dalmatiansrock

After I read the ***** site about Grinnell, I wondered if a tolerant and open-minded but straight white male would fit in. I don't believe everything I read, but some of the posts made Grinnell sound like might be looked upon as oddities or outsiders. I have had more or less the stereotypical middle of the road high school experience, and I'm sort of plain vanilla (although I like interacting with all sorts of people). Would I find others like me at Grinnell?

bethievt

My son is a tolerant and open-minded straight white male and he loves Grinnell! If you can only stand plain vanilla, maybe not, but I think you could be very happy at Grinnell if you really are tolerant and open-minded and want intellectual challenge. Prepare yourself for an interesting experience. If you don't want an interesting experience, why go here? Why go anywhere?

Mary13

I’m the mother of another tolerant, open-minded, straight white male with a stereotypical high school experience. My son graduated from Grinnell last year. Were there others at Grinnell like him? Yes. But in the small group of a half dozen close friends he made over the four years, one was not straight, one was not white and one was not male. My point is that if you are hoping to find good friends at Grinnell, they are there waiting for you; but if you are hoping that all those friends will be white males with similar backgrounds as yourself, Grinnell is probably not the best choice for you.

bethievt

Well said, Mary13! My son has made so many close friends at Grinnell and they have been all over the map, literally. His dorm room last year looked like an adolescent version of the UN. We thought it was great! And there are many other faces of Grinnell, I guess, with the jock-y element etc. There are even Republicans. Go figure...

stepherzzz

I'm an open-minded straight white girl who's in a relationship with an open-minded straight white guy at Grinnell. I have NEVER felt like an oddity at Grinnell, and I don't feel like many people ever really do. Grinnell's very accepting. The only reason to worry about fitting in is if you're NOT open-minded, and that sounds like it's not a problem for you. I absolutely loved my first year at Grinnell and I highly recommend doing some more research, including contacting current and former students to gather more information. Remember that all information concerning student life is biased, and some people have a tendency to exaggerate qualities with which Grinnell is commonly associated. Sometimes this means people take good qualities and try to paint them in a bad light.

If you have any specific questions or concerns, feel free to PM me.