Carleton College

Carleton College
Northfield Minnesota
Visited October 23, 2009

Beginning our trip to Northfield, we stayed in a normal midwestern hotel chain across town from the College. From the window of my hotel room, the town of Northfield looked like a bleak midwestern manufacturing hub off of the highway. This impression of the town quickly faded, however when we drove through historic, riverfront Northfield, and I began to appreciate the scenic beauty of this area. Northfield itself was a really nice town with a great old town river-walk area just blocks from the college. Newer retail spaces also existed on the outside of the town, compromising a target and plenty of other necessities. This riverfront area reminded me of East Dundee, the quintessential midwestern town with beautiful water fronted, plenty of elevation, and beautiful nature.



Through the town and on the top of a hill sat Carleton, immediately recognizable by its huge gothic cathedral. I really can’t do the campus justice with words; everything was gorgeous. The immediate neighborhood was just breathtaking. Wide streets arched over by huge trees really complemented the beautiful houses. Carleton itself was also a sight to behold. The campus has a really nice clustered layout, with one central quad known as the “bald spot”, which is overlooked by the campus cathedral. The buildings were all very well maintained, but maintained the collegiate, gothic look. I really loved all of the quirky buildings they took us through. All of the humanities and social sciences buildings looked really nice and personable, and the science buildings had really impressive lab space. Though I’m not particularly interested in the sciences, I was really impressed by their Geology department, which takes up a whole floor of the main science building. Apparently Carleton has one of the best Geology programs in the nation. The tour highlighted the great resources available throughout each department, and the bulletin boards throughout the academic buildings seemed to suggest the same with their fullness. I also really liked their housing system, which seems to have a lot of great options from old fashioned dorms to lots of senior living arrangements in apartments and theme houses just off campus.

Buildings in general were very nice and there was plenty of space around them for walkways and parking. I really liked their two gorgeous new dorms built in the same style as the old academic buildings that are found elsewhere around campus. The two main dining areas were highlighted on the tour, and I got to eat in one of them. The Language and Dining center put on a great lunch for my father and I, with different islands of food category scattered around the room all set in a very modern and comfortable area. I should also mention the great attention to the landscape here, as most academic buildings overlook a steep drop-off to Carleton’s lake, which is surrounded by beautiful foliage. I loved the emphasis on the outdoors here, and think that dealing with a cold Minnesota winter would be worth it to see this natural beauty. Furthering the schools outdoor emphasis, the school has an 800 acre arboretum set off in the woods behind campus. Facilities such as the new fitness center are set off in the woods and make for a really interesting outdoor experience for the college.



While I was at Carleton, I was able to sit in on an Anthropology class called Ethnographies of Africa, in which the students read early English-Colonial ethnographies and compared them to modern ethnographies of the same groups. The learning that occurred in the class was phenomenal. Students were constantly engaged in discussion, and we were able to analyze the difference in the Anthropological perspectives and learn something from those interpretations. The teacher also frequently called the class back from the domain of speculation, which is an important point to emphasize in Anthropology. Its simply amazing how different this class was from my experience at Northwestern this past summer. Even though there were only six of us in my class at Northwestern, the professor was totally detached and never once initiated any discussion with the students. In the Carleton class of around ten, the professor was constantly questioning students and was an extremely interesting person. I feel that her approach to education was pretty consistent with the rest of the colleges. We sat on the floor and acted things out around the room for a good deal of time, all trying to alter our sense of prejudice and point of view to better understand the African cultures.

However, it wasn’t just the professor or the school that made this level of learning possible, it was the students. These students are definitely some of the most intellectual, most engaged people I have ever seen on a college campus. The result was extremely impressive. I loved the midwestern, homey feel of the campus with such a friendly and noncompetitive learning atmosphere prevalent. This is definitely one of those purely intellectual places where people just succeed and do whatever they want to do. The student body seemed extremely motivated and diverse also, really fueling this strange energy around campus. This friendly nature was furthered by the continued reference to the college as “quirky” and “not to serious”, which I literally heard several of times each (very strange).

One thing I did notice was the great emphasis on the study abroad options available at Carleton. Every school has study abroad possibilities, but it seemed unusually common at Carleton, due to their unique trimester system. Carleton operates on three ten week trimesters throughout the year, which enables students to take one more class per academic year than at a semester school, and allows the students to engage more in-depth with the material for a shorter amount of time. It seemed like a really successful system, namely because there are so many options for students to do three week study abroad possibilities between Thanksgiving and New Years, which constitutes Carleton’s main break. I really think this system would be a great way to balance out your life and to avoid the staleness that could result at a university school after a long semester. Also, I liked the real accessibility of these possibilities. It seems that scheduling a three week study abroad program or scheduling in a mentored thesis hour with your major department is no big deal, and that students get plenty of guidance.



It should also be noted that all students are required to complete a senior thesis project known as a “comps” project. I really like the idea of this project, because it doesn’t have to be specific to your major. It really fulfills the purpose of the broad liberal arts education as being an interdisciplinary application of all of your learning at Carleton into a project that falls into any field of interest.

Overall, this appropriate and relevant level of education seems to be highly supported by a rich intellectual and social atmosphere. I love the balance of work and play at Carleton, and I really think this is one of the few places I’ve been to where the college’s goal just clicks and makes sense to me. Great people, a highly appropriate calendar system, and a true intellectual community make this obscure college in Northfield Minnesota a world renowned college.