Iowa cornfields provide a surreal backdrop for Grinnell’s funky, progressive, and talented student body. With about 1,700 students, Grinnell’s population is 1,200 less than Oberlin’s. That translates into tiny classes and tutorials. Second only to Carleton as the best liberal arts college in the Midwest. Grinnell’s biggest challenge is simply getting prospective students to the campus. The cornfields make for a tight-knit campus community. Turns out lots of future Ph.D.s.

“Go West, young man, go West,” Horace Greeley said to Josiah B. Grinnell in 1846. The result of Grinnell’s wanderings into the rural cornfields, about an hour from Des Moines and Iowa City, is the remarkable college that bears his name. Despite its physical isolation, Grinnell is a powerhouse on the national scene. Its $2 billion endowment, largely built on the stock-picking advice of erstwhile trustee Warren Buffett, is one of the largest of any liberal arts college.

Ever progressive, Grinnell was the first college west of the Mississippi to admit African Americans and women, and the first in the country to establish an undergraduate political science department. It was once a stop on the Underground Railroad, and its graduates include Harry Hopkins, architect of the New Deal, and Robert Noyce, inventor of the integrated circuit, two people who did as much as anyone to change the face of American society in the 20th century. The school’s 120-acre campus is an attractive blend of collegiate Gothic and modern Bauhaus academic buildings and Prairie-style houses. (Architecture buffs should take note of the dazzling Louis Sullivan bank facade just off campus.)

True to its liberal arts focus, Grinnell mandates a first-semester writing tutorial, modeled after Oxford University’s program, but doesn’t require anything else. The roughly 35 tutorials, limited to about 12 students each, help enhance critical thinking, research, writing, and discussion skills, and allow first-year students to work individually with professors. Recent offerings include Coping with Climate Change, In Search of the Midwest, and The Liberal Arts as a Force for Evil. “Tutorials are fun, interesting, and a great introduction to the academic possibilities that Grinnell has to offer,” one student says. When it comes to declaring a major, students determine their own course of study with help from faculty. In an effort to show the practical relevance of the liberal arts, Grinnell assigns an “explanatory advisor” to each freshman to help her or him develop a sense of direction. They can then join one of seven “career communities,” such as Education Professions and Business and Finance.

Departments in the social and natural sciences are strong, the latter bolstered by an influx of research grants. “Due to the college’s enormous endowment, the sciences are top-notch, with the best equipment and graduate-level research at the undergraduate level,” offers one student. Economics, political science, computer science, theater and dance, and foreign languages (including German and Russian) are among the strongest majors, while political science, biology, psychology, and biochemistry enroll the most students. Grinnell’s admissions standards are high, and nearly one-third of graduates move on directly to graduate and professional schools. Students who don’t mind studying, even on weekends, will be happiest here. “The academic climate is fairly intense,” says one junior, “but not competitive.” Sixty-four percent of classes have fewer than 20 students. Teaching is the top priority for Grinnell faculty members, and because the college awards no graduate degrees, there are no teaching assistants hanging around. “In general, profs are here to teach and have generous office hours,” a sophomore says.

When the urge to travel arises, students may study abroad in the Grinnell-in-London program or in more than 100 other approved programs. About half of the students spend some time away from campus, and financial aid extends to study abroad. The Grinnell-in-Washington program combines coursework with an internship in the nation’s capital. Forty-five percent of students participate in undergraduate research, including the Mentored Advanced Project program, which enables them to work closely with a faculty member on scholarly research or the creation of a work of art. Co-ops in architecture, business, law, medicine, and 3–2 engineering programs are also available.

Grinnell is a bit of Greenwich Village in corn country. Despite the rural environment, the college attracts an urban clientele, especially from the Chicago area. Only 7 percent of Grinnellians are from Iowa, while 20 percent are international. “We’re quirky, often hippie and liberal, though increasingly diverse,” a student observes. The student body is 8 percent Hispanic, 8 percent Asian American, 5 percent African American, and 4 percent multiracial. Student groups such as the Intersectional Feminism Alliance, Social Entrepreneurs of Grinnell, and Grinnell Advocates (offering support for survivors of gender-based violence) help set the tone on campus. Admissions are need-blind, and the college meets 100 percent of admitted students’ demonstrated financial need. Merit awards averaging $19,500 are handed out annually, but there are no athletic awards. Grinnell policy dictates that at least 15 percent of every freshman class will be students whose parents did not go to college.

The college guarantees four years of campus housing, and 88 percent of students take advantage of the dorms, each of which has kitchen facilities, cable television, and a computer room. All but two dorms are co-ed, and after freshman year, students participate in a room draw, which can be stressful but usually works out. “The dorms are good,” a student says, “with no ridiculously small rooms.” Students say the area is safe but they are glad to have campus security available.

With no fraternities or sororities, all-campus parties and intramurals revolve mainly around the dorms. “I liken the experience to that of a cruise ship,” says one student, “in that the students all stay in one place and entertainment is brought to campus.” Each dorm periodically sponsors a party using wordplay from its name in the title. For instance, James Hall puts on the Mary-Be-James party, for which everyone comes in drag. As for alcohol, a senior reports, “Grinnell is not a dry campus, but there are no bars on campus and there is no peer pressure to drink or culture of problematic drinking.” Grinnell’s social groups and activities range from the SciFi Association and the Queer Rainbow Super Team to improvisational workshops, poetry readings, symposia, concerts, and movies. Highlights of the campus calendar include semiformal Winter and Spring Waltzes, where “most people wear formals and look very nice, not a common occurrence at a school where comfort is the usual standard and women rarely wear makeup,” notes one student. Titular Head is a festival of five-minute student films. During finals week, the library sponsors study breaks that have been known to feature free milk and cookies, choir sing-alongs, librarians reading their favorite picture books aloud, bubble-wrap-popping sessions, and other stress-relieving activities.

Grinnell (population 9,300), is “a small farming community with a nice downtown.” The college’s Service Learning and Civic Engagement Program works to bridge the town-gown gap by connecting students with more than 80 area nonprofit and community partners for service opportunities. Nearby Rock Creek State Park lends itself to biking, running, camping, kayaking, and cross-country skiing, and the Grinnell Outdoor Recreation Program sponsors a variety of pursuits, including off-campus trips and open rock-climbing sessions. There are a few bars and pizza joints downtown, but for those craving bright lights, Iowa City and Des Moines are within an hour’s drive, and the college runs a shuttle service to them. Chicago and Minneapolis are each about four hours distant.

The Grinnell Pioneers compete in Division III athletics, and the men’s basketball team has won national attention for an unusual run-and-gun offense that uses waves of five players like hockey shifts in an effort to wear down opponents. Recent conference champions include women’s golf and men’s and women’s tennis and swimming and diving. About 30 percent of students play intramural sports, which offer competitive and noncompetitive options.

Grinnell wouldn’t put a grin on every prospective college student’s face. “Most of us don’t apologize for what at first turns people off about Grinnell,” explains a senior. “We like being in the middle of Iowa, we like that you’ve probably never heard of us, we love that you won’t come here because you want a big name.” But there’s no denying that Grinnell-a first-rate liberal arts college in an unlikely location-is a real gem of a school, and one that is still relatively accessible.

-Fiske Guide