- Campus: Carleton also has a student farm if that helps! There's actually an interest house dedicated to it (called Farm House) and students can be hired to work in the Arb and keep it beautiful! Our campus is actually amazing though. I'll cover it more in the weather section, but Carleton in the fall and spring is green and absolutely gorgeous. Students ride bikes, play frisbee, and study in the grass and everywhere on campus is walkable.
- Neighbourhood: Downtown Northfield is actually right next to Carleton so you don't even need a bike to get there! Northfield is a super sweet town filled with your local shops and your not-so-local shops (yes we have a Target). You should also keep in mind that we're in the same town as St. Olaf so it's very much a college town. We have bus that you can get on for free to take you around Northfield and you can take another bus to get you to the Twin Cities and Mall of America in 45 minutes.
- Weather: Don't worry about it. Plenty of Carls are from tropical/all-year-long warm places and everyone adapts well. Seasonal Affective Disorder (the winter depression syndrome you mentioned) is a real thing but Carleton's Student Health and Counseling center is well prepared to help students who may come down with that. They have light boxes that you can sit in front of for 15 minutes and you'll come out feeling much better.
Winter at Carleton is really fun. Carleton knows it’s cold and really makes an effort to make winter not as miserable as one would think. We actually flood the Bald Spot (the big grassy field in the middle of campus) every winter term to make ice skating rinks that are open 24/7. You can rent skates for free and go skating whenever you want!
- Culture: I go to Carleton right now and fun-loving, unpretentious, and motivated are words that I'd definitely use to describe our population. Other words may include: awesome, warm, energetic, curious, interested, genuine, exciting, and unexpectedly talented. We students rave about Carleton BECAUSE we love it so much here. It's just fantastic.
- Reputation and academic strength: Carleton has a great reputation with grad schools/law schools/med schools because our students graduate as curious, well-prepared, ready-to-take-on-the-world individuals. :)