So excited for you Carleton prospectives. My younger son went there and played a sport. He is a grown up with a job now. Yay!
The most interesting place we stayed when we visited was the Thorstein Veblen farm. It was a farmhouse in the middle of cornfields and was the boyhood home of Progressive Era economist and social critic Thorstein Veblen. We found it on Airbnb, but I do not think it is listed there anymore. I do think it is being rented out, however. Want something offbeat and full of history? Try it. You would need to rent a car.
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We took my son to visit in January, a cold January day. We live in San Antonio, so a bigger city with a much different feel than little Northfield. He loved it. He loved that it was surrounded by nature and that it was so walkable. Once attending, he liked how friendly and welcoming the people were. I worried it would be too smallāhis high school was biggerābut that did not bother him. He adapted to the weather and stayed in the upper Midwest.
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Carleton does not give ANY merit scholarships so donāt believe they didnāt appreciate your son. They just do financial need only.
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Iām a Carleton alum from VA. Barring an interest in engineering, I would highly highly recommend Carleton. This is for a couple of reasons.
First, the academic strength and close relationship with profs (there are many phenomenal ones in the poli sci department) are very real benefits. Class sizes in the political science department rarely (if ever) exceed 25 students.
Second, Carletonās location is a very real pro, even (especially?) if you do end up pursuing poli sci (though itās not a guarantee ā I know plenty of people, myself included, who changed their mind about a major). Itās only 45 mins from the Twin Cities (I think DC is 3-4 hrs from Tech) and there are plenty of opportunities in and around Minnesota. (For example, I attended the Iowa Caucus with the poli sci dept to help a professor with her research.)
Obviously Iām biased, but I really canāt recommend Carleton strongly enough. Good luck with the decision!
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Thank you so much for this info! Itās honestly between carleton and vtech for me at this point, especially since the prices are the same (i think carleton might actually be slightly cheaper bc of their generous fin aid and also my fritch scholar award). im gonna see if i can make it out for one of the admitted students days.
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My sister finished visiting another school today and solidified her decision to commit to Carleton today!! Excited to help her move in this fall! 
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I read that if Carleton doesnāt offer a class a student needs, that they can take it at St. Olaf if they offer it. Does anyone have any experience with this?
Iāve heard it can be challenging since the academic calendars donāt line up. St. Olaf has semesters with a January term. Here is St. Olafās academic calendar for next year. https://wp.stolaf.edu/registrar/files/2023/12/2024-25-Academic-Calendar-FINAL5.pdf
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Iām a current Carleton parent and have visited both Oxy and Wesleyan. My older kids attended Harvard and UChicago. Carletonās strength in the sciences and its reputation as an outstanding teaching institution won out. And boy does it live up to the latter. Not only are professors well credentialed, they are exceptional instructors. I know this from sitting in model classes during family weekend, attending guided campus tours, reading feedback from RateMyProfessors, and most of all from the feedback of my son.
Carletonās location is considered rural but Northfield is very much in the orbit of Minneapolis, only an hour away. Theatre, major sports, and shopping at Mall of America is well within reach. Carleton manages a huge arboretum with lake access and running trails. Northfield also hosts St. Olaf College, an excellent college in its own right renown for its instruction and music programs. Northfield is a historic town remembered for the location of Jesse Jamesā defeat. The main street is feeds right into Carleton with quaint coffee shops and places to eat off campus.
Weāre based in SoCal. You canāt go wrong with Oxy but it gets overshadowed by the Claremont colleges. Itās proximity to shopping in Old Pasadena is hard to beat though. A nice perk is students may take classes at CalTech or Art Center if there is offering not available at Oxyābut doubt this happens often in practice. Los Angeles is an excellent college metro and Eagle Rock in particular is quite safe. If coming from the East Coast, the weather canāt be beat.
We visited Wesleyan on an extensive tour of Mid-Atlantic liberal art colleges in which we were most impressed with Vassar and Hamilton. I love the 5th year option and its excellence in film studies and Iād probably only go there if Iām confident of taking advantage of either of those two.
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When I toured St. Olaf, the student tour guide brought up ability to take classes at Carleton as a feature.
The 15 vs 10 week semesters make it more complicated to schedule but thatās about it. St. Olaf is a one mile straight line from Carleton and an easy walk or bike ride if the weather is cooperating. I believe a free shuttle also runs between the two managed by Northfield. Students from either campus can use each others cafeteria.
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Iām not sure if this counts, but Fiona Hill from the Brookings Institution gave a convocation this week (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MCMpbT1QKk&t=218s).
Many of the student tour guides on my first visit were political science majors.
Anyone worth their salt wonāt allow a little thing like geography get in their way. This is true whether recruiting talent or finding opportunity.
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We saw Hill as part of our admitted students visit. She was great! A real highlight.
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Thank you!! also wanted to let all the lovely people in this thread know that I have decided to commit to Carleton, and i am SUPER excited to go there this fall! I would appreciate any and all tips/info
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