Carleton College Top Questions

Ultimate frisbee and Rugby are the two most popular sports, because those are our two champion sports right now. We also have good soccer teams. And a bunch of other teams that are fun to play on or support. I'm on the newspaper, I play women's ice hockey, I am involved in theater, I am also involved with the gender and sexuality center on campus, and me and my roommate have a radio show. I love being involved with very different groups because I get to meet more people. I've met my best friends through different groups on campus. The dating scene is nice. There are a couple fun campus-wide mixers, like "screw date" where your roommate picks a blind date for you. A lot of people meet in classes or groups and start dating. There are a lot of long-term relationships at Carleton, but there are also as many one night stands. Parties happen every Friday and Saturday, and sometimes more. But not everyone parties, and not everyone parties every night. I enjoy quiet nights in with friends as much as loud nights out about campus. If I'm awake on Tuesday, at 2am, me and my roommate would probably be in our room, watching anime with a couple of friends, eating domino's pizza, and claiming that we have, in fact, gotten some work done in the past couple of hours.

Carleton students are usually pretty involved on campus. Most of them are involved in several activities that demonstrate a wide variety of interests. Some popular activities include all levels of ultimate frisbee (Carleton has teams at all levels from nationally competitive to soft-core intramural), Ebony II (a student-run just-for-fun dance group available to anyone), and KRLX (the Carleton radio station--anyone can make their own weekly show). There are tons of other activities to be involved in from Mustache Club to Scrabble in Interesting Places Club. Plus, if you don't find something you want to do, you can start your own group. In addition to regular activities, there are always concerts, movies, and other random events happening to entertain you. Of course, there are always parties on the weekends, if that's what you want to do. There are no frats or sororities so there isn't really a social group you have to belong to in order to be in on the social gatherings. One big Carleton tradition is Heaven and Hell, a dance party held in Evans dorm on two levels so one room is "Heaven" and one is "Hell." Everyone dresses up and gets sorted to one or the other, but you can move between the two freely. If you're not into partying, there isn't pressure to participate and there's plenty of other things going on. It can be inconvenient to get out of Northfield unless you have your own car. There are buses that run a couple times a day but you have to plan ahead of time. Starting this year there is also WeCar, which is a community car you can rent after paying a membership fee, but it's fairly pricey and not usually the most convenient option. Luckily, if you really do need a way to get somewhere, you can usually find someone who's willing to let you borrow their car or drop you off on their way to something else. Plus, you don't usually need to get off-campus... there's so much going on that most people don't have time to think about getting into the cities. There are also activity buses that go a few times a term to plays, movies, and other events happening in the cities, so don't think you'll miss out on those things! It's pretty easy to get your own bus to go to an event, as long as you invite the whole campus. :)

Carleton students are usually pretty involved on campus. Most of them are involved in several activities that demonstrate a wide variety of interests. Some popular activities include all levels of ultimate frisbee (Carleton has teams at all levels from nationally competitive to soft-core intramural), Ebony II (a student-run just-for-fun dance group available to anyone), and KRLX (the Carleton radio station--anyone can make their own weekly show). There are tons of other activities to be involved in from Mustache Club to Scrabble in Interesting Places Club. Plus, if you don't find something you want to do, you can start your own group. In addition to regular activities, there are always concerts, movies, and other random events happening to entertain you. Of course, there are always parties on the weekends, if that's what you want to do. There are no frats or sororities so there isn't really a social group you have to belong to in order to be in on the social gatherings. One big Carleton tradition is Heaven and Hell, a dance party held in Evans dorm on two levels so one room is "Heaven" and one is "Hell." Everyone dresses up and gets sorted to one or the other, but you can move between the two freely. If you're not into partying, there isn't pressure to participate and there's plenty of other things going on. It's not too easy to get out of Northfield unless you have your own car. There are buses that run a couple times a day but you have to plan ahead of time. Starting this year there is also WeCar, which is a community car you can rent after paying a membership fee, but it's fairly pricey and not usually the most convenient option. Luckily, if you really do need a way to get somewhere, you can usually find someone who's willing to let you borrow their car or drop you off on their way to something else.

