Carleton College Admissions

I've lived in Musser Hall, Watson Hall, Hill House, and Sevy (this year). Even though Musser wasn't my favorite place to live in, I loved my co-RA's and my floor. A bunch of us were taking Chinese for the first time, and the walls would be covered in Chinese characters. I love to cook, so I really enjoyed having a bigger kitchen in Hill House. When we would get stressed out during the term, my roommates and I would spontaneously cook these elaborate dinners for our friends.

Living in Davis or Burton, which are part of the "complex" that is connected to the student center, post office, laundry room, dining hall, and beyond, means that you don't have to venture outside on frigidly cold winter weekends if you don't feel like it.

My roommate freshman year was amazing. Not only did we both keep our sides of the room in the same level of disarray, but she was the most kindhearted and open-minded person. Plus, when I was going through my Sex and the City DVD phase, we would randomly fall asleep watching episodes. My roommate from my junior year who I'm living with again this year is also amazing. During the weekend when I can sometimes be a hermit, she drags me out of our room to go do fun stuff happening on campus.

There is always something really cool going on on campus. You have opportunities to join a huge range of clubs, and there is literally something for everyone. As for residential and social life, everything is pressure free and relaxed. There is ample opportunity to party if you want to. There are even more opportunities to attend concerts, improv troupes, dances, and a whole lot more. There is never a time when you would ever say "there's nothing to do on campus today!"

The answer to the first question is: the social life depends on the student. For some, the perfect Friday night is spent watching movies with friends. For others it is spent at a coffee shop, or holding a bonfire on Mai Fete Island. Maybe it's running in the arboretum, or playing Frisbee with floor-mates. And since this is Carleton, there is probably someone playing Scrabble somewhere, or knitting, or juggling.

As to the second question: a party certainly isn't a reason to expel someone. No one, to our knowledge, has died from dancing badly, or often. Because this is a college, and because some of our students are over 21, there are parties that involve alcohol (though there are plenty that do not). If a party involves alcohol, we expect students to make healthy and legal choices. If someone makes poor choices, then each case is dealt with individually and in accordance with school policy.

See how some of our students describe campus life.

I live in Myers. My floor is really close, and we all have a good time together. Many of my meals are spent with friends from my floor. Last night, we were all a little tired of studying, so we decided to go play outside in the rain. The rain soon stopped, but we didn't - we all played tag from midnight to around 1 am! It was great.

I'm not sure that I would have ever had the opportunity to know Kristen, my assigned roommate freshman year, if I hadn't been placed with her, so I'm really glad I was. One midterm break weekend, we went on a road trip that couldn't have gotten more Midwestern: stopping at the Field of Dreams and running the bases even though there wasn't any corn yet, and eating a shocking amount of cheese samples in a cheese store in Galena. Without Kristen, I would have never had a hideous orange and olive striped 60s couch in the room freshman year that couldn't help but be the center of interest.

I have lived in the following halls/houses: 2nd Myers, Parish House, Stimson House, Huntington House. I was fortunate enough to live on a floor freshman year where most everyone got along, and still hangs out to this day. We did a lot of goofy things that year, including a study break snack progressive and a water balloon fight that somehow ended up in the girls bathroom.

When I lived in Musser Hall I outlined an entire paper I was brainstorming on the tiled wall of our hallway. A number of floormates would come out from time to time to suggest how I might structure the paper best. It was really helpful.

I currently live in a quint in Evans with four other girls. We get along incredibly well and have a lot of fun together. We sometimes have movie nights, and we try to clean all together every Saturday morning. Our mothers would be proud!

My freshman year roommate read the New Yorker religiously. He would cut out the cartoons and put them on our door, except they were always the ones that made the least sense to me. Something about two goldfish in a fish bowl...one of them had a pipe? It was over my head, I guess.

I live in Goodhue, which is the most out-of-the-way dorm (you have to cross a bridge over the lake to get to the main campus). People always complain about how far away it is, but it's only a three-minute walk at most from campus, and besides, you get amazing views of the sunset over the lake when you walk back across the bridge in the evening. Some of the people on my floor have become a mini-family; we help each other out with practical things, pull pranks on each other, and keep each other company while we study. I think this kind of floor bonding is one of the best things about Carleton.

I was extremely lucky to get Nourse. It's a hundred years old, it's beautiful (old wood and old brick and old glass), it has interesting secret nooks (I haven't used the forbidden secret tunnel entrance, because it's forbidden, but I know where it is), and it has a reputation for having very nice people.

I lived in Watson last year, which is a great freshman dorm. Spending nights on 6th Watson last year allowed me to spend time with most of my best friends and talk about everything we could think of. This year I live in Stadium, which can be summed up in one word: epic.