mom958

My daughter received an early notice of acceptance and merit $$. She liked Grinnell a lot while visiting but is unsure of the "fit." For those of you there or with kids there, can you describe the "culture" of the school in terms of what kinds of kids seem to be a good fit for Grinnell? ( i.e. interest in music or sports, as well as academics, "crunchy" or whatever...)

Thank you.

m&m&m

Very politically aware, very liberal, lots of students cut short their winter break by 10 days to return to campus and participate in the Iowa caucuses. Students offbeat, countercultural, very very smart and thoughtful and creative and energetic. If you think of the empty-headed "popular" crowd in high school--Grinnell students are about as far away from that as possible. [No offense intended, all you cheerleaders ] It has been a wonderful experience for my daughter.

If your daughter is looking for a sorority-type experience, or a big sports scene, she should look elsewhere. Plenty of students participate in sports, but it's a participatory rather than a fan culture. The basketball team has a nationally famous walk-on policy where everyone gets to play, with players changing every minute or two. Designed for enjoyment rather than racking up victories, the system flummoxes opponents so much that the team actually wins a lot of games.

bethievt

Yes, my son chose it over 9 other wonderful schools and loves it. He's a very unconventional thinker and likes to hang around with others who like to talk about "weird" ideas. He thought Grinnell kids were the least pretentious of any group of students anywhere. They have lots of funny-sounding student organizations and dances. A lot of the students use their breaks to do community service. He's going to New Orleans for a building project next week. The facilities and resources are unbelievable and people are really nice from the president on down.