Grinnell College Top Questions

I absolutely love this place. Classes are small and often discussion-based, so you get to develop pretty close relationships with professors. This can be annoying when you're tempted to skip your morning class, but you know the professor will email you to ask where you were...but it's also very helpful when you're trying to find a prof to do summer research with, or write a recommendation letter, or just ask about some difficult concepts outside of class. Some pros: small classes, friendly, intelligent classmates and professors, interesting and rigorous academics, huge endowment (you can get funding for everything from clubs and events to stipends on unpaid internships, and the financial aid and scholarships are FANTASTIC). Some cons: small student body (you will know nearly everyone in your year by the time you're a senior), small town (there's movies, bowling, some restaurants--and that's just about it. I'm from Phoenix and I like Grinnell's town just fine, but some people from big cities get bored.)

Grinnell is an amazing place. Not all students fit in here, though: as a Christian I often feel like I should be ashamed of my religion. If you aren't very liberal and non-religious, it will be harder for you to make friends, but not impossible. I love the size of my school, about 1600, but for some it may be painfully small. You will start recognizing a lot of people within a few months. The school is very committed to learning for learning's sake, which means that we don't have course requirements. There are, however, division requirements: all students must take 3 courses each of social studies, sciences, and humanities. It's not difficult to fill those requirements, though, and it's just meant to give all students the broadest education possible. Overall, I really do think Grinnell is a great school, and there are very few complaints against it from any of the students.

Best thing is the academic environment. Everyone likes academics and its a big part. Something I and most intellectual people like. However, the process of being a student at the college is terrible for reasons I will outline.

Grinnell is a great place to be if you're the kind of person who enjoys bucking the mainstream; maybe you're really smart but you don't like the pretense of the Ivies, or you want a place where you can show up to class barefoot wearing pajamas and not have anyone bat an eye. Grinnellians take pride in shocking outsiders with their quirkiness, and the faculty and administration really work hard to facilitate an environment where a student can be him- or herself.

Grinnell is a place where students can really take the initiative to participate in larger global issues and do undergrad research. The administration what I dislike the most. Students here feel a bit of a disconnect between the goals of the admin and the goals of the student body. I think it's just right for me. Some say it's too small, but I disagree. People either have never heard of the place or say "oooh, Grinnell! That's a very well respected school where all the students are really smart" or something to that extent.

Grinnell is a small school in a small town. you have to really charge yourself though to interact and understand the community of the town. Grinnell College is not made by the town it is in, but I think interactions with the town is key to surviving. All the events on campus including sports games, theatre performances, and gallery showings are free to the campus and community, therefore it is easy to get swallowed by activities on campus. I think it is very important to also interact and venture into the local community's parks, coffee shop, and restaurants. It makes a big difference when you can remember Grinnell is bigger than the campus and McNally's (where you buy your groceries). It's even nice to be surprised when Hyvee gives you a 5{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} discount on food for being a College student.

The best thing about Grinnell is that the school takes what other schools offer, and multiplies it or gives it a special twist that makes it more exciting. Even though the school is small, I meet new people all the time. It’s definitely hard going to a school with little name recognition in the populous (I find graduate schools and top businesses have actually heard of Grinnell) but the name recognition is something I give up because this experience is really for me, for no one but me, and I know how great it is here, so that’s what counts. Grinnell is also known for its “self-governance” policies, nicknamed “self-gov” which basically insinuates that because students are adults, they should act responsibly and kindly toward others. If you see someone struggling, help them, because next time they will help you. It really works to build campus community. People say that the school is getting stricter, which is causing controversy, but it still remains incredibly lenient, especially compared to other institutions. Grinnellians have a lot of school pride, but it does not manifest itself in homecoming parades or school rallies, it’s more a love for each other and a voracious appetite for learning.

Grinnell is a relatively small school. Ok, maybe no relatively about it. In my first year, I felt like I knew most everyone. Familiar faces become very familiar. But I like it that way. I don't have to get lost in a sea of faces or try to remember billions of names. The campus is beautiful, and impossible to get lost in once you've been there more than three days. The town is quite small, but it has a Wal-mart and small food stores, some awesome consignment shops, and pretty much everything within walking distance, which is great if you're not lucky enough to have a car or know someone with one. Decent restaurants are in Grinnell the town as well.

The biggest problem that I have with Grinnell is the location; being in the middle of Iowa isn't the ideal location for most people but Grinnell is expanding and the school provides opportunities to go to Des Moines and Iowa City for free every weekend. Also, most people not from the Midwest haven't heard of Grinnell because it is so small, but graduate schools and employers all seem to know about Grinnell. I've heard that Law Schools really like Grinnell students because Grinnell students know how to have class discussions and write better then even students who attended "more prestigious" schools.

