St. Olaf, Macalester, Carleton: thoughts, differences, experiences?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:St. Olaf was hands down the best admissions experience my child had. She loved the admissions folks and really wanted to go there. When she visited, it just did not click (and it was not because it was -9 when we visited). The vibe of the students was just not right. She is not a musician and I worried that would be rough because like 50% of the kids are involved in music. We are also not religious, but she was fine with the religious piece (which seems to be relatively minor). Too bad, it was a great place and they gave her tons of merit.

They give incredible merit. I think it’s an unbelievable value. Maybe even unbeatable.

Yes, it would be $35k for DC but they prefer other schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:St. Olaf was hands down the best admissions experience my child had. She loved the admissions folks and really wanted to go there. When she visited, it just did not click (and it was not because it was -9 when we visited). The vibe of the students was just not right. She is not a musician and I worried that would be rough because like 50% of the kids are involved in music. We are also not religious, but she was fine with the religious piece (which seems to be relatively minor). Too bad, it was a great place and they gave her tons of merit.

They give incredible merit. I think it’s an unbelievable value. Maybe even unbeatable.

Yes, it would be $35k for DC but they prefer other schools.

40s for my kid but still half of the non-merit school. We were really impressed with the research opportunities, too.

[Anonymous]

Is St. Olaf woke?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is St. Olaf woke?

Not really.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is St. Olaf woke?

Not really.

Can a conservative thrive there?

[Anonymous]

Look at Olaf's latest CDS:

In state - 44%
Out of state - 43%
Internationals - 12%

Carleton
In state - 20%
Out of state - 67%
Internationals - 13%

Clearly Olaf is a local college with less diversity.

[Anonymous]

More DMV private kids seem to go to Carleton than St. Olaf and Mac.

Also if this matters to you, Carleton has a winter break that goes from Thanksgiving all the way into January. And somehow it still starts the school year into September and ends in May. My college kid was very jealous of her friend with this schedule.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:More DMV private kids seem to go to Carleton than St. Olaf and Mac.

Also if this matters to you, Carleton has a winter break that goes from Thanksgiving all the way into January. And somehow it still starts the school year into September and ends in May. My college kid was very jealous of her friend with this schedule.

It's a trimester schedule. Fall trimester is September-Thanksgiving. Winter trimester is early January-mid March. Spring trimester is April-June. (This year, exams end June 8.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look at Olaf's latest CDS:

In state - 44%
Out of state - 43%
Internationals - 12%

Carleton
In state - 20%
Out of state - 67%
Internationals - 13%

Clearly Olaf is a local college with less diversity.

No skin in this game, though we looked at both schools. Honestly, Minnesotans are the best. Having more Minnesotans is not a downside.

[Anonymous]

St Olaf is strong academically in Math and CS - and employers like me know this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is St. Olaf woke?

Of the three colleges, St Olaf is the least woke. Macalester would be the most woke, and Carleton a close second.

FWIW, both Carleton and Macalester have made Princeton Review's lists of Most Liberal Students, Most LGBT+ Friendly colleges, and that list of most tree-hugging granola hippie students (forgot the exact name). I don't recall ever seeing St Olaf on any of those three lists.

Anonymous wrote:Can a conservative thrive [at St. Olaf]?

Well, that depends on ... a lot of things. How conservative? What kind of conservative? How vocal? How mature are you? How well can you handle being challenged and attacked?

Conservatives would be a distinct minority at all three schools. It's just varying degrees of liberalness. St Olaf would be more mainstream liberal. Macalester and Carleton would be closer to the Oberlin / Reed part of the political spectrum. At Carleton, if you love Bernie, AOC, Zohran, you would be pretty much in the political center of mass. If you think those people aren't liberal enough, then Macalester is for you. If think they're a little too liberal for your taste, then you'd likely be most at home at St Olaf.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Perspective from grad school prof: though St. Olaf and Carleton have somewhat different admissions profiles, I see outstanding students coming from both schools. So entry standards may be different but I think you can't go wrong with the quality of the education at either. I know a LOT of academics who went to St. Olaf. Less direct experience with Macalester, but I hear only good things.

You teach Norwegian?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look at Olaf's latest CDS:

In state - 44%
Out of state - 43%
Internationals - 12%

Carleton
In state - 20%
Out of state - 67%
Internationals - 13%

Clearly Olaf is a local college with less diversity.

Percentage of internationals is similar, although many of those for Olaf are Norwegian.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mostly midwesterners at all three or draws more broadly? My kid is mostly interested in New England liberal arts schools, small, selective etc. Trying to branch out a bit for the list.

Carleton and Macalester will have around 1/3 from the midwest, with Macalester probably being a little higher than Carleton.

St Olaf has around 2/3 from the midwest, I believe.

Carleton is very diverse. The biggest student body is from California (~15%). Then there are IL, MA, NY, TX, WA, all the big states.

Midwesterner constitutes about 15-20% of the student body.
https://www.collegefactual.com/colleges/carleton-college/student-life/diversity/chart-geographic-breakdown.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More DMV private kids seem to go to Carleton than St. Olaf and Mac.

Also if this matters to you, Carleton has a winter break that goes from Thanksgiving all the way into January. And somehow it still starts the school year into September and ends in May. My college kid was very jealous of her friend with this schedule.

It's a trimester schedule. Fall trimester is September-Thanksgiving. Winter trimester is early January-mid March. Spring trimester is April-June. (This year, exams end June 8.)

How many classes do they take at one time?