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.

Good academics. Particularly noted for music, computer science, and mathematics. It is cold and its farther North than DC (latitude) so those cold winter days are shorter than here.

If DC goes, they should take a pair of bean boots or bean gumshoes along with many pairs of wool socks (both thinner & thicker wool socks) due to the climate/weather.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gorgeous, classic-looking campus, a mile from town, up on a hill so it feels like its own world (in a good way, says DC). Leafy, peaceful. Modern facilities rivaling those of far more selective schools. Huge windows, with tons of sun-drenched spaces to study. Extremely friendly — if you look even a little lost, someone will stop and offer directions. Lots of different kinds of kids. Good food. All the best parts of any LAC — opportunities for research with faculty, low student-faculty ratios, easy to try new things, profs don’t need to earn their salaries via grants so they can focus on undergraduate teaching — but with a reasonable admit rate and good merit aid. I’m told the career center is strong, but I don’t have a kid there (yet?) so I can’t say more. Dry campus, which isn’t to say no drinking, only that it isn’t done at huge parties. Cold weather, bitter in January, but all those sunny spaces help, and the student center has a big fireplace, so it feels cozy. We really liked.

It's fugg'n Minnesota, ain't nothing going to be drenched in sun.

Just as sunny in MN as it is in DC, just cold in the winter.

DC ain't exactly Scottsdale.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gorgeous, classic-looking campus, a mile from town, up on a hill so it feels like its own world (in a good way, says DC). Leafy, peaceful. Modern facilities rivaling those of far more selective schools. Huge windows, with tons of sun-drenched spaces to study. Extremely friendly — if you look even a little lost, someone will stop and offer directions. Lots of different kinds of kids. Good food. All the best parts of any LAC — opportunities for research with faculty, low student-faculty ratios, easy to try new things, profs don’t need to earn their salaries via grants so they can focus on undergraduate teaching — but with a reasonable admit rate and good merit aid. I’m told the career center is strong, but I don’t have a kid there (yet?) so I can’t say more. Dry campus, which isn’t to say no drinking, only that it isn’t done at huge parties. Cold weather, bitter in January, but all those sunny spaces help, and the student center has a big fireplace, so it feels cozy. We really liked.

It's fugg'n Minnesota, ain't nothing going to be drenched in sun.

Just as sunny in MN as it is in DC, just cold in the winter.

Anonymous wrote:Gorgeous, classic-looking campus, a mile from town, up on a hill so it feels like its own world (in a good way, says DC). Leafy, peaceful. Modern facilities rivaling those of far more selective schools. Huge windows, with tons of sun-drenched spaces to study. Extremely friendly — if you look even a little lost, someone will stop and offer directions. Lots of different kinds of kids. Good food. All the best parts of any LAC — opportunities for research with faculty, low student-faculty ratios, easy to try new things, profs don’t need to earn their salaries via grants so they can focus on undergraduate teaching — but with a reasonable admit rate and good merit aid. I’m told the career center is strong, but I don’t have a kid there (yet?) so I can’t say more. Dry campus, which isn’t to say no drinking, only that it isn’t done at huge parties. Cold weather, bitter in January, but all those sunny spaces help, and the student center has a big fireplace, so it feels cozy. We really liked.

It's fugg'n Minnesota, ain't nothing going to be drenched in sun.

Gorgeous, classic-looking campus, a mile from town, up on a hill so it feels like its own world (in a good way, says DC). Leafy, peaceful. Modern facilities rivaling those of far more selective schools. Huge windows, with tons of sun-drenched spaces to study. Extremely friendly — if you look even a little lost, someone will stop and offer directions. Lots of different kinds of kids. Good food. All the best parts of any LAC — opportunities for research with faculty, low student-faculty ratios, easy to try new things, profs don’t need to earn their salaries via grants so they can focus on undergraduate teaching — but with a reasonable admit rate and good merit aid. I’m told the career center is strong, but I don’t have a kid there (yet?) so I can’t say more. Dry campus, which isn’t to say no drinking, only that it isn’t done at huge parties. Cold weather, bitter in January, but all those sunny spaces help, and the student center has a big fireplace, so it feels cozy. We really liked.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dry, cold, and WOKE. Hard pass for me.

Is it crazy Woke? I went there 20 years ago and am curious about this. It was dry and cold then.

Nearly all campuses are "woke" by the moribund standards of the students' parents. I got a lot more woke when my kids went off to college as they came home and educated me. "Woke" is not all bad, just as long as the kids don't embrace professional victim status For some, it's about harm reduction and helping others.

