<p>surely! I visited Grinnell and felt like all the kids there were really cool. They were far away from civilization, but seemed pretty okay with it-they said there's a bunch of things to do on campus. The student body is pretty liberal, but I guess you can work around that if needed. Grinnell just seemed really comforting and welcoming. Carleton, I could tell you, but I had a crappy visit, so I'm going back for student visit days.</p>
<p>Yes, my daughter and I visited both Grinnell and Carleton last spring. She and I loved them both. Both had very friendly students but Grinnell gets the edge on that. Everyone there was insanely nice. I overheard a few snide comments from Carleton teachers about visitors so I was not as enthusiastic about it. Our guide also had never been in the science building in her four years there! Our tour group at Grinnell was small and personal but our group at Carleton was the same size as that at Indiana University.Carleton is her first choice though because it feels like a better fit to her. Better athletics, stellar chemistry and more mainstream kids, but they give no merit aid and minimal fin aid and bumped their fees to 40K!!! </p>
<p>Is Carleton worth that much more?</p>
<p>ProudMary:</p>
<p>I do not have any personal experience with Grinnell other than what I read on CC. It sounds like a great LAC and probably equal in many respects to Carleton. It always comes down to a decision about fit, assuming $$ can be worked out. I will offer my observations from my D's first year at Carleton.</p>
<p>My D is from PacNW. Her education there so far is worth every penny we're scaping up (although I did cringe at their recent increase in comprehensive fees). My D's intended major going in is chemistry, but we'll see. I think she's likely to discover several disciplines that interest her. Her attitude from the beginning was to chose a school where she would have the opportunity (and be encouraged) to try lots of new things.</p>
<p>She meets with department chairs for advice prior to registration, as well as with her assigned advisor. All have encouraged her to stretch herself. They have given her terrific advice so far during her 2+ trimesters. She thrives on challenge and their trimester system (15 weeks of a semester curriculum taught in 10 weeks) keeps her on her toes. She works incredibly hard. 3 classes a trimester is the limit given the intensity of the courses.</p>
<p>We went on two formal tours before she applied, and our tour guides took us into every building and had personal stories about their courses held in those buildings. Our info sessions were led by Paul Thiboutot, the director of admissions, who quips that everyone desires to attend because of the weather (his D is a frosh too this year). With Carleton's distribution requirements, it's strange that your tour guide had never been in a science building (there are several - chem, bio, math/comp sci, etc). One of our tour guides represented Carleton on College Jeopardy last year (got beat out by a Middlebury fellow).</p>
<p>As for your D's interest in athletics, my D is now on the varsity track team (indoor - winter, outdoor - spring). She had absolutely no prior experience in this sport (mid-distance and now picking up the javelin). She had lettered all 4 years in high school in another unrelated varsity sport that she did not want to continue with in college, except for fun (she's the ringer on the intramural teams) because she wanted to have time to do new activities. Wonderful support and encouragement from her coach and team welcoming her and others with no experience. Even though she does come in last, she is beating her old times at each meet. The workouts are keeping her in shape (no frosh 15 for her).</p>
<p>She's busy every minute of the day. She reports that first priority for all students are classes and studying. Coaches understand academics come first and practice second, or third, or ?. So many kids there are involved in EC's (sports being a biggie - even just intramural or club), that she says the days go so quickly. Students do well if they have or can acquire good time management skills.</p>
<p>Your D has two great choices. Best of luck to her.</p>
<p>thanks for that info on Carleton. It does seem the perfect school for her if we were wealthy.</p>
<p>Grinnell has a wonderfully large endowment, larger than Carleton's. Carleton does meet EFC with grants, but unfortunately, no merit except for $2k annual NMF award. Here's the info on D's class of 2008 financial aid awards: <a href="http://www.carleton.edu/admissions/overview/affording/aid_chart.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.carleton.edu/admissions/overview/affording/aid_chart.html</a>.</p>
<p>The students D has become friends with are on financial aid, including work study (where she also puts in her time). Best wishes again to your D. She'll do well at Grinnell (and easily switch her perference once she's there) and have $$ saved for other educational opportunities.</p>
<p>Someting worth noting is the external scholarship policy of the two schools. Carleton will take you external scholarships (things like local Rotary awards, contest prices, whatnot) and use those to replace your loans, and then your work-study, before they touch the institutional grants they awarded to you. With Grinnell, the first $3,000 will reduce your loans and work study, but after that amount half of what is remaining will replace the grants they awarded you. For people who didn't win exhorbitant scholarships, these two policies probably won't make a huge difference, but if you spent a lot of time getting scholarships and got over $3,000, then money will help you out more at Carleton.</p>
