My daughter was looking for a smaller, rural campus and honestly, we had no idea this would be the one she was accepted at as it’s the furthest school from us (we are from Pgh, PA). She was also accepted at University of Pgh and Penn State, but it’s between Carleton and Pitt for her. I have been researching a lot on the professors and we are absolutely thrilled with the ratio. She wants to be a Bio major, do research, and eventually move on to get a Masters in Medical Illustration. Of course, we will see how freshman year goes, and then what she chooses for sure, but she also needs to minor in Art. Do you know anything about their Art programs? Doing a semester abroad is also something she dreams of. I have so many questions! We will be at the Carl Days on the 18th but we are flying back home that same night, so not a lot of exploring which makes this mom a bit nervous not knowing the area. I’d love reassurance haha!
So much to say! I will PM you!
A few basic observations.
Carleton is actually quite easy to get to from Pittsburgh. That is where we live (Pittsburgh area), and I visited twice with my S24, once before applications and once as an admitted student. I note on the second visit, everyone in our family (me, NiceUnparticularMom, and our D30) loved Carleton, but it turns out S24 liked WashU just a bit more. Nonetheless, we still have our Carleton pennant up on the cork board–having trouble letting go . . . .
Anyway, Delta has something like 4 nonstops a day, and I think Sun Country is also is an option some days. Then it is a quick (around 45 minute ride) to Carleton from the airport. It was actually much more a pain getting to other colleges in the East that are nominally closer to Pittsburgh, but getting back and forth from the nearest airport with direct flights was much harder.
Then the Twin Cities themselves are also about the same distance from Carleton, and they are great. So much to do, friendly, diverse . . . and easily a day trip sort of thing.
Again, all this means Carleton is actually functionally much closer to a lot of great stuff than some other colleges farther away from such a metropolis.
In terms of the art program, I know it is very popular and lots of kids are doing some sort of art even without doing a minor (it is part of their distributional system, but many seem to just enjoy it). Note the trimester system sort of gives you some “extra” classes to use. However, I don’t believe they have a minor in Studio Art (unlikely Art History, Music, or Theater, which do have minors). Instead, they have this pretty cool sounding minor in digital arts:
I can see why in the current era that might be a more popular minor for many kids, but it sounds like perhaps she is really more a conventional Studio Art person.
So my two cents is to aggressively ask about this when you visit (they definitely will not mind). I’d like to believe she could either take all the courses she wanted without a formal minor, or maybe even could double major if that seemed reasonable. But for sure she should make sure she understands what her options would look like.
Finally, there was lots of discussion of study abroad, including because lots of people were concerned about how that works with the trimester system. Long story short, tons of people do it, and it is part of their greater Off-Campus Studies program:
At a high level, Carleton itself has a variety of programs that obviously are designed to work, and then they will also give you lots of help identifying non-Carleton programs that will work if you want more options, and they have a binder of student evaluations for such programs.
Anyway, this is all stuff we just picked up on during our own process. Plenty of people will be eager to answer any question you might have in as much detail as necessary.
Thank you for the extra info! We live less than 10 mins from PIT so that should work out fantastically if this is her choice. I’m just very grateful and excited she gets this opportunity. We’re very much looking forward to our visit next week and we both have our questions ready to go!
We will be attending on the 18th too as well as doing the mad dash back to the airport for the flight home.
Both D25 and I are excited to visit. My only real concern is the trimester structure. She is prone to significant procrastination and time management challenges so i worry that Carleton may not be the best fit.
Just went to Carl days today. Was one of my favorites for my son but not sure after today’s visit.
The day wasn’t planned well IMO. Compared to Macalester it was poorly run. I know you can’t judge the school based on admissions but it didn’t leave us feeling too excited about it
Arg disapoining to hear since DS is very interested and we are schlepping out from the east coast to MN for the second time in two weeks 
At Vassar this weekend.
We were supposed to go to Vassar this weekend too. My son crossed it off the list before the visit. I loved that one for him.
Right now Macalester is probably my favorite for him. It checks a lot of his boxes.
Highly likely he is going to end up at UW (Seattle) though. He’s leaning into the big schools. UMichigan is probably in 2nd place. My kid is clearly not concerned about prestige at all 
which I’m thankful for. He really wants to be somewhere where he thinks he’ll fit in- although I don’t agree that the big school is the right choice for him. This is going to be a tough week I think.
Loved Mac too. LACs are such a wonderful place to develop into an adult. I think it is hard to get that piece across to kids. Good luck with your decision making! ps Full on SNOW in Poughkeepsie today , blech.
So interesting we also went to Carl Days yesterday and had a very different take than above.
I felt they were extremely organized. Our welcome packet was waiting for us upon arrival along with admissions officer apologizing that we hadn’t received it.
(We live in a rural community and mail service is spotty).
Our tour guide was so bright and fun and throughout campus other students kept yelling “Happy Birthday!” as a joke.
