Carleton College: Academic Life at Carleton: Students Say...

Students Say...

“Students don't compete for the best grade in the class; instead they help each other with their homework and study for tests together.” —Apolune Pajer '08
“Some people find academics here to be very difficult and time-consuming, but to be honest, I'd like more challenging classes sometimes.” —Kristin Ginger '08
“I realized this term how much I truly do love Carleton. I had my hardest term yet--Arabic 101 was a beast. For the first 5 weeks, and much of the second 5, I was getting 5 hours of sleep or less a night. On top of that, I was dealing with bronchitis and asthma, and I had no time to exercise or see much of my friends. I was doing homework all the time. But still, I was mostly happy most of the time. It seemed so crazy to me when I realized it--there I was not sleeping, not exercising, not seeing friends, and I was in love with Carleton and learning. I love the students, the professors, the classes, everything about campus..... I realized how completely in love I am about learning. Being at Carleton can be very stressful at times, but it has the ability to make you ecstatic about learning, even among the stress. I'd say that's a pretty darn incredible thing.” —Hannah Campbell Gustafson '09
“Rigorous, yet rewarding. The main reason why Carleton academics are challenging is because of the 10 week trimester system. The shortened Carleton term makes it difficult to stay on top of course material. But, it is worth it! Professors are engaging, peers are inspiring, and one learns SO MUCH about oneself and the world.” —Lizzie Fink '10
“Academics at Carleton are demanding, but entirely fulfilling. I transferred here, and the transition has been far from easy. I've been exhausted numerous times and had days where it just feels like too much. But when I reach the end of the term, I realize that the hard work is worth it. By accepting the challenge, I've learned more and expanded my intellectuality more than I previously thought was possible. Also, there is no competition here against students for performance, rather every student pushes themselves to do their best. You won't find this at most other top-tier colleges.” —Katherine Turnage '10
“It varies by the classes that you take. I know some classes have 100 pages of reading every night and papers every week, while others have almost nothing. I would say that the easiest class in the 100 level is equal to an AP class in high school and above that the difficulty curve gets much steeper.” —Marc Boyce '11
“People are competitive with themselves but not other people. Classmates support each other, answer questions for each other, have study groups, edit each other's papers, and calm each other down when they're stressed. Professors are always available to help you throughout the term, many classes have Prefects or TAs who can help you, and Carleton is full of useful academic help centers. Having three classes at a time is great mentally--only having to wrap your head around 3 subjects instead of 5 or 6 makes a huge difference. People stay busy with homework, but it's not impossible to do well and have a life at the same time. It's as challenging as you make it!” —Hannah Ebner '09
“It's like a rollercoaster. Some days you are running around doing 50 billion things at once but other days you are curled up in the Nookery reading a book.” —Laura Barsness '10
“The academic life at Carleton is rigorous, but I have yet to meet a teacher who is not willing to do everything he or she can to help you succeed. You definitely get what you put into it.” —Ben Picone '11
“We work really hard, but it isn't competitive, and people love what they're studying. Do be ready for four years of never quite being done with your homework.” —Mary Ellen Stitt '08
“The academics are hard, generally. There's a cross-section of classes with hard work and a lot of work. Intro classes tend to just have a good amount of work to make sure you understand the basic concepts, and it gradually gets harder as you go up in level. Comps [the comprehensive senior project], of course, is pretty difficult ... mainly because you have to plan and time-manage it yourself. Also, not every prof is amazing, but they all have redeeming qualities. You might not like someone's teaching style, but you might like their personality or they might be incredibly knowledgeable about a really cool subfield briefly covered in their intro class. Yeah, some of them are very particular or very hard graders, but they don't do it for fun, they do it because they're here to teach. Carleton doesn't require huge amounts of published research from profs, like a lot of schools do, so you know that profs are here to teach.” —Jane Sturges '10
“Classes are difficult and you do spend a good amount of time on studying and homework but the profs really try to engage the students so that even in a lecture class you can yell out questions or comments and the professor will answer them and start a discussion. You also have to accept that you may try your best and still not get an A because there is not grade inflation here like at other schools but it is not like students are failing either, it is just not easy to get A's here.” —Lauren Kanner '08
“People like to work hard, but it doesn't define their life. It's more of "I got work to do, and I'm going to do a great job on it, but I'm not working on this to compete with other folks."” —Ezra Velazquez '10
“Challenging. I spend so much time doing work, but I do have time to hang out and besides, the work is fun most of the time.” —Dan Levy '11
“It's harder than high school, but most people handle the workload pretty well. There are times when it can be overwhelming, but you aren't forced to sacrifice your social life or well-being in order to do well in class.” —Emily Cogsdill '11
“Very rigorous, but with academic supports such as writing assistants, prefects, group studying, and office hours to help understand material.” —Claire Hill '11
“Carleton academic life is kind of like a 10 week relationship: the first couple weeks it is kind of confusing and you are still trying to decide if this is what you want. The next few weeks are fantastic--you feel like a better person than you were before. Then the last couple weeks are so intense that all you want is for it to be over.” —Ariel VandeVoorde '09
“In the college search, I found it all too easy to forget that a good school meant a hard school. If I actually thought about it, I convinced myself that I wanted to be challenged. That belief has been tested here. Carleton is a really good school. Which means that it's hard. Classes are difficult. There's a lot of work. You learn faster than you ever thought you could. But the amazing part is the pause in the middle of writing a fifeen page paper, when I stop to realize, 'that soliloquy is beautiful.'” —Hunter Knight '11