Grinnell College

Responses from the Student Interview

From a student  who identifies as Majors: Double major in Math and Economics
Student Self Identifies as: Black Pansexual Female

Summary

I was in Student Alumni Council for one year, I was on the Student Educational Policy Committee for Math and Economics, and [had a leadership role] in a group called Black Students in STEM.

Background

Gender Identity: Female
Race/Ethnicity: Black
Sexual Orientation: Pansexual

Transferred in to start her sophomore year in Fall 2016
High School Experience: Public school in Marietta, GA with a graduating class of about 450 students. There was a culture of going to college but everyone went to the same four state schools.
First-Generation College Student: No
Majors: Double major in Math and Economics

Extracurricular Activities: I was in Student Alumni Council for one year, I was on the Student Educational Policy Committee for Math and Economics, and [had a leadership role] in a group called Black Students in STEM.
Did any of your extracurricular activities have a particularly big impact on your experience?
Black Students in STEM had the biggest impact on my experience because it was something that was really precious to me. It wasn’t maintained my fourth year but a younger student talked to me about revamping the club and I am so happy that it will be valuable to students.

Academic Experience

Can you describe the weekly coursework for your majors?
For Math, it was mostly problem sets. The earlier classes, like Calculus 2 and Graph Theory, were really intense but the course load eased up as I got into the later classes.
My Economics classes were less problem set-oriented. We had them in each class but they were fewer and further between. A lot of the outside work was more research-based, especially in the seminar classes. Instead of problem sets, you had a semester-long research project that you were supposed to complete that included coming up with your own research questions, finding and collecting data, running regressions to create your model, and then writing a final paper that’s between 15 and 25 pages.
What was your favorite class you took for either of your majors?
Graph Theory, even though I spent probably around 25 hours a week working on problem sets and studying, which was really intense.
Is there anything you feel your majors’ departments do especially well or poorly?
I think the Economics department didn’t do a phenomenal job of having the same open-door feeling that I experienced in other departments at Grinnell. Generally, the professors at Grinnell all have offices in one area of a department and work with their door open or have a sign that says, “Knock if you need me,” so you had a community feeling. In my opinion, the Economics department didn’t have that. The doors were more closed and it was a little more formal.
The Math department lacked in diversity, which is to be expected with a Math department at a liberal arts school that is a predominantly White institution. And, some of the professors I think were better than others with the way that they spoke to people of color. My adviser was wonderful because I could talk to him about things and he both validated me and would also tell me when I was being ridiculous. Other professors would say things that were a little more problematic. I was also almost always the only Black student in my Math classes, and I say almost always because there was a class where I wasn’t but that was intentionally planned between me and another Black Math major.
How would you describe the learning environment? Do you think it’s particularly competitive or collaborative?
It’s a learning environment that leans to be collaborative. I haven’t felt competitive with anybody at the school. Grinnell both in a positive way and a negative way beats you down, so you become very comfortable with failure at the school. In the moment, that can suck, but reflectively, I think it was a benefit. I was okay with not doing well and I think other students were okay with not doing well, especially by the end of their Grinnell career. Students are very open about their failures, which I think makes everybody comfortable. I’ve had lots of conversations with lots of students and professors about our failures and rejections, so I think that makes Grinnell lean almost entirely collaborative.
Why did you choose your combination of majors? Are you happy with your choice so far?
I’m happy with my choice. I knew going into college I would major in Economics. The Math major I didn’t decide on until later. I actually intended on taking as few math classes as possible, but, my best friend is a Math major was very convincing. I was also reading up on graduate school for economics and you need to take a lot of math classes, so I decided to just go through the entire major.

Reasons to Attend

1) There is an insane amount of resources.
2) The education is really phenomenal and I learned so much at that school.
3) I’ve never felt closer to faculty and staff members anywhere, and that’s something I didn’t realize until I was leaving. You have the opportunity to build those relationships because the school is so small.

Reasons Not to Attend

1) The workload, especially depending on your class choices, can be, in my opinion, out of hand.
2) If you’re a person that can’t do cold and lonely, you should probably not go to Grinnell because the winters here are hard.

Around Campus

Where have you lived on campus?
Sophomore: Rathje Hall on East Campus with one roommate.
Junior & Senior: Off-campus in an apartment with two other people.
Can you describe the level of safety you’ve experienced on and around campus?
Generally, I never felt unsafe or any sense of discomfort. In the one time I felt unsafe on campus, the school handled it immediately and very properly.
How was transitioning from living in the Atlanta area to Grinnell, IA?
That was really, really difficult. I can’t even imagine how it is for students who come from further places. I was relatively comfortable living around White people because the area I’m from is predominantly Black, but the area I went out at home was predominantly Black, so going to Grinnell and not having those spaces is really difficult because the Black community is very small. Also, not having many food options and the weather transition was very difficult. There’s nothing to eat in Grinnell and it gets very, very cold. We had the winter freeze this year was brutal. [The population of Grinnell, IA is about 9,000 and about 88% are White.]

