Grinnell College info please (Des Moines, Iowa City: movie theater, law school, colleges)

[family first]

Trying to get some insight on this college and town for a college bound child. Can anyone give me some feedback on the reputation of this school as well as info on its athletic programs. How is the weather compared to the West Coast? What is the town/city atmosphere like? Is the college right in town or more on the outskirts? Would be looking at the baseball program hear if anyone knows about.

Thanks

[601halfdozen0theother]

Grinnell has an EXCELLENT, nationally rated, liberal arts academic program. In fact, US News and World Report ranks the college #13 in liberal arts colleges in the entire US! Sorry, I don't know anything about sports.

The town is very small, but also very cute and economically healthy. The college is right in town, so it is very integrated into town life. The students come from all over the country and also from many other countries, and seem to be very nice well mannered kids, which makes sense because they have to be intelligent and hard working to even be admitted to Grinnell College.

Middle Iowa weather is much more extreme than CA weather. Summers are very hot and humid and winters are very cold and snowy.

I used to live near Grinnell and would go into town to go to the farmers market, movie theater, and special events, and have always liked the town very much.

[family first]

Any other insight on this school?
Thanks

[sheena12]

Originally Posted by family first

Any other insight on this school?
Thanks

I am an independent college advisor, so I do have some thoughts.

Grinnell College is one of my personal favorite Liberal Arts Colleges. I prefer it to some Ivy Leagues and East Coast "almost Ivies". It ranks 25 or 26 among US LACs, which is not at all shabby.

Grinnell offers a rigorous and comprehensive liberal arts education. It is ranked "highly selective". It is not known as a party school. The students their are serious.

It's a nationally ranked college and draws applicants from all over the US, many from the United States, including the East and West coast.

I really do not know much about their sports program, probably because it is not a "sports oriented" school.

This may be of help - https://www.niche.com/colleges/grinnell-college/

[eddie gein]

Originally Posted by sheena12

I am an independent college advisor, so I do have some thoughts.

Grinnell College is one of my personal favorite Liberal Arts Colleges. I prefer it to some Ivy Leagues and East Coast "almost Ivies". It ranks 25 or 26 among US LACs, which is not at all shabby.

Grinnell offers a rigorous and comprehensive liberal arts education. It is ranked "highly selective". It is not known as a party school. The students their are serious.

It's a nationally ranked college and draws applicants from all over the US, many from the United States, including the East and West coast.

I really do not know much about their sports program, probably because it is not a "sports oriented" school.

This may be of help - https://www.niche.com/colleges/grinnell-college/

Glad to have your input on Grinnell because I have a friend who went there and he can't say enough good things about it. And in the plains states it certainly is considered top notch.

The only criticism I've ever heard about Grinnell is that the town of Grinnell is kind of small and that some kids say they have to drive over to Des Moines or Iowa City for their nightlife and such.

[zazzyhippie]

I attended Grinnell, so did my sibling.


Academically a solid school.


I would NOT even send my own kid there even if they were smart enough to get in. No way these days.


It is a LEFTIST bastion, nope, I'm not talking about "liberal" either. It has unanimity of leftist thought by left-wing professors and administrators. It's also full of left wing homosexual activists.


Nope, the place is too expensive to get indoctrinated. It's not worth the money. The only other school is worse is Wisconsin -Madison. Grinnell used to be called The Harvard of the Midwest.


If you kid wants balance of social and academic thought, he's not going to get it at Grinnell College. Pick a cheaper State School. A "Liberal Arts" School these days is practically worthless.


My sibling wouldn't send his own daughter there either - not now, not ever. I declined the acceptance to Dartmouth to attend Grinnell - and what a mistake. I ended up in grad school in the South, and law school. I rec'd a far more balanced education and social construct.


My opinion? PASS, if not really RUN

[BLS2753]

You don't have to be an extremist Republican to disagree with some of the doctrines advocated on college campuses.

Many state schools are just as bad. Best alternative are the higher ranked private schools run by a religious denomination.

[TheProf]

Grinnell is a great, small liberal-arts college. Lots of intelligent students and faculty from all around the country and world; there's little wonder why Grinnell is so highly rated... A good friend of mine years ago went there and loved it. It is isolated in the Iowa cornfields, but is in a very progressive, industrious small town that really supports the college.

As for being some 'liberal bastion', if your politics is so important to you and that everybody in a school must think exactly like you, then by all means, go somewhere where you/your kids, will be comfortable... Hilsdalle College, Oral Roberts, BYU or Liberty would probably be more your speed, and that's your right. And btw, even at those so-called 'liberal bastions' like Grinnell or Wisconsin or Berkeley, there are plenty of right-leaning students and Republican and strong pro-Christian groups on campus.

But some people want a college to be total right-wing group think otherwise, it's too liberal/radical/communist for them. And even the prior posters negative comment about "homosexuals" shows where his/her mindset is. Folks like that are better off going somewhere else because people like me or my kids wouldn't want him/her there, anyway.

[CBOTfan]

Originally Posted by zazzyhippie

It is a LEFTIST bastion, nope, I'm not talking about "liberal" either. It has unanimity of leftist thought by left-wing professors and administrators. It's also full of left wing homosexual activists.

Archie Bunker, is that you?

Good grief.

[TheProf]

Originally Posted by CBOTfan

Archie Bunker, is that you?

Good grief.

Sadly Archie Bunker is dated to younger generations, and Carroll O'Connor is gone... Even more sadly, an updated REAL LIFE Archie Bunker is a certain major national politician, who will remain nameless.