IS THE LOCATION REALLY THAT BAD

SDonCC
Mon, 30 Mar 2015 11:16:05 +0000

^^FWIW, when we visited Kenyon on our college visits, we thought that it felt the dreariest and most isolated of any campus we’d seen! Be careful of impressions of one-time visitors!

From my perspective as a parent with several years of experience with Grinnell, town-gown relations seem quite good. There are interactions between campus and community, the college is generous in supporting some town initiatives, many events on the campus are open to the public. In fact, because as I said in my previous post, Grinnell College students generally do not look to town for their night life, they are not heading into town loudly carousing, which is what can create problems in other communities.

I imagine there are some disagreements over some issues, and i think there may have been times when some high school kids have driven by and said or done stuff. But, most years at Grinnell some local graduates stay to enroll in the college. Life there can’t be all that bad! Sometimes even alumni stay on to start businesses there after graduation. Some people grew pretty fond of that small town life…

I agree with Wombat on two things: one, the campus is the main draw, but no matter the nature of the town associated with it, that will be true for most American LACs – life is campus-centric. two, the shopping is not hip. Don’t go to Grinnell if you go are going to college to shop!