Carleton College vs Berea College

Carleton College and Berea College, both esteemed liberal arts institutions, offer distinct educational experiences. Carleton, located in Northfield, Minnesota, boasts a highly selective admissions process with an acceptance rate of 18%, while Berea, situated in Berea, Kentucky, prides itself on its open admissions policy, ensuring access to higher education for all qualified students. Carleton's student body is more diverse in terms of race and ethnicity, with international students comprising 13% of the population, compared to Berea's 5%. While Carleton excels in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities, Berea's strengths lie in the social sciences, education, and biological and biomedical sciences. Both institutions boast impressive graduation rates, with Carleton's at 89% and Berea's at 68%. To help you make an informed decision, we've compiled a comprehensive comparison table highlighting key differences between these two exceptional colleges.

	Berea College	Carleton College
Overview
Location	Berea, Kentucky	Northfield, Minnesota
Campus setting	Town: Distant	Town: Distant
College type	4 year	4 year
Control/business model	Private (Non Profit)	Private (Non Profit)
Calendar system	Semester	Trimester
Degrees offered	Undergraduate	Undergraduate
Students retention rate	84.0%	95.0%
Common app member	No	Yes
Religious affiliation

Admission
Acceptance rate	33.0%	17.5%
Application fees
SAT range	1118 - 1268	1408 - 1550
ACT range	23 - 28	31 - 35
Students submitting SAT score	8.0%	35.0%
Students submitting ACT score	46.0%	34.0%
Total number of applicants	1,736	7,915
Total number of admissions given out	573	1,389
Admitted students who chose to enroll	338	555
Yield rate	59.0%	40.0%
Test scores (SAT/ACT)	N/A	N/A
High school GPA	Required	Not required
Recommendation letters	Not required	Required
High school transcript	Required	Not required
English proficiency test (e.g. TOEFL)	Required	Required

Tuition and Fees
Sticker price	$54,396	$78,315
Average net price	$3,354	$31,718
Tuition	$42,900	$59,850
Room & board	Room/dormitory: $3,886 Meal plan: $3,598	Room/dormitory: $8,115 Meal plan: $7,260
Available payment plans		Tuition payment plan

Financial Aid
Students receiving financial aid (Grants & scholarships)	100.0% Average amount $52,253	65.0% Average amount $45,715
Students receiving federal student loan	4.0% Average amount $3,016	45.0% Average amount $3,914
Students taking out private loans	2.0% Average amount $758	2.0% Average amount $14,334

Students and Campus
Undergraduate students	1,468 Men 40.7% Women 59.3%	2,044 Men 48.7% Women 51.3%
Graduate students	N/A	N/A
Racial/ethnic diversity	Moderate	Moderate
Out-of-state students	N/A	81.5%
International students	7.8%	10.2%
Campus local/setting	Town: Distant	Town: Distant
Dormitory capacity	1,653	1,854
First year students are required to live on campus?	No	Yes
Top 5 states where most U.S. students come from	Tennessee Alabama Georgia Ohio	Minnesota California Illinois New York Texas

Academics
Popular study areas	Business Social Sciences Visual & Performing Arts Biological and Biomedical Sciences Family and Consumer Sciences	Physical Science Social Sciences Ethnic Studies Mathematics and Statistics Visual & Performing Arts
Students to faculty ratio	9:1	8:1
Institutional accreditation	Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges	Higher Learning Commission

Outcome
Graduation rate	65.6%	91.4%
Dropout rate	13.7%	8.3%
Transferred out	19.8%	N/A
Alumni salary by major (Top 10)	Computer and Information Sciences, General (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $39,226 Year 2: $50,856 Year 3: $57,402 Engineering Technology, General (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $24,355 Year 2: $26,353 Year 3: $42,731 Business/Commerce, General (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $32,950 Year 2: $33,993 Year 3: $42,254 Communication and Media Studies (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $19,670 Year 2: $27,590 Year 3: $36,495 Psychology, General (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: N/A Year 2: $25,658 Year 3: $31,668 Family and Consumer Sciences/Human Sciences, General (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $21,939 Year 2: $19,455 Year 3: $28,681 Agriculture, General (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $21,131 Year 2: $18,315 Year 3: $26,792 English Language and Literature, General (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: N/A Year 2: $18,315 Year 3: $24,639 Biology, General (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $17,023 Year 2: $20,687 Year 3: $24,324 History (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: N/A Year 2: $24,035 Year 3: N/A	Computer Science (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $76,876 Year 2: $76,460 Year 3: $101,936 Economics (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $60,032 Year 2: N/A Year 3: $66,207 Biology, General (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $28,526 Year 2: $23,034 Year 3: $30,071 Area Studies (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $27,669 Year 2: N/A Year 3: N/A English Language and Literature, General (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $27,425 Year 2: $22,329 Year 3: N/A Mathematics (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $46,952 Year 2: $37,568 Year 3: N/A Chemistry (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $30,227 Year 2: $36,141 Year 3: N/A Geological and Earth Sciences/Geosciences (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $20,625 Year 2: N/A Year 3: N/A Physics (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: N/A Year 2: $42,774 Year 3: N/A Psychology, General (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $31,301 Year 2: $33,719 Year 3: N/A

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