We have friends whose eldest child went to Carleton and loved it SO much. Their younger sib expected the same experience, was accepted ED, and hated it. She transfered out.
There’s a reason so many people talk about fit and vibe – what is perfect for one person is another’s hell!
Curious to find out where the OP ended up applying and thinking about going. A lot of folks have similar schools on their lists (Mac, Grinnell, St. Olaf, Carleton). My D25 is likely going to St. Olaf. She didn’t apply to Carleton because they give no merit aid, she thought Macalaster was too small and too much “like I.B. college”, Grinnell was a no go because of Iowa, we visited Lawrence and she didn’t like it at all. She fell in love with St. Olaf on a campus tour last year and hasn’t really looked back.
Not OP but my D25 also likely attending St. Olaf. She also liked Carleton but preferred the campus and vibe at STO and their generous merit makes it hard to justify no merit from Carleton. You can cross-register at the “other” Northfield school but I realize kids rarely do that. She’s an athlete and musician. We also visited Grinnell and Macalester but in the end didn’t apply. She did apply to Lawrence and Kalamazoo. Both had appeal (and very generous merit aid) but STO felt more at home. Interesting journey - glad it is almost over.
I’m always curious when folks say there’s no/low merit aid at Carleton - on their website they make it look like they give a ton of aid - is this all need-based? I imagine the majority of Carleton students are not necessarily low-mid income, but maybe?
Very little aid that is not need-based. See this link: https://www.carleton.edu/financial-aid/types-of-aid/grant-and-scholarships/
If you look at the 23/24 college data set, less than 1% of the institutional aid awarded by Carleton was other than need-based. Also you can also run their net price calculator and see what it projects for aid. Definitely an outlier among Midwest LACs, but it works for them.
Hi! Of the schools discussed here, I applied to both Carleton and St. Olaf. I also applied to Macalester, Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, Wellesley, and CWRU. Rejected at Carleton, Mac, and CWRU, but accepted to St. Olaf with a great scholarship : )
As of now St. Olaf is my top school along with MHC and Bryn Mawr (if I get into either with enough aid). I’m hoping to visit at some point in April once I’m cleared to fly (having surgery soon).
ooh my D25 is awaiting a Bryn Mawr decision as well. So much overlap!
Ooh fun!! Good luck to her! Really crossing my fingers I get in, it’s practically my dream school. There are so many things to like.
Yup, the only merit they give is National Merit Scholarship and it’s only $2k. Very little dent in a $87K COA.
Of the T10 LACs, only Swarthmore and Claremont McKenna give merit scholarships. Most of these schools focus their money on need-based aid.
And they give out VERY few non need based merit awards! Swarthmore - 2% and Claremont McKenna- 7%
Yup.
Your question is answered further down on the page you linked to:
To ensure we can fund generous financial aid packages, we do not offer merit scholarships.
If you’re looking for a school that’s similar to Carleton (in terms of vibe) but offers merit aid, take a look at Grinnell.
Okay !
Yeah, to me the real outlier in this part of the college family tree is Grinnell, in that they actually have a robust merit program.
I’ve always assumed that was because of their location. Fantastic school, though, so hard to beat if you are looking for an LAC with top academics and robust merit, and you don’t see the location as a deal-breaker.
Yup, that location is a very hard sell. Between the cornfields and middle-of-nowhere locale, and the weather, and the bugs, and the lack of access to outdoor recreation or much indoor entertainment. And even a harder sell due to Iowa politics. Still an amazing school for sure though in spite of all that. But also it isn’t surprising it has a reputation for a lot of drug use (and studiousness) - what else are the kids going to do there besides write and party?
When we visited Grinnell on a Thursday in Fall, we stayed at a lovely hotel (Hotel Grinnell) and ate at a nice restaurant (Prairie Canary) but we were about the only guests at either place. Daughter couldn’t get past how dead it was. Northfield is twice as large in population and has the two colleges instead of one which made a big difference in our opinion.
Yes, Northfield feels like a real town–not a large one but not bad at all for a college town.
Northfield being just 45-50 minutes away from the Twin Cities is also a huge plus in my view. That’s an easy day trip, and the Twin Cities have a ton to do, plus a very useful airport.
Grinnell is around the same distance from Des Moines, but there is a pretty noticeable difference between the 16th and 82nd largest metropolitan areas in the US. In other words, you are looking at one metro that is like five times the size of the other, and I know for my S24 (and I suspect many other kids), that’s a big distinction.
But also because they are one of the wealthiest per capita schools in the nation.
That too!
According to this chart, the only LACs with a higher endowment (which is not quite the same thing as overall wealth, but one indicator) per student . . .
. . . are Swarthmore, Amherst, Williams, and Pomona (sometimes also known as WASP).