St. Olaf --- What is it like?

carldad
Mon, 31 Oct 2005 11:23:50 +0000

I wouldn’t worry about St. Olaf being inclusive. Most of the students will be very accepting of people from different racial backgrounds. Although not perfect, I think the midwest tends to be fairly accepting of different types of people. Northfield in particular has an accepting feel in large part because of the two colleges, neither of which would consider exclusivity to be a good thing.

St. Olaf has a number of strong academic departments but historically some of the strongest are math, chemistry, music and religion.

I was a student there many years ago and actually transferred there after freshman year. I started at a mid sized university that I discovered after getting there had a lot of competition between students. That was not my thing. I had applied to St. Olaf originally and decided that a smaller school was a better fit. There also was not competition amoungst the students as much as competition with your self to do well. I also enjoyed music and music is a strong force on the St. Olaf campus.

As to the band and orchestra, I would guess that the vast majority are not music majors(although some very good musicians). St. Olaf is best known for vocal performance of which the St. Olaf Choir is the best known and has a number of music majors. Last count I think there were 7 or 8 choirs, some of which required tryouts and some that were available to anyone who wished to sing.