Don't have the time to join a varsity sport but still enjoy competing? Ruty talks about intramural(IM) sports

No frats/sororities is awesome- everyone mostly stays on campus over the weekends, and you can find parties if you want, but there isn't real pressure to do so. Lots of events happen over the weekend on campus, not much in northfield.

I am the treasurer for several different groups on campus. I am most involved with the Carleton Forensics Society, which is a group that participates nationally in parliamentary style debate. With weekly meetings as well as many, many social events, the Carleton debate team is a tight-knit group of friends. I can probably say this holds true to many other groups as well. The dorm life is very social, with many people finding their closest friends on their floor or in the same dormitory their freshman year. This doesn't mean that they don't interact with others, there are many social events that take place between dorms. With a broad range of extracurriculars, students find themselves doing a lot in the Carleton community. There are many different A Capella groups on campus (you can check them out on YouTube if you like), there are many sports events, IM sports, comedy groups, and plays/shows that one can participate in and watch. Probably one of the most popular groups on campus is a group called Ebony II. It is a dance group that everyone (experienced or not) can participate in. Having hundreds of students in its role call, students can dance in many different choreographed dances for the rest of the student body.

The most popular groups on campus are the frisbee teams and the outdoors club. I am the secretary of the outdoors club (CANOE), which offers weekly weekend outing trips to all students. Typical trips are backpacking on the Superior Hiking Trail, canoeing on the Cannon River, etc. Students often leave their doors open. The dating scene is basically nonexistent i.e. consists of the extremes of drunken hookups and long-term relationships. I met my closest friends on my Pre-Frosh canoeing trip/through the outdoors club. 2 a.m. Tuesday: most likely pulling an all-nighter for the five page paper that's due on Wednesday. People usually only party on Friday and Saturday and occasionally on Wednesday (especially in spring).

Crazy weekend and weekday nights. When people aren't studying they are all about going out and having a good time. Carleton has a wet campus so you can drink just about anywhere. Everyone is amazed with how much is allowed at Carleton. This is because with the level of highly intelligent students the school doesn't feel the need to babysit like they do at other schools.

Alright, so it's 2Am on a Tuesday, what am I doing? If it was last year, it probably meant that I was back from a late night at the library (it closes at 1 am) , had meant to go to sleep but was distracted by all the people in the kitchen of my house (in sophmore year I lived in student interest house devoted to student activism) and went to eat chips and hummus with them and discuss classes, friends, relationships, etc. If it was this year I'd probably gotten distracted from sleep by a conversation with my roommate about some strang facet of international news (he loves to find humorous news about obscure parts of the world), talking with the girl across the hall about our Muslims in Modernity reading, or playing guitar hero with my roommate. The campus does have a bit of a work hard party hard atmosphere to it. People generally withhold drinking/partying until the weekends since there's usually too much work before then. Carleton is definitely not a dry campus and while alchohol is the drug of choice, there's a good amount of pot use and a very small harder drug scene as well as a good number of kids who don't drink (I'd say about 10{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} don't drink at all and another 20-30{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} only drink very small amounts infrequently). I didn't drink almost all of my freshman year and never had trouble finding things to do. There's a play up almost any weekend, lots of dance parties, student movies, the cookie house (stocked with cookie ingredients to bake your own 24/7), and other happenings. Honestly, I still do a lot of these actvities just with alchohol added. I'd say the basic weekend plan, especially once you've been here a while, is to just hang out with your friends on a weekend, maybe go to a show, throw a party, play some videogames (I'm a big fan of resurrecting old super nintendo games!). Still, there are lots of cool events to look forward to like Spring Concert, mid winter ball, screw your roommate (a giant campus-wide blind date), or the 24 hour show (a play written and rehearsed in 24 hours, then performed). There are of course lots of other traditions and often the best ones are the ones just made up that you get to be in for the first time (like the silent dance party, where everyone downloads the same playlist and dances to it together on the quiet floor of the library). Most trips off campus involve going out for dinner, coffee, or beer though one shouldn't underestimate the fun of doing a road trip to the movie theater a few towns away (you'd be surprised how much more enjoyable a movie is when it takes effort to get to it). The Twin Cities aren't that far away, though it helps to know someone with a car if you want to go. I've really only been up there for school events or as part of a class, though these have allowed me to see some of the great museums and theater in Minneapolis/St. Paul.

