Bates, Colby, or Macalester

Transfer Students
1

<p>Like all of em so far...I'm adding ONE FINAL FREAKIN SCHOOL to my list because I want to have one more LAC. Like the liberal student body, considerable amount of snow/skiing, good job/grad school placement...um, that's it. They've all got nearly the same transfer rates and all have are equally prestigious...so I'm at a road block b/c I want to apply to one of them. </p>

<p>Maybe someone could tell me more a/b these schools than their websites have already and help me make a decision. Which would you pick?</p>

2

<p>Don't know Macalester. Colby is more remote than Bates - takes longer to get there from airport, longer to get anywhere. Bates is in a city; although the city is nothing to write home about, it is closer to Portland, Freeport, Brunswick etc. etc. Both are attractive campuses and accessible to skiing. My S was at Bates for his Katrina semester - extraordinarly welcoming campus as to students, Deans, faculty. Small classes/seminars meant he was able to get to know profs, even in just one semester.</p>

3

<p>tks for the info jmmom always helpful</p>

4

<p>I have a friend who goes to Macalester and she absolutely loves it. I actually visited and applied there as a senior in HS and I found the environment to be exactly what I was looking for (the cost was a little steep at the time for me though).</p>

5

<p>My child's final choice came down to these three schools. They are all great schools, comparable in size, academics, faculty commitment to teaching. Students at each seem very happy. That said, they have very different feels, and there's no substitute for spending time at them. After overnights at each, my child had a clear choice that wouldn't have been (and wasn't) apparent from reading the guidebooks and visiting the websites. Other kids, doing the same overnights, might reasonably have thought that the choice was clear in favor of one of the other two.</p>

6

<p>I've never been to Bates but I know Macalester and Colby okay. </p>

<p>Colby has a beautiful campus, nicer dorms, and better athletic facilities than Macalester. Macalester has so-so athletic facilties, a mix of great and okay dorms and a campus which, although nice looking, isn't as picturesque as Colby's.</p>

<p>Macalester is very diverse for a LAC, has tons of international students, and has an international focus. Colby is very east coast, very preppy and not very diverse.</p>

<p>Their academics are pretty equal. Macalester is known for International Studies. </p>

<p>Both have great food on campus with a slight edge to Colby. Obviously Macalester has better off-campus food.</p>

<p>Both have a friendly atmosphere, maybe Macalester slightly more so. But both have a nice community vibe.</p>

<p>Colby's students are more conservative (for a LAC), more affulent, and more athletic/outdoorsy. Macalester students more into politics and more liberal. Macalester isn't as extremely liberal as say, Oberlin. </p>

<p>Colby's campus is set off from the town about a 1/2 mile, and you can't see anything but Colby's campus and trees from the college. Waterville is nothing speical, it just has the basics, a few restaurants, movie theater, Walmart. Getting there from any large distance away is a pain. It's a long drive to Boston.</p>

<p>Macalester is in a nice part of St. Paul. It isn't downtown but it isn't a suburb. The Twin Cities are the 15 largest metro area so you can have a real city kind of experience whenever you want. It's also a great resource for internships. The campus itself is very small but it feels like a real campus. It's not like BU or NYU or anything like that. </p>

<p>Macalester has a lower sticker price and they are generally better about financial aid. </p>

<p>I would pick Macalester but that's just me. If you don't mind being isolated, want a beautiful campus, or are preppy type person go with Colby.</p>

7

<p>I don't know Macalester either, but Bates seems like a much better fit for you than Colby. I'm a student at Bates, and the school seems more liberal and less preppy compared to my impressions of Colby. Granted, its not quite as liberal as Wesleyan but it's a nice mix. Like jmmom said, Bates is also a lot closer to the more desirable parts of Maine, plus it is known to have very friendly students. If I were in your position, I would drop Colby from the list and decide between Bates and Macalester.</p>

8

<p>thx i've taken a lot of the advice from here...colby is gone from my list as well as bowdoin.</p>

<p>Bates is definite. Macalester I'm still deciding on.</p>