<p>Interesting. I wasn't aware that Grinnell could deduct from a merit scholarship. Ty for that info. </p>
<p>I sure wish someone could contradict our image of Grinnell.</p>
<p>I'm not sure I understand your problem, ProudMary. Do you want someone to make Grinnell sound better than Carleton, or worse? They're both great schools with their own merits and flaws.</p>
<p>I too am confused. Every somewhat positive comment you have posted, proud mary, also seems to be a backhanded insult or in some way very bitter.</p>
<p>yes I do feel a bit bitter. In a perfect world a student's merit should dictate their school choice, not their parent's wealth. I do very much wish someone who knows Grinnell would reply that it's a great place and they love it there. I know it's great academically. That's never been a question. I keep waiting for that reply from a Grinnellian who says "hey what do you mean? It's great here!"</p>
<p>Well, keep in mind, you ARE on the Carleton forum...but every kid I talked to at Grinnell absolutely loved it there, if it helps.</p>
<p>Actually i am at a grinnell forum but this topic is also at the carleton forum.</p>
<p>I agree with you. I in fact am going to have to take out loans to go to Carleton even though I got offered almost a full ride at GW. If you ask me I think its worth it to me and well I will just have to deal with it. They say that the college years are th best of our lives and I will be damned before I allow money to get in the way of chasing my dream at my dream school even if its gonna make it harder from me later on.</p>
<p>Merit $$ and college decisions are main topics on the parents forum. It's hard on us moms and dads to see our kids be disappointed when they can't have the "one thing" they think they want. Please don't be bitter toward Carleton because they do not offer merit awards (other than NMF award I mentioned earlier). Neither does Swarthmore, Pomona, Williams, Amherst, Haverford, Harvard, Yale, Stanford, etc. etc. I assume your D went into this process knowing this information and that Grinnell was an attractive choice for her academically and because she might be awarded merit aid making it possible for her to attend. If so, everything went great. Kids at both schools are nice and friendly, academics at both schools are top-notch, activities offered at both schools are likely to be similar, both are in the down-to-earth midwest, etc. Your D will see the similar qualities in Grinnell that she likes about Carleton and have a terrific time there. Emphasize the positive, and don't think it makes her feel better to express a negative attitude about Carleton.</p>
<p>I am a parent. We visited both Grinnell & Carleton on successive days and liked both, but were really bowled over by Carleton. The students were incredibly nice, interesting, and charming in a loopy way. Grinnell students seemed a little less happy, a little more Eastern, a little more sophisticated, and their scores suggest that they might be a little weaker academically. Politically, Carleton is very left wing, while Grinnell is even more so.</p>
<p>Both have attractive campuses. Grinnell is building new buildings that looked impressive. The town of Grinnell is a boring dump, while Northfield was simply a less than exciting, but pleasant small town. </p>
<p>Grinnell charges several thousand dollars less for tuition and they offered my daughter $10,000 (she didn't apply for money). She is leaning toward Carleton over Grinnell, Northwestern, and Vanderbilt.</p>
<p>My son just called in with a preliminary report on his visit to Carleton. He's not due to arrive back in town until late this evening, but from what I can tell he was very impressed. </p>
<p>What made such an impression? That the guide spent more time introducing him to other students than touring buildings, and that he could not only sit in on a class, but also go to a club meeting. We tend to focus and research every aspect of the academics, but leave these very major parts of college life unexplored. </p>
<p>I know that this must have been an extraordinary visit because the school he visited yesterday offered him a unique opportunity to participate in an extra curricular, and yet he was more impressed by Carleton.</p>
<p>Well, that sounds just like Carleton! Glad your S was suitably impressed. There are way too many clubs there to get to do everything one would want. My D joined too many (and stuck with a smaller few) during her first few weeks there. Swing dancing caught her eye. When she told me she'd gone to a few meetings/instructional dances I wondered who stole my D and replaced her with this strange adventurous soul. Nothing against swing dancing, mind you, but I never would have believed she would give it a try.</p>
<p>FYI: I see from the parent's RD thread that your S was also accepted at Pomona. The D of the President of Pomona is also a Carleton frosh this year, choosing it over Harvard (or so that's the rumor). Pomona is very similar with the additional strength of the college consortium and the Cali weather (well, if you ignore the smog - I went to college in LA).</p>
<p>Again, best wishes to your S at whatever wonderful school he chooses.</p>
<p>Thank you. Yes, he visits west next week. He likes the trimester and poli sci offerings at Carleton however. I feel it is theirs to loose at this point. I never want to hear anything about a "woman's perogative" ever again!</p>
<p>
[quote]
I never want to hear anything about a "woman's perogative" ever again!
[/quote]
</p>
<p>:confused:?</p>
<p>..to change her mind.....looks like it isn't just the women!</p>