<p>I’d like to say several things as a final post, before this becomes too much about things unrelated to life at Carleton:</p>
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<li><p>To 1190 - just FYI - New College used to lend their campus to USF (who wanted a Sarasota campus) during times of financial difficulty. It has been many years since then and New is now a completely separate entity, officially Florida’s Honors College (compare to St. Mary’s in Maryland). Also, the school is so tiny because they actually cap the student body at 800. Just thought that was interesting. The best I can say to explain away their low graduation rate is that schools like Hampshire and New that have alternative academic programs are not compatible with everyone; even top-notch students may have trouble navigating the system. Therefore, many people find that they can’t handle it and they drop out to go to more traditional schools (like the others on my list). Also, these schools are not necessarily niche in different ways. They are pretty much a similar niche, but nobody would guess that because it’s a mix of LACs, universities, public, private, alternative program, traditional program, etc. However, I did ridiculously extensive research in finalizing my college list, and you may be surprised to know how similar the six aforementioned schools (and two at which I was waitlisted - Swat and Vassar) are. Of course they all have tremendous differences that make them unique as well!</p></li>
<li><p>To SAY - I can’t speak for your grad program; however, I have a specific graduate program in mind and have contacted schools to ask if some colleges look better than others when applying to professional school. The responses I’ve gotten have been along the lines of “It matters much more HOW you did than WHERE you went.” Of course, they said, they consider schools when comparing two applicants with equal records. In that case, I’ve been told by one institution, Brandeis=Carleton=Oberlin=Swarthmore-Vassar, New=Hampshire, and Clark isn’t far behind. Another institution said that they have students who graduated from all of those schools, and they actually seem to like Hampshire students a lot for some reason! In conclusion, many extremely competitive professional programs educate people coming from schools all over the USNWR rankings!</p></li>
<li><p>To fireflyscout - I noticed that too. This certainly leaves a good impression of Carleton.</p></li>
<li><p>mflevity and limner - I get the same reaction about all of my schools :)</p></li>
<li><p>Everyone - I didn’t mean for this to be a whole thing about USNWR/prestige/whatever! Sorry if some unintentional tension has been created between Carleton and Brandeis - they are both wonderful schools that are completely equal in my eyes!</p></li>
<li><p>Finally, thanks to all who answered my questions. I really appreciate it and have an even clearer and more positive view of Carleton than I did before! I haven’t made a decision yet, but I know all the answers I’m getting here and on the Brandeis, New, and Hampshire boards are going to help me a lot! </p></li>
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<p>(By the way, I’m female, for those of you who were saying “him” in past posts!)</p>