Thoughts on St Olaf?
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Anonymous
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We visited and it was lovely. The campus is nice and everyone was super friendly. It's one of very few places that gave us a meal in the cafeteria, which I thought was a terrific gesture that more schools should do--it helped my kid picture themself at the school.
Granted, we went in warmer months! But my kid likes cold and did apply there EA as a safety. Waiting on a result. |
Anonymous
| Amazing school. Better quality of life than Carleton which is across the river. |
Anonymous
| Betty White!!! |
Anonymous
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Two thumbs up. It was my kids first choice safety. Really a lovely school. If he had gone, I would have been 100% on board.
You should visit, esp if Macalaster and/or Carleton are on your kids list. It had a different feel than many Colleges - peaceful but purposeful (I’m sure the fresh coat of snow helped, but it felt a bit magical. I could see my kid being happy there. |
Anonymous
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Op— highly unusual for a lower ranked LAC to get universal DCUM praise. Take that for the gift it is. You found a good safety (I mean, visit first. And if it’s a safety, see Macalaster and Carleton while you are there). And go in the winter. It’s fair to give a kid some idea of what the weather is like for,much of the school year.
I think it’s a special place. It was one of my kids safety (Wooster and Pitt rolling were the other— we had a yes from Pitt in mid Sept). Had it come down to safeties, I think it would have been St. Olaf. |
Anonymous
How so? |
Anonymous
Carleton has a lot of mental health issues. Students report being pushed beyond their limits and a weed out culture persists by making academics the extreme. |
Anonymous
| Seems like one of those strong liberal arts schools that’s been under the radar for east coast kids. Hearing about it more now so my guess it will start to get to be a harder admit in the next few years. |
Anonymous
Do you have a student there? Doesn't sound like my student's experience there. |
Anonymous
For a very well credentialed student, this is a great safety. It is a much better school than its acceptance rate would indicate. Do not sleep on St. Olaf. We didn't go to St. Olaf but we are happy we applied there. |
Anonymous
Yep. Lots of people who could be extras on a show about vikings. The guys tend to be pretty athletic too. It is not as diverse as they would like but it is very inclusive and if vikings were hippies with a strong sports focus this is where they would send their kids. |
Anonymous
| I’d feel like a Carleton reject. |
Anonymous
That's an exaggeration. I think the the Carls like to play into that perception, but it really isn't very different from a rigor perspective. |
Anonymous
That says more about your poor self esteem than Carleton or St. Olaf. People secure in themselves and their decisions don’t tend to have those issues. |
Anonymous
I have a sophomore at Carleton and this is not true. It's academically rigorous, but not weed-out nor extreme. I have heard only lovely things about St. Olaf (campus is beautiful; we've driven through) but I wouldn't denigrate Carleton just to lift up St. Olaf. |