St Olaf College, thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Northfield is actually very sunny in the winter. It’s also very cold, and the days in December are short, but the sky is clear and blue and the sun reflects off the snow so it’s extremely bright. All the schools west of the lakes are much sunnier than the snow-effect schools (Michigan, Cornell) where it seems like it’s always cloudy and grey.

Correct that Northfield isn't as dreary and gray as Ithaca or Ann Arbor, but calling it "very sunny" during the winter is as big an exaggeration as the PP saying St. O is "drenched in sun."

Sunny days per year:

Ithaca: 155
Ann Arbor: 176
Northfield: 206
U.S. average: 206
Charlotte, NC: 218
Miami: 248
Scottsdale, AZ: 300

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Northfield is actually very sunny in the winter. It’s also very cold, and the days in December are short, but the sky is clear and blue and the sun reflects off the snow so it’s extremely bright. All the schools west of the lakes are much sunnier than the snow-effect schools (Michigan, Cornell) where it seems like it’s always cloudy and grey.

Agreed. Went to the other school in Northfield and friends from places like Chicago said that it was so much brighter and less depressing than winter there. Minnesotans also get outside to enjoy the winter—cross country skiing, ice skating, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Northfield is actually very sunny in the winter. It’s also very cold, and the days in December are short, but the sky is clear and blue and the sun reflects off the snow so it’s extremely bright. All the schools west of the lakes are much sunnier than the snow-effect schools (Michigan, Cornell) where it seems like it’s always cloudy and grey.

Correct that Northfield isn't as dreary and gray as Ithaca or Ann Arbor, but calling it "very sunny" during the winter is as big an exaggeration as the PP saying St. O is "drenched in sun."

Sunny days per year:

Ithaca: 155
Ann Arbor: 176
Northfield: 206
U.S. average: 206
Charlotte, NC: 218
Miami: 248
Scottsdale, AZ: 300

NP and Minnesotan here. It’s been the mildest winter in 150 years so it feels wrong to comment on this now but Northfield is typically very dreary—cold, cloudy, snowy—in the winter and is really not that sunny. However, what the original pp was commenting on, I think, was how nice the architecture is at St Olaf, how buildings are designed to let a lot of natural light in and how there are lots of nice places to study on campus not about the weather.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Northfield is actually very sunny in the winter. It’s also very cold, and the days in December are short, but the sky is clear and blue and the sun reflects off the snow so it’s extremely bright. All the schools west of the lakes are much sunnier than the snow-effect schools (Michigan, Cornell) where it seems like it’s always cloudy and grey.

Agreed. Went to the other school in Northfield and friends from places like Chicago said that it was so much brighter and less depressing than winter there. Minnesotans also get outside to enjoy the winter—cross country skiing, ice skating, etc.

Well Chicago sucks so maybe your friend was just commenting on how Chicago is a more depressing place overall than northfield but the winter weather is typically actually quite a bit worse in Minnesota than Chicago. Average temps in December, January and February in northfield are highs of 26, 21, 28 whereas avg temps in those same months in Chicago are highs of 37, 31, and 35. Considerable difference. Northfield also gets more snow than Chicago with average annual snowfall in northfield at 42 inches and Chicago at 37 inches

[Anonymous]

^^basically love St Olaf for many reasons but nice winter weather or sunny days are not it.

[Anonymous]

Toured in 2001 (!) and thought the campus was beautiful and the town was lovely. Attended elsewhere because the price tag was too high.

[Anonymous]

PP who used the word “sun-drenched.” Sure, let’s say “letting in tons of natural light.”

I do think that given the location, the architecture is terrific.

[Anonymous]

For those who attended and/or whose kids attended, can you speak to the dry campus thing? Are there truly zero parties that feel like college parties?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Northfield is actually very sunny in the winter. It’s also very cold, and the days in December are short, but the sky is clear and blue and the sun reflects off the snow so it’s extremely bright. All the schools west of the lakes are much sunnier than the snow-effect schools (Michigan, Cornell) where it seems like it’s always cloudy and grey.

Agreed. Went to the other school in Northfield and friends from places like Chicago said that it was so much brighter and less depressing than winter there. Minnesotans also get outside to enjoy the winter—cross country skiing, ice skating, etc.

Well Chicago sucks so maybe your friend was just commenting on how Chicago is a more depressing place overall than northfield but the winter weather is typically actually quite a bit worse in Minnesota than Chicago. Average temps in December, January and February in northfield are highs of 26, 21, 28 whereas avg temps in those same months in Chicago are highs of 37, 31, and 35. Considerable difference. Northfield also gets more snow than Chicago with average annual snowfall in northfield at 42 inches and Chicago at 37 inches

Yes, of course Minnesota is cold and snowy (most years)! I came from a much warmer place and didn't find it depressing at all.

[Anonymous]

My DS got away into Christianity there. Never came home. We are now too liberal for him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS got away into Christianity there. Never came home. We are now too liberal for him.

Should have sent him to Macalester.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS got away into Christianity there. Never came home. We are now too liberal for him. [/quote

You must be woker than AOC if you're too liberal for a St. Olaf kid. It isn't a conservative school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those who attended and/or whose kids attended, can you speak to the dry campus thing? Are there truly zero parties that feel like college parties?

Aren’t most college campuses dry, if only for liability reasons? Parties just happen off campus.

I went to a large state flagship that was technically a “dry” campus, but also a known party school. You weren’t supposed to have alcohol in dorms at all, but very few people lived in them after freshman year anyway. Fraternity and sorority houses were technically not on campus, and the surrounding apartment complexes were full of parties and drinking, on weekends and weeknights. But the campus was technically dry, other than school-sponsored events.

[Anonymous]

St Olaf is not what I presume people to mean by "woke" (given that it's an amorphous constantly shifting target for a variety of things that seem to include pink hair for people on this site). Fairly earnest group of smart kids. The campus is more damp than dry as they say and the parties tend to be more like what people on other campuses think of as "kickbacks" -- but that's usually the case for SLACs just because of their size.