<p>I would most certainly hope that Carleton (and Grinnell and every other LAC, for that matter) does pay careful attention to the serious interest each applicant shows. In these smaller school settings, every new freshman arriving has that much greater a potential impact on every aspect on campus life. A student body filled with kids who truly want to be there will be a much happier place than one filled with students enrolling at their “default” college. Carleton can be a pretty deliriously happy place.</p>
<p>I’ll add that I can’t think of another school that more honestly and openly defines itself to applicants. Just scan their website. Carleton has no interest in recruiting applicants in bulk. This is not a one size fits all place and they make this abundantly clear to anyone who does a modicum of research. While they do have a deep interest in recruiting a diverse body, it is invariably, year after year, held together by a single common thread - these are students who found in Carleton a school that best fit their image of themselves, the values that they hold, and (sometimes) frisbee.</p>