<p>I feel like Bates is more prestigious, but Mac has more international students (I am from Europe)… for economics</p>
<p>I went to Bates, then spent my med residency in the Twin Cities with some Mac grads.Honestly, I hope my friends don’t track me down, I’d go to Macalaster…I love Bates, and both schools have that great world citizen vibe, but Lewiston is a hole, and hasn’t gotten any better, and I love the Twin Cities.</p>
<p>does anyone know about differences in prestige and economics departments?</p>
<p>Without a doubt, Bates has one of the best liberal arts economics departments in the country. It is commonly cited as the strongest department at Bates.</p>
<p>bro2baseball, do you have any links to sources/articles? I need some evidence to persuade my parents that Bates is better)</p>
<p>wow man. im in the exact same boat as you: International student, choosing between Bates and Macalester and pursuin economics. Honestly right now I’m tipping more towards Bates. I feel it has a tighter community and a stronger liberal arts curriculum. Other than the problem of the surrounding city I can’t really find any other problems with Bates. </p>
<p>For Macalester I’ve read that the twin cities aren’t exactly as great as they make them out to be and that the student body cares way too much about grades and giving back to the community kind of takes a backseat. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, both colleges definitely fall in the category of Best Liberal arts colleges in the states and I’d be happy to attend either. It’s just that somehow Bates has slightly more appeal for me.</p>
<p>Good luck lefleur :)</p>
<p>preshdamesh, wow that´s cool) where are u from?
The problem with Bates is that it seems that it’s very homogenous, and even though i’m white, I might not feel very comfortable in a small college where almost everyone is american and white</p>
<p>I’m from India but I’m graduating form the International School of Kuala Lumpur. I’ve been travelling all my life so pretty international 
I don’t think you really need to worry about that. In general most of these private lbieral arts colleges have a very large number of white kids and the international student body isn’t always that big. What you should be more concerned about is how accepting the community is. From what I’ve read, Bates has a very accepting community and pretty much everyone finds their niche at the college. </p>
<p>The international student body is definitely one of Macalester’s strengths but I mean it all comes down to what you make out of the resources you’ve got.</p>
<p>Where in Europe are you from? I was pretty surprised to find someone in the exact same situation as me. haha.</p>
<p>Macalester also has an excellent economics department and the students have great access to internships in the business community throughout the Minneapolis/St, Paul area - which I would consider a big plus over Bates.</p>
<p>I also am puzzled about the comment that Macalester students are not involved in the community. Nothing could be further from the truth. Macalester students are very engaged in community and public service in the Twin Cities area. They are also very involved in the Minnesota political scene. </p>
<p>Both schools are great and you cannot go wrong at either place. However, if I was an international student who wanted to study Economics my pick would be Macalester</p>
<p>Former UN Secretary General Kofi Anan is a Macalester grad. An international who hit it big with his Mac degree. </p>
<p>I’m not partial to Macalester. I only know about it because I lived in the Twin Cities for 16 years. My daughter was born and grew up there, but after we moved East (new career opportunity for me) she chose not to return to the Twin Cities for college because it was now “too far away” from family. She is a freshman at Oberlin, which is still in the Midwest (love the midwestern politeness) but much closer to the East Coast and our current home. Had we not moved, she would’ve gone to Mac or Carleton.</p>
<p>Don’t hesitate to take the Twin Cities over rural Maine. OMG what a difference. Both places have freezing cold winters, and you’ll suffer frostbite in either location, if you’re careless. But the Twin Cities are not Chicago, L.A. or NYC. They have major league professional sports teams in EVERY U.S. sport (baseball, football, hockey, and basketball) including a Women’s NBA team, just like the big cities but without the traffic jams, absurdly expensive parking, high violent crime rates, and long distances between venues. It’s a very compact area. Lots of artsy stuff and a surprising level of racial diversity in a very non-diverse state. If you’ve never been to Minnesota, 98% of the diversity is in the Twin Cities. leave the Cities in any direction and its an almost unending swath of whiteness. Maybe not unending, but you can drive for hours away from the Twin Cities, especially north, west, and south, and see nothing but white people. Then again, there isn’t much diversity in Maine when you leave Portland and head north and west. I’ve been there too. I don’t know about Lewiston except that it’s a hole.</p>
<p>The economics department at Bates is truly outstanding, so if you’re looking to major, you won’t be disappointed:</p>
<p>[BatesNow</a> | Oct. 25, 2001 | Bates economics department ranked at top of leading liberal arts colleges](<a href=“http://www.bates.edu/x15956.xml]BatesNow”>Economics department ranked at top of leading liberal arts college | News | Bates College)</p>
<p>“The Bates College Department of Economics ranks second in the nation in the number of times its faculty’s scholarly research is cited by other researchers. When citations are counted on a per capita basis, Bates ranks first among the 50 top U.S. liberal arts colleges studied. The higher per capita ranking indicates that the citations of the Bates economists are spread over several department members, rather than being concentrated on one department member.”</p>
<p>I visited both and chose Bates.
I find it discouraging that so many people on Bates board told me that Macalester is better. I did like twin cities more than lewiston, but I liked Bates more</p>
<p>I didn’t mean Mac was better in any way except location, and I love the Twin Cities so much that it made me forget my love for Bates. Oh, the pool was nicer at Mac, too.</p>
<p>It’s easier to get to Mac and if you don’t have a car,and aren’t an outing club type person, the Twin Cities has a lot more accessible entertainment.</p>
<p>Does anyone know if anyone can use the ice rink at Bates?</p>
<p>I’m an international student from China.Bates and Mac are the only two schools that accepted me,and I eventually choose Bates.</p>
<p>What’s more?My intended major is also economics,lol.C U in Lewiston!</p>