It seems like everything on campus is essentially run by students. Exclusions would be our football team (which isn't very good) and some of the student plays, which are class-based. Beyond that, I've never seen any staff beyond security overseeing a student event. KRLX radio is ruled over by students, as is the Cave. It's a good feeling. There are no fraternities or sororities on campus. The closest equivalents to a fraternity might be CUT, our frisbee team, or the Singing Knights, our male acapella group. As a result, social groups form very organically. Often they come out of academic departments, dorm floors, interest houses, music groups, sports groups, etc. Drinking is obviously a part of campus life, but a casual one. It is just as easy for non-drinkers to have a good time on campus as drinkers. Weekends go by very quickly.

no frats/sororities. nightlife generally centered around room parties and school-planned activies. SUMO, the student-run movie organization, is great, and there are cutural trips organized to the Twin cities on a fairly regular basis.

There is a lot of drinking at Carleton on weekends and the administration trusts us to be responsible enough that they tend to not crack-down on underage drinking. That being said, I don't drink and I don't feel any pressure to do so. There are numerous theatrical performances and music gigs to attend, as well as impromptu cookie baking and board games in the lounges. There is no Greek system, so open parties are in no way exclusive. Students are welcoming and you can strike up a random conversation at lunch or in the Libe.

There are so many! Lots of singing and comedy groups. Lots of sports. Depending on the dorm most students leave their doors open. Concerts, dances, plays are often sold out. I wish the sporting event attendence was higher though. There is no greek life.

The dating scene at Carleton is unfortunately minimal. I asked a Junior out on a date once and she looked at me like she didn't undeestand what I wanted. You will either have a long-term relationship, a lot of drunken hook-ups, or nothing. There is not a whole lot of middle ground.

I am not sure what groups/organizations/teams are the most popular at Carleton, but I am involved with the Carleton cross-country, indoor-track, and outdoor-track teams, and have played a couple intramural sports. The cross-country and track teams are very competitive, and I spend around 3 hours at practice every day. Many students leave their doors open during the day because theft does not occur very often at all. A lot of people party on the weekend at Carleton, but there are plenty of things to do if you do not want to party (i.e. going to a movie at Sumo, dances, sporting events, etc.), and if you go to a party, you are certainly not required to or pressured to drink, and it is not looked down upon if you choose not to.

Most people that I know at Carleton are extremely busy because (1) there is so much going on and (2) they want to be; they love learning. I enjoy the myriad lectures on campus each week. There is, in fact, a slot in our Friday schedule for "Convocation"; a period where a well-known speaker gives a lecture to the campus community. Even though this is not a required event, many many students come. The Carleton Student Association (CSA) is quite involved in college policy and a large portion of the student body is dedicated to making the college a better place through student government. On the weekends you can do everything from going to a party, playing a game with friends, doing homework, going to a classical music concert, watching a play, etc. etc. If you choose to go to a party, there is little pressure to drink if you don't want to; but if you want to there is ample opportunity.

The dating scene is scarce: All the good guys are usually taken and the rest are nerds.

I think there is plenty of activities for the non-drinkers: Weekend movie showings, plays, concerts, and dances. And plenty of activities for drinkers: by this, I mean there is no shortage of liqour at Carleton College.

Farm House was the shit when I lived there, but in my experience there's a lot of stuff that has a good reputation, like Schiller and the Holloween Concert, but really it's about the shit that goes on in the arb. KRLX, too, and the CLAP.

Generally, I drink and party from Thursday Night through Monday Night. One thing that I love is Carleton's liberal policy towards drinking. It allows the mentally drained students to have some fun on the weekends.