<p>D and I visited both this summer. She like Carleton’s campus and Northfield a bit better. If I remember right, she got to Carleton after seeing Grinnell and said “I like trees, there are better trees here.” Grinnell has train tracks running through campus and when we walked downtown the businesses didn’t seem as student oriented. We went to a restaurant (salads and sandwiches) recommended by the admissions receptionist and it was fine, but nothing special. We really liked Hogan Bros (sandwiches) and Sweet Lou’s waffles in Northfield. Also we didn’t see stores in Grinnell that we wanted to browse, whereas she had a great time at Ragstock, a bead shop, and some other spots in Northfield. I think Minneapolis also seemed a bit better to her than Des Moines. From my perspective the travel is easier to Mpls - from California we’d pretty much have to fly through Mpls to get to Des Moines.</p>
<p>If visiting both isn’t an option, you might be able to do one of the video tours to see what you think of the “look.” </p>
<p>WRT semester vs trimester - an advantage of trimester is that you can do an off-campus program in the fall and still have 2 terms when you get back. My neice did a semester fall program giving her an extra half term’s worth of credits which helped her finish a term early and do an internship for spring term senior year.</p>
<p>But, as others have said they are both great schools and you really can’t go wrong.</p>