semester, while at Bates it’s done in two (ie., two 100 level courses are required). Grinnell combines introductory micro and macro in one semester, while at Bates, it is a two semester sequence. At both schools, the 200 level micro and macro courses are required for the major.</p>
<p>here are the major requirements for each school:
<a href=“http://www.grinnell.edu/academic/economics/aboutmajor/majorrequirements[/url]”>http://www.grinnell.edu/academic/economics/aboutmajor/majorrequirements</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://www.bates.edu/x25885.xml[/url]”>http://www.bates.edu/x25885.xml</a></p>
<p>I adore both of these schools, but if Grinnell gave you more money, I don’t see any real reason to pick Bates over it. Grinnell edges out ahead of Bates in basically every category IMO, and if it’s cheaper on top of that, well, go for Grinnell.</p>
<p>The funny thing about these two particular schools is that both offer surprising support in unexpected ways. Both extend finaid support for study abroad, both push internships (Bates has an endowment to cover kids who get unpaid internships,) both are 'feeder" schools for grad programs. (Bates is in the to 5% with respect to some stat about students moving on to PhDs and Grinnell is in the top 1%. Both numbers are impressive.) Bates has the Mt David Summit and Grinnell has its mentored projects. </p>
<p>It would be interesting to get feedback from OP re: the better links SDonCC found.</p>
<p>I also adore both schools. But one thing the OP might consider is that Bates is better known than Grinnell in the northeast U.S., so if the OP is hoping to work in Boston or NYC after graduation, Bates might have the edge.</p>
<p>One significant difference in the two schools concerns graduation requirements. Bates requires a major plus two areas of concentration. Grinnell has no distribution requirements, and no required courses outside of those required for a given major. Not saying one is better than the other, but something to consider.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that Grinnell is only 30-40 minutes from Des Moines. And you’ll be surprised how much Des Moines has going for it culturally.</p>
<p>Additionally, the town of Grinnell is very cute and quaint. </p>
<p>“Go west young man. Go west.” (Advice from Horace Greeley to JP Grinnell (college founder).</p>