Emma and I drove out to Grinnell in early September to take a look around and do an overnight visit. We went through the usual process of being introduced to Grinnell, which goes something like this:
1) Grinnell is not on your radar. If you even knows of its existence, you don't want to go to a school "in the middle of nowhere" (i.e., in a small town in Iowa.)
2) Something happens to pique your interest. It might be a call from a coach. Then you do a little research and learn it's an excellent and highly-respected liberal arts college with top-notch facilities, talented faculty and students, and a huge endowment. It might be worth a visit, but then there's that location ...
3) You decide to visit. As you head down I-80, you're pleasantly surprised by the prettiness of the rolling hills and rivers, but then you see the turnoff to Grinnell and experience a sinking feeling. There are tractors strewn along the side of the road, and the town looks a little bleak and run-down.
4) You head north on West Street and suddenly find yourself in a green and leafy oasis of mature trees and bright green lawns, charming Victorian homes, lush parks with large ponds, and arresting college buildings.
5) You start meeting students and faculty. Everbody seems unassuming, friendly, supportive, curious, and articulate. They take you to see the sports facilities and the labs, and you're awe-struck. They talk to you about the on-campus entertainment and clubs, and the research opportunities. Students chat excitedly about what they're learning. You become drawn into the almost-magical sense of kindness and encouragement.
By this stage, you're in love.
We visited Oberlin, Haverford, and Swarthmore in mid-October. Emma and I flew into Cleveland and drove to Oberlin College, where Emma spent the night. It's a vivacious, energetic place with its music conservatory, art museum, and fabulous sports facilities. The tennis facilities were outstanding -- 12 outdoor courts, 4 indoor courts. The women's tennis coach teaches a 1-credit course in chess. Students can, for $5, check out a work of art from the Allen Memorial Art Museum, perhaps a Picasso or a Toulouse-Lautrec, for one semester. In the 70 years this program has been active, no artwork has been lost or damaged. The conservatory puts on hundreds of performances annually, all students can take music lessons very inexpensively, and the school frequently hosts the Cleveland Orchestra. Music is integrated into all aspects of college life. The little town of Oberlin is delightful and historically inspirational. Oberlin has traditionally made a stand for the marginalized and was a key stop on the Underground Railroad. Oberlin is an enriching and stimulating environment. Sadly, there has been some recent friction, both on campus and between town and gown, and some alumni are not currently recommending their alma mater to prospective students. The school has also experienced some financial challenges. If Oberlin can get through this, it will once again be one of the top liberal arts colleges in the nation. Perhaps it already is.
From Oberlin we drove, mostly in the dark, to the outskirts of Philadelphia. Once we saw the area in daylight, we were taken aback by the beauty of its dense, lush vegetation. We visited Swarthmore first, and our visit did not start well. We were late, partly because traffic was wretched. We couldn't find the entrance. When we did, we couldn't find the building we were supposed to go to. When we did, we couldn't find parking. I dropped Emma off and went in search of somewhere to park. I wanted to ask someone, but nobody made eye contact. In desperation, I took a narrow path that turned out to be a garden path. Several people were working nearby on the beautiful well-groomed grounds. One of them came up to me looking aghast. I laughingly explained that I was lost and asked for directions. She was polite but reserved and directed me back to the road. She did not smile back. In the four or five hours we spent on campus, we saw precisely one person smile. Perhaps that was because we arrived during midterms, but even the admin people didn't smile. They were polite, reserved, and serious. Emma thought the students looked miserable. I thought they looked stressed and exhausted. There was much to like, though. The campus was spectacularly beautiful and has its own train station, from which one can travel to downtown Philadelphia in 20 minutes. The buildings and facilities were gorgeous, academics are first-rate, and class sizes are small. We ate lunch in Sharples. Listening to snippets of conversation from adjacent tables, we picked up that students had deadlines and exams and that they were anxious. Nobody seemed to be having fun. Emma canceled her appointment with the tennis coach, struck Swarthmore off her list, and we headed over to Haverford.
