Grinnell College Top Questions

Very Liberal. Diverse (Racially, not ideologically). Intellectual. Socially awkward.

The Grinnell stereotype is probably that all students are brilliant, radical, skinny jean-wearing, atheist vegans intent on deconstructing the gender binary.

That they don't sleep, are super high achievers, socially just, active members of campus/community horribly awkward, are stressed all the time, affluent, lots of mental health problems

Grinnell students are known to be intelligent and involved individuals. Even the athletes who come into the school are not here, firstly, to play sports. Instead they are here to learn in a small school environment, and happen to also play sports while they are here. Grinnell, also, has a reputation of harboring hippies. Environmentalism and Activism are both high are the Grinnell students agenda. Grinnellians are engaged in their campus environment and are often trying to make it better. This means getting involved in Student Government and committees that serve the campus community.

I pretty much believe that Grinnell defies stereotypes. Of course, the outside world sees us all as smart, nerdy, liberal, green (environmentally conscious) hard-working, and passionate, but I think there are so many other factors that are important to consider.

The most common stereotypes are that Grinnellians dont care about religion, their clothes, and how they look. They also study like crazy on the weekdays and get wasted like mad. Play hard and party harder.

When I first heard about Grinnell, I imagined a campus full of nerds, with little social life. I imagined formality, all the time, everywhere, permeating much of campus life.

The most prevalent ones would probably be that Grinnell students are all hippies, nerds, and that the entire campus does drugs/drinks a lot.

Everyone is nerdy. There are varying degrees of course, but almost everyone is really outgoing.

I'd say Grinnell tries to stay away from stereotypes. I guess there are somewhat stereotypes for which dorms people live in, such as South campus=hippies, East campus=sports...but honestly there is a huge mix of people attending Grinnell and very few are judgemental.