<p>“What were your expectations about Macalester before you arrived, and how has Mac met those expectations??”</p>
<p>When applying for colleges, I tried not to have too many school-specific expectations. Overall, I wanted a school where professors were easily accessible, there was a strong school connection (I hesitate to use the phrase “school spirit,” only because for me it conjures up ideas of athletics games, Greek life, etc.), and the community of students was interested in the world as a whole.</p>
<p>Just about all of my professors here have been extremely open to students. Some prefer scheduling appointments while others have open office hours all the time. As a first-year student, most of my outside-of-class professor interaction has been with questions I have about class content, and all of the professors I approached outside of class were more than happy to help me understand something. Every student at Macalester is required to complete a senior capstone or senior seminar (I’m not too familiar with what the specifications are, but it generally varies from department to department) in their junior or senior year. Many of the seniors I know have a very good relationship with their advisor, and this process of capstone/seminar was made much easier because of this relationship and the easy accessibility of professors.</p>
<p>“Did anything disappoint you?”</p>
<p>There must be some larger list of things that I wish the school could change, but right now I can only think of one thing. I came to Macalester hoping to perhaps join an athletic club sport, which I did. After many months of playing and loving it, and discussing club sports with other students on campus, we generally agree that varsity athletics get a very large chunk of change and that other sports do not. Perhaps a varsity athlete (from any school, college or high school level) could chime in here, if they see this? We are D-III athletics, and the “joke” (not really a joke…) is that our varsity teams never win anything. Zip. Nada. Nilch. It’s kind of endearing how badly we do. Going back to my main point, it seems a little excessive how much funding the varsity athletics are given. They get t-shirts, jackets, nice equipment, prime time for practices, and transportation. I’m not saying that they should have all of these things taken away (I don’t actually even know how much they pay for things like t-shirts and jackets, if they pay), but that club sports should get some more funding. A friend of mine is on the Club Ultimate Frisbee team – which last year went to nationals, and might do so again this year – and they literally get almost nothing. They must pay for their own discs, jerseys, and transportation. (In two weeks, they are driving to Georgia for a tournament.) Their practice times are 6:30-8 AM on Wednesdays and 10:30-midnight on Mondays.</p>
<p>“What surprised you?”</p>
<p>I think the generally quirkiness of the student body surprised me. A lot of the time in guidebooks and on websites, Mac is described as having a big devotion to athletics, the global community, etc… which we are! But, I think we can usually also be pretty grounded. People love eating cheese here. Just love it. For anyone who receives Macalester mailers with funny inserts – if you can’t find some kind of humor in those, you may want to consider if you’d fit in as well here compared to other places. Last semester, there was a cow on campus and people were encouraged to go out and pet the cow.</p>
<p>“What exceeded your expectations?”</p>
<p>The amount of community and help there is available on campus truly exceeded my expectations. Every student can get 10 free counseling sessions at the Health and Wellness center per year. Our Dean of Students is always out and about and open to talking to students. (For example, a friend of mine very much wants to graduate in 3 years and had a long conversation with the Dean of Students about if this was possible, what were her reasons, what she would do after three years… all because he was in his office when she walked by.) There are collectives aplenty (Queer Women, White, Mixed, Asian, Working Class, just to name a few) and if you think there’s a group of people who don’t have one, you can make your own to discuss your place in society. The GSRC (Gender and Sexuality Resource Center) has office hours from 7-midnight Sunday - Thursday, and they are always open to talk about gender, sexuality, and any issues you have had with any of those.</p>
<p>“How much help do you have from professors and advisors to guide you in selection of courses, majors, etc.?”</p>
<p>Ok. Every student at Mac has an official advisor. First-year students (until you declare your major, or officially change your advisor) have their advisor assigned to them based on what your first year course is, and each first year course has a maximum of 16 people. Some people choose their first year course based on what they would like to major in, others because the class sounded interesting. I am one of the latter, and my First Year Course advisor has extremely minimal knowledge about the majors I am considering. So, while he was able to help me fix my schedule and get me into classes I wanted to take, he wasn’t particularly helpful in choosing new classes. SO… I consulted my professors from the departments I am considering majoring in. They were wonderful! They told me that many students (particularly those who haven’t declared a major yet) take on unofficial advisors to help them through the process of selecting a major and classes. Before course selection at the end of last semester, one of my professors talked me through all of the possible classes I could take with the pre-reqs I have and explained why she would recommend or not recommend each one.</p>