Our financial aid officer could not have been more caring and professional and clear. This meeting was very important and I think was representative of the values of Carleton as a community. We were treated very well.
We spied a huge barn owl in the Arb, felt the student panels were real and shared varied, honest experiences.
The food was delicious, the informational materials well done and thorough. My son enjoyed walking through the lively dining hall and spending his 30$ coupon on merch.
Most importantly for me yesterday was seeing the Carleton student interactions.
We noticed student groups in discussion everywhere. In classes, in the dining hall, walking around campus. They were few singles. I didn’t see a lot of iPhones out or AirPods. Lots of laughing.
Loved seeing the Friday flowers.
I don’t know what my son is going to decide (trying to let him process) but we all felt Carleton and Northfield is a very special place.
Me again- very diverse student body.. Other admitted students commented upon this as well.
A very positive day.
Our experience came on the back of our visit to Macalester. It was night and day.
My two cents-first check in was a cluster. The long extremely slow line was unnecessary. Comparing this to Macalester, where you walked into a large room with lots of people guiding you to tables organized by last name. We waited 2 minutes to check in. Everything started on time. People were so helpful and friendly.
Next- classes:
Macalester gave a choice of about 120-150 classes offered throughout the day, in every field. You could take classes all day long, or pick and choose which events to attend, so easy, flexible.
At Carleton you did not get to pick your class, or time. My son was given a time that coincided with the student panel. He was really disappointed as he wanted to hear the student panel. I asked an admissions rep if he could switch to a different time and the response was less than helpful- they basically said ‘divide and conquer’ and they weren’t exactly friendly about it either. It was a real turnoff. My son came back very underwhelmed with his class experience. He said it was boring, especially compared to the Macalester classes. Lunchtime, there was no interaction with current students- all admitted students were together. Because of the seating arrangement he ended up just speaking with one admitted student:
There was an outstanding faculty panel at Macalester, with 4 members from varied departments, and a parent panel with current parents - it was fantastic. The student panel was even more impressive. Their stories were inspiring.
They had campus tours all day, like Carleton, and additional tours to other departments, offered academic advising appointments and office hours with all departments.
My son left Carleton with a slightly worse impression than when he arrived unfortunately.
That’s really interesting! Thank you for sharing. We will keep this in mind when we provide feedback to Carleton. I would have liked to have “met” professors at Carleton. And I think my son also would have preferred to attend a class that was in line with his academic interests instead of being randomly assigned.
Thx!
For future applicants thinking about visiting Northfield, the Fairfield Inn was great, and for dinners we really liked Reunion and The Ole Store. Reservations are probably a good thing for both restaurants, though we were lucky on both counts and got tables with only a small wait.
Life has been hectic lately, but here’s our update after attending Carl Days on the 18th:
We had THE BEST TIME! I think the only tiny issue that came up was we had to wait another hour for the hotel shuttle to pick us up from the airport after we arrived bc the shuttle we initially called for, people just piled in and our shuttle driver seemed a bit overwhelmed so daughter and I decided to wait. Otherwise, our hotel was lovely, we visited the Mall of America only for the aquarium (yes, we clearly live under a rock as we had no idea this place existed) as she loves sharks. We were picked up from the hotel promptly, had to circle back twice, but over all, the drive was uneventful and easy. Talked to a few parents and everyone seemed excited. My daughter wasn’t super thrilled with her choice of class to sit in on as it was for linear algebra (the horror) but, she said the prof was great, the students, and visitors, had open discussions, joked, etc. The kids were still talking about the class after class was over (something she has noticed be non-existent in HS). We absolutely fell in love with the campus! We had a fantastic tour guide, met more parents, had a delicious lunch, found out more info during the career fair part, walked around on our own once we saw and did what we needed to. I thought the day was well structured, we didn’t feel we missed out on anything as the schedule basically looped throughout the day. The faculty and staff were all very welcoming, answered any questions, checked up on us. I do wish we had scheduled with the financial planner as I had a few questions, but email is a thing, so not too big of a deal.
SHE COMMITTED TO CARLETON ON TUESDAY!!
Now, we figure out travel logistics for the first week. Does anyone know if we should book the local hotels in advance? I don’t believe we have the schedule yet for when she starts, but we will be driving from Pittsburgh and staying a day or 2 before dropping her off and coming back home.
I am so thrilled for her!
I don’t know about Carleton specifically but I would absolutely start looking for lodging if you can be relatively confident move-in would be in your window or it is refundable. There is always a way to make it work, but with most colleges it does seem like the preferred places go fast, particularly starting May 1.
Yes!! Book that hotel ASAP! Move in is on Tuesday, Sept 9. https://www.carleton.edu/new-students/nsw/
Fairfield Inn is definitely the best spot in town and right next to campus. The AmericInn is not nice at all, but will be filled with other families moving in that day too. I’ve never stayed at the Comfort Inn, but it can’t be worse than the AmericInn. Everything books up fast though. There used to be a historic hotel in town that burned down during COVID, and they really need another option.