One of the greatest Grinnell experiences ever was the impromptu dance party outside of my dorm. One spring Friday night, a few weeks before the end of semester, Honor G decided to play a concert on the roof of the south campus loggia. The loggias are roofed (and in the case of south campus, enclosed) walkways that connect the dorms. The roofs are accessed by climbing out of second story windows and have been popular party spots for years. Honor G is a student formed band that dabbles mainly in rap/electronic. Due to inclement weather, the concert was held inside the loggia with amps and speakers hanging from the windows of the first floor lounge of my dorm. Grinnell's progressive drug and alcohol policies allowed us to bring our refreshments of choice to the concert as well. The stage was set and Grinnell was ready. Quite a crowd had gathered by about nine-thirty and it only continued to grow bigger. The occaisional cigarette was lit and several groups weaved through the crowd attempting to pass, only to fail and join the mass of people in the loggia. Eventually bodies started spilling outside though the doors and windows, and of course, it was still raining. In order to make the best of bad weather, we clambered atop the picnic tables and began dancing. By "we" I mean about twenty people. Even the most shy removed their shirts and joined the wet and wild insanity. What could be better than a wild dance party fueled by dance techno punctuated by live performances? Mud wrestling. I'm not sure how it started, but two people threw down and got dirty. After they finished, another pair kept the action alive. After a bit, turns were ignored. Bodies and mud mixed together while bystanders continued to dance in the falling rain. At this point, the majority of concert-goers had had a decently mud splattered, whether by choice or not. Someone had the bright idea to use my dorm's showers for a quick rinse. Not until the party wound down and the crowd dispersed did we truly see the disaster at hand. Every imaginable surface of my dorm was brown. Walls, floors, stairwells, bathrooms, and showers all wore their mud like a badge of honor, as if they themselves had been outside. Our dorm picnic happened the next day. A nice 11:30 o'clock wake-up call followed by grilled burgers and hotdogs (there are several grills outside the dorms) helped everyone recover their senses and memories of the night before. As a dorm community, we decided to collectively participate in the cleaning process, and even roped in a few people from neighboring dorms who had attended. It was as if Barney had appeared to a bunch of hung-over dance-crazed four year olds and had begun singing clean up, everybody, everywhere. Working together, we had the work done within two hours. An old saying at many colleges that truly applies to Grinnell goes: We work hard, We party hard. I love Grinnell.

The campus community is small, compared to other campuses, but I find the size perfect. The college and community get along really well. Along with the smallish size of the college-- you get to know your professors pretty well, which is awesome! Its nice being able to e-mail your professor at 2 in the morning and get a response within 10 min! One of the best things about Grinnell is the community. Everyone on campus is friendly! I was shocked when I arrived as a freshman by how nice people were and as a result I was never homesick the first year. Another awesome thing about Grinnell is have no required classes!! This allows students to take courses in lots of different areas.

It is a small school, located in the middle of Iowa. This may sound like an immediate turn-off, but this characteristic gives the college benefits. The community feeling is very strong. There is very little competition between students, rather, students feel the need to challenge themselves. Everyone is an individual here, everyone respects that about others. We are all interested in learning but also in having fun. The school offers lots of outlets for the students, all of the events are free. The big endowment gives us great facilities and good music. Students learn to make their own fun. We are all very creative. Grinnellians care about social problems and about impacting the world. The winters are terrible, but we get through it, we're stronger for that reason.

I chose Grinnell, not for its high academic rigor, but rather for its opportunities over the summers and post-graduation. I love that Grinnell is so interested in taking care of their students and student life outside of the "campus". Usually, when I tell people I go to Grinnell, they either react with confusion ("oh, you go to Cornell?") or they seem impressed, and comment "that's a really good school". Best thing is, it is important to the students that Grinnell IS a good school, but we would rather not be "name brand". We are more interested in subtle quality, not high-brow reputations.

The school is on the small side, but this allows more attention to be paid to each individual student. The large endowment is one of the best things about Grinnell because it enables the school to fund all sorts of events, groups, clubs etc. and improve the average Grinnell student's standards of living and happiness. The town of Grinnell is nothing special- incredibly small. However, the campus offers so much that I rarely leave it. The school is not as well known as I would hope. However, those who are familiar with good colleges in general know the name Grinnell. My favorite part about Grinnell is the student body. Never have I met so many enthralling, multi-talented, ambitious people in one place.

For me, Grinnell is the perfect size, though some think it's too small. We have school pride, but not in traditional formats. Sporting events aren't a major part of student life, and we don't really have a homecoming, but we find ways to express our love of Grinnell. I think the best part of Grinnell is its community -- professors, students, alums, and staff combine to make a truly unique, wonderful, close, and welcoming social environment both on and off campus. Students complain about the administration's lack of organization and the near-constant construction.

