We recently returned to New York from a trip to both schools, and despite the distance and expense, felt the visits were well worth it! These were the last two schools to visit and essential in helping our daughter decide if she wants to apply ED anywhere.
Grinnell was hosting their Discover Grinnell event, and we were all mightily impressed with this school. They have a huge endowment and it shows, in the facilities, the programs, etc. The president gave a warm and humorous speech. D stayed overnight, and while she and her host were not a great match, she still spent a very enjoyable evening with other students she met and marveled at everyone's friendliness and eagerness to talk about their love of the school. She was, unfortunately, in a dorm building that she described as dark, tiny, and "prison-like." Other dorms she saw looked much nicer. She attended a physics class and unfortunately, had trouble understanding the professor because he had a thick accent. The school was very diverse compared to every other LAC we have seen, second only to Vassar. The food was very, very good. At the end, D decided to apply, but said she got a strong vibe that drinking and drugs are very big on campus, and while she's aware this will exist everywhere, she felt a discomfort about it that she has not felt elsewhere. So it's at the lower end of her preferred schools, for this reason and for distance and very rural location. I think my husband and I liked it more than she did!
On the flip side, she fell in LOVE with Macalester. Campus and facilities were not as impressive as Grinnell's, but still a fairly pretty campus in a GREAT neighborhood with lots of stores and restaurants, public transportation to downtown Twin Cities. Info session and tours were great, very impressed by internship programs, but a little turned off by the surprising high number of distribution requirements. She attended a philosophy class that was held outdoors, as were many other classes we saw, and really enjoyed it. Food was great in Café Mac, and she ate 3 meals there. She loved her host and her host's friends, who took her to their a cappella rehearsal, and she felt like she fit right in. Dorms were very nice, a surprise because we had heard otherwise, and she saw all of them because her host knew people in every building and took her to meet them!
After we returned home, D struggled a bit because she had been considering ED to Vassar after a second visit, during which she attended a great psychology class and met with the director of the neuroscience program, who was amazingly warm, welcoming, and took her on a tour of the science facilities. She was kind of on a Macalester high and was reconsidering, but in the end, after very careful comparing, chose to still apply ED to Vassar even though Mac is a super-close second. Vassar won because of the more open curriculum, the proximity to home, the diversity of the students, and the beauty of the campus. But if she winds up at Mac she will still be thrilled!
Hope this is informative for anyone reading!
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