Sadly and back to OP, they’re not going to visit any of the three even though theyr’e all relatively close - so OP won’t get to experience the people, the campus size, the surrounds, etc.
The role that political and social worldviews might play in a given college’s student culture definitely is not a simple one-dimensional sort of thing.
Like not to be crude about it, but Niche does student surveys. One is about student politics, and in fact, say, Carleton, Macalester, and Grinnell end up with pretty similar distributions on that question. However, they also do the question, “What one word or phrase best describes the typical student at this school?,” and for Macalester the top three were:
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Socially Aware 33%
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Ambitious and Courageous, but Considerate 18%
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Outspoken 11%
For Carleton, they were:
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Quirky, Ambitious and Down to Earth 34%
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Quirky 25%
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Smart 11%
This fits with their reputations in my circles, which basically amounts to there being maybe more of an activist sort of community at Macalester. Not that there are no activist sorts at Carleton, but maybe not so prominently.
For Grinnell, it is:
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Dedicated 20%
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Liberal 20%
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Smart 20%
Interestingly sort of in between, although again Liberal is not quite the same thing as Socially Aware or Outspoken.
Again I wouldn’t overread these survey results, including because the sample sizes are small and the methodology is not exactly robust. Still, again I think in some sense these are consistent with the schools’ respective brand images, and that becomes a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy, as prospective students choose colleges in part on that basis.
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If it helps, I believe I read that Grinnell is changing environmental science from a concentration to a major offering in 2027.
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