We may be biased, but it’s hard to describe how charming Northfield is — it’s best experienced in person! Not only is there a well-preserved historic downtown that tracks with the Cannon River, students have access to grocery stores, doctors, dentists, and other necessities via our free-for-students transit system. What questions do you have about the land of Cows, Colleges, and Contentment?
Questions and Comments
We received a question from a new parent asking "Our incoming '28 Carl has a bank account with Wells Fargo. Is Wells a good bank to use in Northfield? What are other options to consider?"
Wells Fargo has a big presence in Minnesota, and in fact has an ATM in our centrally-located student center, Sayles-Hill, as well as an office location in Northfield (https://www.wellsfargo.com/locator/search/Northfield_MN/). There are also quite a few local and regional banks, as well as a U.S. Bank ATM location - you can Google "Northfield MN banks" and see the list of options there.
Welcome to Carleton, admitted students and their parents. My daughter, Ryder, is currently a sophomore at Carleton, a school that has exceeded her ridiculously high expectations as she embarked on her college experience and life away from home. A more welcoming, engaging, stimulating, and friendly campus one would be very hard pressed to find, anywhere. She visited many dozens of college campuses while in high school, many of them Liberal Arts Colleges.
For her, none could hold a candle to Carleton. From the learned yet easily approachable faculty, the ease of making friends and the beauty of the campus to the small-town college town charm of Northfield where Carleton is located, the campus and town are very safe, friendly and charming as well as extremely pedestrian centered and easily navigable on foot and/or bicycle. Whatever your student needs, it is all right there, be it on campus or in Northfield.
Ryder loves Northfield and environs for its cafes, shops, great market -- the Co-Op -- neighborhoods for running, student gathering spots, the Arb (Arboretum) for hiking, running and cross-country skiing in the Winter. For a big-city kid (she grew up in Los Angeles), and the friendly, safe and accessible college town of Northfield was the perfect contrast to L.A.
The four seasons of Northfield are special. Whether it's the late Summer and the start of the Fall term, the stunning beauty that comes with the changing of the leaves in October to the serene beauty of the idyllic campus and its historic architecture set atop rolling hills blanketed in snow and then, alas, the emergence of Spring, Carleton and the town of Northfield is a place my daughter calls home. She has since Freshman Orientation. Ryder eagerly returns to Northfield after every term break, and she does so easily given the close proximity to the major airport that is MSP.
This last point needs to be greatly appreciated. Carleton is the most easily accessible top tier Liberal Arts College in the United States, a very comforting fact for me, as a parent, knowing that Carleton can be reached in one to just over three hours from any city in the continental U.S.
If any of you prospective parents have questions about the campus or Northfield, this forum is a great spot to ask those questions and I would encourage you to do so.
Thank you,
Carter Bravmann, P’26
While we were visiting with our class of 25 student at the end of his OCS in Spain, together with our class of 27 student on spring break this last week, I asked them what they thought about Northfield. They noted how safe and comfortable things are; relaxed, walkable, friendly and that they literally don't feel the need to lock their doors. They mentioned how many good restaurants there are for a small town- favorites are The Ole Store, Tokyo Grill and Tanzenwald. They appreciate how close they are to Target for essentials and that they are only 45 min from the cities- both for the airport and entertainment opportunities. They love the open space and access to nature in the arb.
As parents, we really appreciate that Carleton is a 4 year residential campus with ample summer storage in the dorm basements. The residential campus really builds community and as friends' kids at other schools routinely struggle with finding housing, the stresses of rental markets, and getting all their things to and from off campus storage units, it is so nice to not have to worry about those logistics.
We also really enjoy visiting Northfield (and do it a lot in football season), it is an easy trip from the west coast- lots of direct flights to MSP and a short drive to campus. Northfield is so relaxing and welcoming, it is a fun, walkable, friendly community. One of my favorite coffee shops anywhere is right on Division- Little Joy. The coffee is exceptional and we usually end up seeing one of the boy's friends or teammates or meeting coaches or faculty- it is such a friendly, welcoming community!
I'll close with an anecdote from our first visit for a football game, we were staying at the Fairfield, just across the river from the stadium. When we left the hotel to walk to breakfast before heading to the tailgate, the head coach rode his bike by on us on his way to the stadium, waving and greeting us by name. I laughed and told my husband that I thought our kid went to school in Mayberry.
Please reach out with any questions you may have and congratulations to you and your students!