why I chose Grinnell.

bethievt
Fri, 09 Jan 2009 09:17:13 +0000

I couldn’t agree more with everything here. The Arabic prof was just added this year and my son says she is great and RKO, the wonderful president of the college, even mentioned in his Family Weekend talk how much the Arabic prof was enjoying her students. Since they now teach Arabic, they are connected with a study abroad program in Rabat, Morocco that sounds really good.

It was definitely the unpretentious intellectualism–wanting to learn for the fun of learning–that attracted my son. I noticed that Grinnell had more weird sounding student clubs than any other place he looked at. The parties sound wonderfully offbeat as well, but I get the sense that just hanging around talking to friends is often the best activity of all.

About the dorms, my son was in Norris (built in the 60s, I think) last year and is in one of the older buildings, nearer the library, this year. He personally prefers being on the library, rather than the gym and playing field, side of campus, but it’s a pretty small place so I don’t think it matters much. He requested sub-free (thought it would be quieter) last year and didn’t get it, but was grouped on a floor with other requesters, so that worked out great. I think Norris is considered one of the worst dorms and he had a great time there. It’s more about the people. What are all the posts saying about the dorms, last_kidsmom?

The small town thing doesn’t bother my son at all. Less to do in town means more to do on campus. They bring in an incredible array of speaskers and performers. and of course they do their own plays and concerts too. It’s a really diverse student body. My son’s friends are from all over the world and they do a fantastic job with socio-economic diversity too. It’s not a bunch of spoiled rich kids. It’s a community of learners who also know how to have fun. Can you tell I love it?

I have to agree though, that the squirrels are really fat. Don’t know what’s up with that.