I’m the mom of a senior at Carleton and I would not characterize Carleton as conservative (politically or inhibition-wise). From what I have seen, the students are politically liberal (though there are exceptions) and VERY friendly, but NOT necessarily all extroverted. What has struck me is how accepting students are of differences. Some people regularly drink and do drugs, but most are very respectful of others who choose not to indulge there.
When it comes to drugs & alcohol, you can choose to reside on a DF (drug free) floor of a dorm. My son did this his freshman year and it was wonderful. The students really bonded, since they were not going out partying and drinking. As it seems is typical of Carleton, the friends he made freshman year are those he is closest to now.
The campus is very accepting of LGBT and there are quite a few students from Asian countries enrolled.
Carleton students seem less concerned about appearances than most other colleges I’ve seen (I teach at a college, myself). I really appreciate this, but it’s a personal value, obviously. They work very hard at their studies, but non-competitively, and they often play hard, too.
It’s too bad you can’t visit the campuses, since the feeling of different campuses are very different and some just “fit” with some people more than others.
By the way, as a mom, I’d take what the parents say with less weight compared to what the students who are actually there (or who were there) are saying. It’s not that the students are necessarily representative of all the students, but they really will have a different/better idea about what goes on on campus than parents do (for example, I live many states away from Minnesota, and though I’ve visited & spoken to my son for the past 4 years about it, I am not in as good a position as students to tell you what it is like; the same, I’d think, would be true for most parents’ views).