banana622

hey - still trying to make my decision (b/w Dartmouth and Carleton) so a quick response would be much appreciated!!

just wondering about the academics at Carleton. How is the workload? is there a lot of attention from profs? how big are classes? how many classes do students take at once? how is the study abroad program?

oh and a random one - is the campus pretty?

fireflyscout

You only take three courses at a time (not counting PE or music or whatnot), so the workload is manageable. I don't think my daughter has had a class with over 25 students in it (she's intending to major in political science). Study abroad is extremely popular - I think you can find a list of Carleton-sponsored programs on their website. D knows several students who are doing two study abroad programs (trimester system has more flexibility that way).

And the campus is very pretty, especially the lakes and the Arb.

ferrisbueller

Yeah, three ten-week trimesters with three classes at a time. There's a six week break between thanksgiving and new years which is kind of cool. The academics are rigorous but manageable, Princeton Review rates the professors among the top twenty in the country, and the campus is very nice.
Best of luck with your decision!

Americanski

You should visit the Carleton website; they have pictures of the campus and answers to a lot of your questions. The average class size is 18 and 67% of students study abroad. Upper-level classes have fewer students, but are still not difficult to get into, even as an underclassman. One advantage of the trimester system is that if you spend fall semester at another school, you'll only miss Carleton's fall trimester. This can mean getting half a year's worth of credits while only missing a third of the year. And while Carleton has a number of its own programs, it's also fairly easy to get credit for a program you find on your own.