Imagine being "educated" by a cosseted 19-year-old with little to no life experience and who is likely just regurgitating the pablum they just spent four months soaking in from a bunch of glib ivory tower types.

You sound fun. Do you talk like this at parties?

I suspect PP is actually quite lonely. Content people don’t talk like this. Anyway, none of this has anything to do with St. Olaf, which seems like a lovely school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dry, cold, and WOKE. Hard pass for me.

Is it crazy Woke? I went there 20 years ago and am curious about this. It was dry and cold then.

Nearly all campuses are "woke" by the moribund standards of the students' parents. I got a lot more woke when my kids went off to college as they came home and educated me. "Woke" is not all bad, just as long as the kids don't embrace professional victim status For some, it's about harm reduction and helping others.

Imagine being "educated" by a cosseted 19-year-old with little to no life experience and who is likely just regurgitating the pablum they just spent four months soaking in from a bunch of glib ivory tower types.

You sound fun. Do you talk like this at parties?

Lots of talk about woke in the St. Olaf thread, which is funny, bc I don't think of St. Olaf as being especially woke.

But maybe that's because woke is a subjective word that means something different to everyone. So your woke is different from my woke. Which means something can be both woke and not-woke simultaneously. Schrodinger's woke, of sorts. But not really.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dry, cold, and WOKE. Hard pass for me.

Is it crazy Woke? I went there 20 years ago and am curious about this. It was dry and cold then.

Nearly all campuses are "woke" by the moribund standards of the students' parents. I got a lot more woke when my kids went off to college as they came home and educated me. "Woke" is not all bad, just as long as the kids don't embrace professional victim status For some, it's about harm reduction and helping others.

Imagine being "educated" by a cosseted 19-year-old with little to no life experience and who is likely just regurgitating the pablum they just spent four months soaking in from a bunch of glib ivory tower types.

Or just learning from smart people about new paradigms that one hasn’t previously considered. It would be unfortunate if one couldn’t learn and grow. Just imagine the state of science if people were unable to think about new ideas and concepts.

I am a fan of St Olaf, but these "new paradigms" are actually very old paradigms. And many of them are remarkably anti-Enlightenment, and kinda dangerous.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dry, cold, and WOKE. Hard pass for me.

Is it crazy Woke? I went there 20 years ago and am curious about this. It was dry and cold then.

Nearly all campuses are "woke" by the moribund standards of the students' parents. I got a lot more woke when my kids went off to college as they came home and educated me. "Woke" is not all bad, just as long as the kids don't embrace professional victim status For some, it's about harm reduction and helping others.

Imagine being "educated" by a cosseted 19-year-old with little to no life experience and who is likely just regurgitating the pablum they just spent four months soaking in from a bunch of glib ivory tower types.

Or just learning from smart people about new paradigms that one hasn’t previously considered. It would be unfortunate if one couldn’t learn and grow. Just imagine the state of science if people were unable to think about new ideas and concepts.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dry, cold, and WOKE. Hard pass for me.

Is it crazy Woke? I went there 20 years ago and am curious about this. It was dry and cold then.

Nearly all campuses are "woke" by the moribund standards of the students' parents. I got a lot more woke when my kids went off to college as they came home and educated me. "Woke" is not all bad, just as long as the kids don't embrace professional victim status For some, it's about harm reduction and helping others.

Imagine being "educated" by a cosseted 19-year-old with little to no life experience and who is likely just regurgitating the pablum they just spent four months soaking in from a bunch of glib ivory tower types.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dry, cold, and WOKE. Hard pass for me.

Is it crazy Woke? I went there 20 years ago and am curious about this. It was dry and cold then.

Nearly all campuses are "woke" by the moribund standards of the students' parents. I got a lot more woke when my kids went off to college as they came home and educated me. "Woke" is not all bad, just as long as the kids don't embrace professional victim status For some, it's about harm reduction and helping others.

Anonymous wrote:St Olaf College, thoughts?

- Culture, student life, internship opportunities, career prospects,

My surgeon went there. Loved it. And one of my friends' kids. Also loved it.

What I hear is that it is beautiful, friendly, cold, strong in math, has lots of opportunities in music (great choir and orchestra), and that the ELCA Lutheran ethos is not overbearing but means that students are a little more focused on being pro-social and ethical than they might otherwise be.

Friend's child is a senior this year and has had a great experience every year - will be a happy, employed alumni in May