Grinnell College Top Questions

all night! alright!

Classes are small. The largest lecture-based classes are around maybe 30 people. Professors know your name if you make even the slightest effort. I've taken mostly maths/science classes, so I don't know much about discussion-based classes. In the Chemistry department, though, every professor I've met seems to respect students and enjoy interacting with them. The difficulty of the academics depends a lot on the professors and the courses you take, but overall I would say Grinnellians are very studious. Everyone pretends not to be overwhelmed, but sometimes they are. Luckily, everyone will know what you're talking about when you complain about this. A big difference I've noticed between Grinnell and larger schools is that students are not competitive against each other. They like to do well, but they are more likely to collaborate with you for mutual benefit than undercut you in some way. In general, the students here like learning for its own sake, but are thinking about jobs too. A lot of people go on to grad school or do some intense community service (i.e. Teach For America, Peace Corps, etc.) after graduation. There are lots of people willing to talk to you about future plans.

We rock the tutorial.

Academics kick your butt here... it's really hard... students study a lot, but we have free time, or at least we schedule it for fun things. My professors all call me by my first name, even professors I don't have... and I call them by their first names. Most of the professors here will get together outside of class to talk about anything, even to meet in the campus pub for a department even! Even though the academics are really tough, Grinnell's students aren't competitive, and everyone seems really excited just to learn.... that is especially evident when I'm in the dining hall, and I have conversations with my friends about current events, or their reading for class they found particularly interesting.

really demanding but the professors are very understanding and always willing to help. there is no reason anyone should fail a class if they put the work in. my least favorite class was linear algebra and my favorites are symbolic logic and organic chemistry

You will feel like the stupidest person at Grinnell. It is impossible not to be in awe of just how brilliant your classmates are-- and the truly beautiful thing is that everyone feels this way; students appreciate each others' strengths rather than being arrogant about what they themselves do well. The professors are amazing and care about each and every student, and classes are so fascinating and thought-provoking that you wish you could spend more time in class!

Well first semester was a rocky start for me, I got injured during swim/dive season and was out of sports as well as class for some time. Academics were not at their all time high for me first semester. Things have definitely gotten better and more professors are open and willing to communicate if I'm having problems. My least favorite class would probably have to have been spanish, it was so fast paced and not necessarily hard to keep up but definitely a challenge to juggle all that tetious work on top of plenty of reading and writing for my other classes. And in relation to conversations outside of class with both profs. and students there are many intellectual convos. Sometimes sitting at dinner its almost funny to hear students talk about class when its supposed to be break time outside of class. Makes me giggle but then i just realize hey, its grinnell haha.

I love how Grinnell has no requirements outside your major. I don't have to mess with any Gen. Ed. classes that I would find uninteresting. The classes are challenging and require a lot of work. The class sizes are small, usually around 20 students, which makes class participation common and professors do know your name. The education at Grinnell seems to me more geared for preparing you for grad, law, or med school rather than getting a job. That's probably why 70{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the student body continues its education after graduating from Grinnell.

Make sure you get the right professors. Some professors here are amazing, while others seem not to care, or they know the subject extremely well and don't know how to teach. The best way to pick the right profs is to ask around. If you don't go to class here, they notice and you are normally penalized for it. My biggest complaint is that they want you to take art classes if you are a science person and science classes when you are an art person.

Academics at Grinnell are hard but worth it. Because there are no core requirements you take classes that you are actually interested in, with other students who are actually interested, with professors who couldn't be more interested in teaching you. Everyone is involved with their academics here and actually enjoying it. Professors at Grinnell are wonderful. Just like the students, they come in all shapes and sizes, but the large majority of them are actually interested in helping you get the most you can out of your Grinnell experience. In my time here I've built some amazing relationships with professors.