A lot of people don't know about Grinnell. I think its a good school, but a lot of people who don't know it assume its a community college.

Grinnell is small, but that doesn't limit it. Whenever people hear I go to Grinnell, they either haven't heard of it (the "small" part), or they say "that's a great school!" with real enthusiasm. And you'll meet Grinnell students or alums everywhere; everyone goes on to do so many wonderful things afterwards that you never now where you'll run into one--but you can be assured they'll be happy to meet you! The town itself has a cute downtown and some good restaurants, but the main center of activity is the campus, where there is ALWAYS something going on; Grinnell has very strong theatre and music departments who give frequent performances, an overload of student groups, big parties several times a semester and smaller ones every weekend, and a few times each year, a really big group will come to campus to perform--Spoon and Ladysmith Black Mambazo are recent guests. And whatever goes on is always free to students! Now if that's not an amazing chance I don't know what is; the only question is which activity you'll go to, not if there's anything good happening at all. The administration is overall willing to work with students; each semester there is a period of student initiatives, most of which will be acted on by the Student Government, which is quite active and works directly with the administration. The latter seems mostly concerned with building projects right now, which has given the campus a new science building and a student center most recently, wherein, despite typical student gripes, the food is mostly quite good--custom-order stir-fry, anyone? The sports teams don't tend to draw too much attention, but I hear we aren't too terrible; Grinnellians just express their school pride in different areas. Finally, I would like to draw attention to the beautiful campus--we have huge, amazing trees, and when everything's in bloom... makes you almost forget the Iowa winter! But really, it is the nicest college campus I've come across personally.

Grinnell is all I thought it would be and more. My favorite part about Grinnell is the community. Everyone is truly there for each other, and the administration works diligently alongside the students to create an environment which promotes connections between students, faculty, staff, and the surronding community. I love the size of Grinnell. It's big enough to provide a big pool of opportunities, potential friendships, and activities, while at the same time being small enough to promote close professor-student relationships. When I tell people I attend Grinnell, I get one of two reactions: either "Wow! That's a really good, impressive school!" or "Grinnell? Where's that?" So people who have heard of it know that Grinnell is a highly-regarded institution, but because it's in the middle of Iowa, lots of people don't know about it. I spend most of my time on campus in the student center or the library. The town of Grinnell is a wonderful community. Although it doesn't revolve around the college, community members are definitely there for the college students, and the downtown has a lot of fun things to do on weekends. Grinnell's administration works diligently to treat its students like the adults that we are, and for that I couldn't be more grateful. Grinnell's unique system of self-governance means that administrators don't discipline students but instead trust them to be responsible for their own actions. For this reason, there is a lot less tension between administrators and students than there is at other colleges. School pride runs high at Grinnell, but not in the typical/sterotypical way. We love our athletics, but they don't define our school pride. Instead, our pride is more about being a part of a unique intellectual community that's dedicated to social change. Grinnellians are quick to unite around common causes, and once you're a Grinnellian, you'll always be a part of our close-knit community. Many Grinnellians talk about moving to a big city like Chicago or New York years after graduation, and the first thing they do is look up Grinnellians becuase no matter what year you graduated, there's a special, indescrible link between all Grinnell alums--and we're always there for eachother.

I like the size of the college, but sometimes I feel stuck in such a small town. Coming from DC I am use to being able to do alot more. I think it is a good experience, but I would not want to live there forever. haha.

The best thing about grinnell is that you have only one required class for all four years of college. It is called the Freshman Tutorial where you and other freshman basically are introduced to the kind of teaching that you will experience in the future as well as learning simple things such as, how to write different types of papers, give in-class presentations, and other general things like that. While this tutorial seems boring and generic it is enhanced by the fact that each fall several different topics are offered for the tutorial, giving the freshman the ability to choose what topic interests them the most. After you complete the freshman tutorial you are never required to take any one course (except of course the classes required to complete a major). So if you hate english or math you are completely able to avoid them your entire time at Grinnell. Another awesome thing about Grinnell is its study abroad programs. It has two really cool programs that it runs itself, Grinnell-in-London and Grinnell-in-Washington D.C.. In addition to those grinnell is in cooperation with tons of other study abroad programs that lets students travel all over the world and study or do research in any area that the student wants. Grinnell is also the perfect size. There are 1200 or so students so it is big enough to meet a wide variety of people but also small enough that you can get to know a large variety of people from all over the country and world. Grinnell students are generally not from Iowa, so it is really cool to be able to meet people from Chicago, LA, New York and all kinds of other parts of the U.S. The city is a small, quaint, college town but it is not oriented around the college. It is truly rural Iowa but still has plenty to offer.