At Haverford ... everyone seemed happy! In spite of midterms! In fact, most of the Haverford students were taking their midterms home to complete over fall break. They're under the honor system, meaning they can schedule their own exams and take them when and where they prefer. Emma was taken on the campus nature trail, attended a meeting for animal rights activists, had her tarot read, watched a movie, and stayed up until 3am partying. Happy Haverford is a delightful place, if a little hedonistic. Emma loved the school, but there was one major caveat -- while Haverford has outstanding microbiology courses, it doesn't offer much in the way of macrobiology. One can take classes at other schools within the Quaker Consortium (Bryn Mawr, Swarthmore, and Penn,) but there are some issues with logistics and commuting.
Emma was left teetering between Oberlin and Grinnell. A second visit to Grinnell cemented her choice. It would be Grinnell. But the day before she had to submit her application, she changed her mind. It would be Oberlin, for sure. The following day, after much angst, she was back to Grinnell and went ahead and applied. Thankfully she has been accepted, which takes the pressure off her and allows her to enjoy the rest of her senior year. She is very happy with her choice.
Ranking systems give one only a very general idea of the quality of a college, and they usually represent where a college was ten years ago, rather than where it is today. Some schools, like Colby, are in such rapid ascension that any data about the school that is more than three or four years old is almost meaningless. Of the four schools we visited, Grinnell seems to be on an optimistically upward trajectory, Oberlin is struggling a little, and Haverford and Swarthmore seem to be in maintenance mode.
If Grinnell were a country, I think it would be Switzerland -- beautiful, somewhat isolated, self-contained, bountiful, affluent, and flourishing. Swarthmore would be Germany -- serious, conscientious, a little joyless, and successful due to its severe diligence. Haverford would be Austria -- Germany on a looser rein, a proud old tradition softened by generous quantities of schnapps and gluehwein. Oberlin would be France -- tremendous cultural wealth, artistic, a spirit of great tolerance and freedom, but occasionally disrupted by its own fervency.
2) Something happens to pique your interest. It might be a call from a coach. Then you do a little research and learn it's an excellent and highly-respected liberal arts college with top-notch facilities, talented faculty and students, and a huge endowment. It might be worth a visit, but then there's that location ...
3) You decide to visit. As you head down I-80, you're pleasantly surprised by the prettiness of the rolling hills and rivers, but then you see the turnoff to Grinnell and experience a sinking feeling. There are tractors strewn along the side of the road, and the town looks a little bleak and run-down.
4) You head north on West Street and suddenly find yourself in a green and leafy oasis of mature trees and bright green lawns, charming Victorian homes, lush parks with large ponds, and arresting college buildings.
5) You start meeting students and faculty. Everbody seems unassuming, friendly, supportive, curious, and articulate. They take you to see the sports facilities and the labs, and you're awe-struck. They talk to you about the on-campus entertainment and clubs, and the research opportunities. Students chat excitedly about what they're learning. You become drawn into the almost-magical sense of kindness and encouragement.
By this stage, you're in love.
We visited Oberlin, Haverford, and Swarthmore in mid-October. Emma and I flew into Cleveland and drove to Oberlin College, where Emma spent the night. It's a vivacious, energetic place with its music conservatory, art museum, and fabulous sports facilities. The tennis facilities were outstanding -- 12 outdoor courts, 4 indoor courts. The women's tennis coach teaches a 1-credit course in chess. Students can, for $5, check out a work of art from the Allen Memorial Art Museum, perhaps a Picasso or a Toulouse-Lautrec, for one semester. In the 70 years this program has been active, no artwork has been lost or damaged. The conservatory puts on hundreds of performances annually, all students can take music lessons very inexpensively, and the school frequently hosts the Cleveland Orchestra. Music is integrated into all aspects of college life. The little town of Oberlin is delightful and historically inspirational. Oberlin has traditionally made a stand for the marginalized and was a key stop on the Underground Railroad. Oberlin is an enriching and stimulating environment. Sadly, there has been some recent friction, both on campus and between town and gown, and some alumni are not currently recommending their alma mater to prospective students. The school has also experienced some financial challenges. If Oberlin can get through this, it will once again be one of the top liberal arts colleges in the nation. Perhaps it already is.