Social Opportunities

What kind of nightlife or weekend activities do you participate in at Grinnell?
That changed and developed as I got older. Most recently, I like to go to the movie theater in town. There is also a place called Peach Tree that is a really wonderful place that a lot of people enjoy going to for a beer. The school throws parties every weekend in Harris and Gardner on Fridays and Saturdays. People will also just go hang out together in dorms and chat or do whatever.
What nights of the week do you like to go out?
I like to go out on Friday and Saturday. Those are really the only nights I would go out. There are also parties on Wednesdays, but I have never gone to one.
What are some of your favorite on-campus events?
There are a couple of student performances that are really good. There’s a group called Singers that has some really amazing concerts. Those are phenomenal and I love going to those. I also attend a lot of acapella concerts. There are study breaks on campus hosted by different clubs that I like to go to. Even the non-campus related groups, like career communities, have study breaks.
How happy are you with the weekend options at Grinnell? Is there anything you would change if you could?
I’m not particularly happy with the weekend options. There aren’t that many of them. Weekends aren’t so brutal if you have a good consistent group of friends, but there are literally three places to go downtown. If I could change anything, I would increase the amount of food and also add a club somewhere nearby. I don’t know how much I would do because not having anything to do kind of adds to and also simplifies the Grinnell experience.

Campus Culture

How did you meet your closest friends?
I met them through another friend.
How would you describe the overall social scene?
A lot of the people at Grinnell are odd or kind of quirky. From my perspective as somebody coming from near Atlanta, it’s very non-traditional and unique. There’s not a lot of going out, but people are very interesting when you start talking. People like to do things that are very unique, so if you can find people who like to do things that you like, which you can if you reach out to enough people, you can do literally whatever you want to do. The drinking culture is strong and I think that is largely due to how little there is to do.
To what extent do you feel people of different races and sexual orientations mix socially?
I think people of different sexual orientations mix not perfectly but pretty seamlessly. The real trouble comes with people mixing in terms of race. It’s very clear that people group up by race and nationality. With domestic students, people group up by race and international students cluster as well. To me, it seems a lot of South Asian students group up together and East Asian students group together. To me, mingling between different races happens on an individual level and not on a larger scale.
How would you describe the Black community on campus? How strong is it?
The Black community on campus was much stronger when I got that and much more collective. I’m not sure how the African and Caribbean Student is functioning currently, but I think that the domestic Black community has gone through some hardships and changes that have made it difficult to maintain a very strong center. There also aren’t many of us. We make up [6%] of the community, which is not very many people given that we’re only about 1,600 people. Because we’re so small, it’s very easy to have conflict in the community and have that get personal, which can lead to issues. Overall, I think the Black community is very endearing and sympathetic.
How would you describe the LGBTQ community on campus? How strong is it?
When I went to Grinnell everybody told me that Grinnell is very diverse and accepting and vocal, etc. I think Grinnell does a phenomenal job of being accepting and open and everything else positive with LGBTQIA students. I just kind of joined the community seamlessly. It’s been more difficult in respect to me being home and identifying in that community, but at Grinnell, I can be very open about it.
How do you like the size of Grinnell in terms of undergraduate enrollment? How has that impacted your experience? [There are about 1,600 students.]
I wish it were a little bigger. It’s smaller than my high school. It’s impacted my experience in both positive and negative ways. It’s so small that you don’t have any personal business. It doesn’t matter how closely you keep things or how quiet you are, you don’t have personal business. I think that it’s positive though in that I knew everybody’s name in my graduating class and you become very, very close to the people in your year. I do wish that it were a little larger.
How was transitioning to Grinnell as a transfer? Were there any resources that helped you in that transition?
That was really, really hard. I transferred in with like eleven people and many of them did not continue at Grinnell. When I arrived, there was a very brief orientation, but after that, there were no more transition [activities]. It was very difficult because there aren’t many students and also because the school is so small, you’re entering a community where people have already cliqued up. There were moments when I felt isolated. I also felt it was tough to go in and become close to professors immediately because you’re king of late in the game.

Careers

Has the alumni network helped you find internships or jobs?
Yes, the alumni network is phenomenal. It’s small but wonderful. The first time an alum really came in for me was when I was looking for a job after graduation. I reached out to an alum who graduated while I was still at Grinnell and he worked for a company that I was dying to work for. I reached out to him and a couple of other students did at well, and I don’t know if it’s because of him or us, but every student who reached out ended up getting a job at the company. Also, any other alumni I reached out to for housing in New York or jobs and internships was incredibly helpful and I felt like they genuinely wanted me to secure the job or internship.
What have you used the career office for? How helpful have they been?
They were helpful. I had a generally positive experience with them. I used them for help with my resume and cover letter and I went there for help with finding a job. They have funding which I used for an internship in West Africa which was incredible. They also helped me purchase clothes for interviews and funded me to go to various conferences over the years.
Have you learned any computer programs or languages that will be helpful to you professionally?
The Economics department only uses Stata, so I became very good at Stata and have mentored students using Stata. I’m not phenomenal with Excel. I also learned R through a couple of Statistics classes, which I’m not as good at but is good to know.

Financial Aid

Have you used financial aid? If so, how helpful is the office?
They’ve been generally pretty helpful. When I was coming into the school and told them I couldn’t make it work they helped me with an additional kind of grant aid so that I would be able to attend. I think my biggest complaint about Grinnell financial aid is when I got an additional scholarship my third year they reduced the amount of money they were giving me so that I was paying the same amount the next work.