I like reading others’ thought processes. Ours was similar, but I can say so much of it was just a mental exercise and and little to do with ds’s day-to-day life.
We liked Carleton, in part, because of what we saw as the “good” access to a major metropolitan area. As it turns out, he rarely ventured into the Twin Cities his whole time there. He went to a couple of Twins games and the spring concert at Macalester with friends there, but otherwise he was perfectly happy in the Carleton bubble. I love Northfield and don’t feel like it will get old in a week. How ds “used” it changed over time. Once he turned 21 he was a regular at trivia night at some local pub. Before that, it was an occasional meal at one of the restaurants within walking distance.
On the weather, we told ds that this is the best chance he’ll ever have to try something really different. And MN cold is definitely different for us. I agree with PP who said he/she couldn’t deal with gray skies, but thankfully MN gets plenty of sun, even in the winter. His first three years were each different … the first year was the perfect winter he has expecting – perfect for traying and cold but not bitterly so. Another year, it was so warm that the broomball rinks were having trouble staying frozen. Another year was what you feared. So. Cold. Bitterly cold. One of his profs cancelled class even though the school didn’t. One of my favorite Carleton phrases is “Hell freezes over. Classed delayed two hours.” These are hearty people!
Also, the Arboretum is so beautiful.
But, really, all are good schools. I don’t think of Carleton as “intellectual.” To me, that feels pretentious, and Carls are definitely not pretentious. But there are plenty of super-sharp kids. You’d get a great education there.