From Oberlin we drove, mostly in the dark, to the outskirts of Philadelphia. Once we saw the area in daylight, we were taken aback by the beauty of its dense, lush vegetation. We visited Swarthmore first, and our visit did not start well. We were late, partly because traffic was wretched. We couldn't find the entrance. When we did, we couldn't find the building we were supposed to go to. When we did, we couldn't find parking. I dropped Emma off and went in search of somewhere to park. I wanted to ask someone, but nobody made eye contact. In desperation, I took a narrow path that turned out to be a garden path. Several people were working nearby on the beautiful well-groomed grounds. One of them came up to me looking aghast. I laughingly explained that I was lost and asked for directions. She was polite but reserved and directed me back to the road. She did not smile back. In the four or five hours we spent on campus, we saw precisely one person smile. Perhaps that was because we arrived during midterms, but even the admin people didn't smile. They were polite, reserved, and serious. Emma thought the students looked miserable. I thought they looked stressed and exhausted. There was much to like, though. The campus was spectacularly beautiful and has its own train station, from which one can travel to downtown Philadelphia in 20 minutes. The buildings and facilities were gorgeous, academics are first-rate, and class sizes are small. We ate lunch in Sharples. Listening to snippets of conversation from adjacent tables, we picked up that students had deadlines and exams and that they were anxious. Nobody seemed to be having fun. Emma canceled her appointment with the tennis coach, struck Swarthmore off her list, and we headed over to Haverford.
At Haverford ... everyone seemed happy! In spite of midterms! In fact, most of the Haverford students were taking their midterms home to complete over fall break. They're under the honor system, meaning they can schedule their own exams and take them when and where they prefer. Emma was taken on the campus nature trail, attended a meeting for animal rights activists, had her tarot read, watched a movie, and stayed up until 3am partying. Happy Haverford is a delightful place, if a little hedonistic. Emma loved the school, but there was one major caveat -- while Haverford has outstanding microbiology courses, it doesn't offer much in the way of macrobiology. One can take classes at other schools within the Quaker Consortium (Bryn Mawr, Swarthmore, and Penn,) but there are some issues with logistics and commuting.
Emma was left teetering between Oberlin and Grinnell. A second visit to Grinnell cemented her choice. It would be Grinnell. But the day before she had to submit her application, she changed her mind. It would be Oberlin, for sure. The following day, after much angst, she was back to Grinnell and went ahead and applied. Thankfully she has been accepted, which takes the pressure off her and allows her to enjoy the rest of her senior year. She is very happy with her choice.
Ranking systems give one only a very general idea of the quality of a college, and they usually represent where a college was ten years ago, rather than where it is today. Some schools, like Colby, are in such rapid ascension that any data about the school that is more than three or four years old is almost meaningless. Of the four schools we visited, Grinnell seems to be on an optimistically upward trajectory, Oberlin is struggling a little, and Haverford and Swarthmore seem to be in maintenance mode.
If Grinnell were a country, I think it would be Switzerland -- beautiful, somewhat isolated, self-contained, bountiful, affluent, and flourishing. Swarthmore would be Germany -- serious, conscientious, a little joyless, and successful due to its severe diligence. Haverford would be Austria -- Germany on a looser rein, a proud old tradition softened by generous quantities of schnapps and gluehwein. Oberlin would be France -- tremendous cultural wealth, artistic, a spirit of great tolerance and freedom, but occasionally disrupted by its own fervency.
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