Questions for current/past Grinnellians

stepherzz
Sat, 14 Aug 2010 22:26:57 +0000

Just for context, I’m a current junior.


My financial aid package at Grinnell was the second best of six packages I received (and it only came second because my best was a merit-based full ride). It is, like many private schools, VERY EXPENSIVE, but I feel like the financial aid here is WAY above average. Most of my friends who are not upper or upper-middle class say the same thing. I honestly have no idea how generous they are when you’re higher income.
Grinnell’s a very liberal campus with many vocal students. There is a conservative minority, but they definitely aren’t as vocal. I consider myself very liberal and I sometimes (though not often) tire of hearing certain liberal viewpoints over and over again, but I can imagine it would be worse if I were conservative. That being said, a lot of the “liberal” viewpoints that are most commonly preached have to do with tolerance and social justice in general, and I never get tired of that (I don’t think conservative students do either) because it makes the vast majority of the students feel more comfortable and accepted. If you have conservative views on social issues, you will probably either end up debating with a lot of people or decide not to talk about them because you’re sick of debating with people. Also, even though many students are vocal, there are a lot of politically apathetic people.
This all really depends on what you want to do; it varies from group to group and scene to scene. The work load, at least for me, is almost always very manageable. People often get really stressed for about 3 weeks during the semester (mid-sems, Hell week [the week preceding finals week in which there are invariably a large number of assignments due], and finals week), but my friends and I almost always have a generous amount of free time every day, especially on the weekends. I very rarely study on Saturdays.


There are a lot of options for free time, especially with the resources around campus and social life. A lot of people do party (probably more than you’d expect, but I’m not sure how similar schools compare) and choose to do other things, like walking to town with friends, watching movies, playing games, cooking, etc. There are tons of clubs on campus and people are very inclusive, so it’s generally pretty easy for people to find their niche.

Let me know if you have any more specific questions!