<p>I know these two schools are similar in terms of nerdiness and atmosphere.
Apart from the difference in location settings, is there any reason to choose Carleton over UChicago for academics, opportunity, or any other reason?</p>
<p>If they're the type of person that would tolerate the core instead of love it, i think they would choose carleton.
Carleton is more likely to give out better financial aid (or at least in the past this is true, the effect of the Odyssey Scholarship is still unknown).</p>
<p>Carleton is an LAC, and Chicago is a university. If you wanted more personalized attention, one might choose Carleton. Or if you wanted a liberal arts education...</p>
<p>My son visited both Carleton and Chicago during his application process and did not find the atmosphere all that similar. Chicago seemed to offer more intellectual breadth. Carleton offered some specific programs that Chicago did not.</p>
<p>Carleton is all about undergraduates; Chicago has more grad students than undergrads.</p>
<p>As as undergraduate at Chicago, I don't feel overlooked, though.</p>
<p>I ruled Carleton out because it was a) too small, b) too remote, and c) too female. (I tend to get along better with males than with females, due to an inability of mine to understand the language Girl, and I thought that a relative lack of males would make "competition" among females for males more dramatic than it already is). I think it's an awesome school, though, but just probably not the best for me.</p>
<p>Different size, feel, social life, and so on. Both offer a great education, I wouldn't expect the experiences offered by each place to be similar, however. Different people feel more comfortable at each.</p>
<p>Unalove,</p>
<p>Chicago female/male 51/49
Carleton female/male 52/48</p>
<p>Too female?</p>
<p>I have heard that carleton is much more challenging than chicago, but it is only anecdotal evidence.</p>
<p>Where is Carleton? I have never heard of this school. Maybe, I am simply an ignorant person regarding the detailed American education systems. Maybe, Carleton is a very good school. But, IMHumbleO, this is a nonsense thread because UChicago is the probably the best university system in the whole world. Isn't it?</p>
<p>IMHumbleO, The Univerisity of Chicago is the school who accepts mostly National Merit $2500 Scholarship winners, AP National Scholars, and the most rigorous academically oriented young folks. That's why this school produces the most number of Rhodes Scholars recent years and the most number of Nobel Prize winners per capita as well as absolute numbers in sciences, both in Natural and Social Sciences. What a wonderful university!</p>
<p>Carleton is in St. Paul, MN. Great LAC, particularly strong in the sciences.</p>
<p>@siberian: Hey, there are some people here for whom UChicago isn't exactly the best place (people like me; think the core). So I wouldn't go too far on that statement that it's the 'best university system in the whole world'; you might hurt a few hearts with that!</p>
<p>1190, I thought it was something like 65/35. My bad.</p>
<p>Well, not exactly on topic, but related. My S chose Williams over Chicago or Brown. He liked Brown, really liked Chicago, but loved Williams.</p>
<p>He chose the very tight-knit community that a lack offers and is very happy with his choice. He loves Williams.</p>
<p>Williams is quite similar to Carleton so I thought his choice is germane.</p>
<p>All are wonderful schools and even more wonderful when the right fit is made between student and academic environment.</p>
<p>BTW: DS did not feel overwhelmed by the urban environment. We are New Yorkers who have a place we regularly stay in the city ourselves. We have also been too many cities, including Paris, and S navigated Rome alone with his friends. He chose a rural environment because, as he says, he wanted to see the stars.</p>
<p>Yeah, he is kinda quirky.</p>
<p>Mythmom,</p>
<p>I’ll admit to getting a little weak in the knees thinking about Williams’ beautiful physical setting and wonderful academics. These are qualities it shares with Carleton. But I’ve always seen Williams as a school much more main stream, much less “quirky” (not to argue with your son’s personal quirkiness), much more Northeastern than Midwestern in tenor, and more traditionally sports-driven. </p>
<p>Example:</p>
<p>Carleton “athletics” (loose use of the term) is all about Broomball (don’t ask) and Frisbee - its CUT and Syzygy teams make it to the national championships on a pretty regular basis. Our football squad - 38-16 loss this year to perennial “powerhouse” Augsburg College (again, don’t ask).</p>
<p>This year, Williams wins the Division III Director’s Cup for overall sports excellence for the 10th time in the last 11 years. It posts a “disappointing” 6-2 record in football after going 8-0 last season.</p>
<p>If you haven’t seen the posts on the Carleton site and have the time take a look – especially at Caspar’s comments – take a look at
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/carleton-college/431305-who-would-choose-carleton-over-uchicago-why.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/carleton-college/431305-who-would-choose-carleton-over-uchicago-why.html</a></p>
<p>I believe your son is a musician, a quirky musician if I’m not mistaken. I think he'd probably appreciate this short video (a classic Carl production):</p>
<p>The Brewmaster’s Tale
DVD</a> Fest 2007 :: The Brewmaster's Tale</p>
<p>We appreciate the input; however, since he just finished his first semester at Williams I don't think the matter is under discussion any longer, except for me to say the environment at Williams is actually quirkier than people would suppose from the athletics stats.</p>
<p>I don't think he wanted to have to take an airplane to get home, and we are East Coast.</p>
<p>I am going to check out the Carleton links though.</p>