Acceptance Rate
20%
Avg. SAT
1560
75th percentile
“Carleton College hones quirky intellectuals into collaborative thinkers amid Minnesota's endless winters and vast prairies.”
Northfield, MN
Location
Town
Campus Setting
You'll step into a school born in 1866 from Congregationalist missionaries' dreams for Minnesota's frontier, where pioneers built Carleton to blend rigorous inquiry with moral purpose—admitting women from day one, a rarity west of the Mississippi. This legacy shapes a tight-knit community of 2,000 undergrads who thrive on intellectual mischief and unpretentious grit; picture offbeat geniuses debating quantum physics over pizza, not ladder-climbing preppies. Northfield, your distant-town home 40 miles south of the Twin Cities, charms with its quaint Main Street, rival St. Olaf nearby, and annual Jesse James Days commemorating a botched 1876 bank heist—but tradeoffs hit hard: brutal -20°F winters isolate you from urban buzz, and the small scale means fewer peers for niche social circles.
Photo Gallery
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Admissions
Acceptance Rate
Test Policy
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Average GPA
Application Fee
Academics
Student-Faculty Ratio
Programs Offered
Full-Time Faculty
Women Faculty
Research Spending
Degree Levels Offered
In Carleton's classrooms, professors ditch lectures for Socratic seminars where you'll wrestle ideas in groups of 15, backed by an 8:1 ratio that rivals elite peers like Williams (7:1) yet feels more accessible in this collaborative hive. Strengths shine in economics (top feeder to PhDs), computer science, and biology, with undergrads co-authoring papers via summer research grants; the open curriculum frees you to major in anything from cinema studies to neuroscience without gen-ed drudgery. Expect intense workloads—90% graduate in six years, but burnout looms if you chase every passion—and limited grad programs mean pure undergrad focus, no distractions from TAs.
Student Body
Total Enrollment
2,128 undergrad • 0 grad
Undergraduate
Graduate
International
White
52%
Black / African American
7%
Hispanic / Latino
10%
Asian
10%
Other / Multi-racial
21%
Campus Life
Campus Setting
Northfield, MN
Varsity Athletics
NCAA Athletics
A typical week pulses with late-night study sessions in dorms like Myers Park (think cozy apartments fostering lifelong bonds), weekend hikes in the 800-acre Cowling Arboretum, and spontaneous Ultimate Frisbee on the bald prairie. No Greek life means organic social scenes: progressive, queer-inclusive vibes fuel 200+ clubs, from improvisational theater to sustainable farming, with the legendary spring Trivia contest—a 50-hour team gauntlet drawing 900 participants, the world's biggest. Traditions like the first warm day's Naked Quad Run add playful absurdity, but challenges persist: rural isolation amplifies cabin fever in blizzards, the no-frats ethos suits introverts over party animals, and intense peers can spark impostor syndrome.
Housing
On-Campus Housing
Housing Capacity
Meal Plan Available
Average Room & Board
Athletics
Athletic Association
Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
ROTC & Veteran Support
Veteran’s Programs Available
Yellow Ribbon Program (Post-9/11 GI Bill)
Yes
Cost & Aid
In-State Tuition
Out-of-State Tuition
Room & Board
Estimated Cost
Financial Aid
Students Receiving Aid
Receiving Pell Grants
Average Grant
Average Federal Loan
Net Annual Cost by Household Income
Household Income
Avg. Net Cost
$0 – $30K
$14,653
$30K – $48K
$14,798
$48K – $75K
$14,771
$75K – $110K
$24,755
$110K+
$44,457
Apply for Financial Aid
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Outcomes & Earnings
Retention Rate
96%
4 Years Graduation Rate
88%
6 Years Graduation Rate
92%
Median 10-Year Earnings
$75,525
96% of first-time, full-time students complete their freshman year at Carleton College and return in the fall. 88% of first-time, full-time students graduate in 4 years, and 92% graduate within 6 years.
Graduation Rate
4-year grads
88%
4-6 years
4%
Non-grad
8%
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Key Statistics
Type
Private
Tuition
$62,244
Acceptance
20%
Undergrads
2,128
4-Year Grad Rate
88%
Endowment
$846M
Northfield, MN 55057
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