Decide between UW-Madison, Macalester College and St. Olaf

College Search & Selection
1

While I know these three schools might seem very different, they are the final three in my college choice. I would love the input of some of you who might have had experiences with one of the schools. I will list each situation below. I want to major in economic and political science and ultimately go to Law School out east.

UW-Madison

-I am a Minnesota Resident so it is the most cost effective situation at around $24,000/year.

-It has a strong political science program

-I love the sports scene and would like to be a part of Badger gameday

-Not really sold on joining a Fraternity.

St. Olaf College

-My parents went there and it is a family school

-Really friendly atmosphere, but I worry that I would get bored in Northfield

-High quality facilities and I could run cross country for their highly ranked program

-All the benefits of liberal arts college

-I got a $15,000/year scholarship

Macalester College

-Probably the most prestigious of the three schools

-I could run cross country

-In Minneapolis, which is a big plus

-The most expensive school and it’s not that close

-Strong reputation among graduate schools

-Alternative lifestyle is extremely prevalent, one of the most liberal schools in the country. I would consider myself pretty liberal but I don’t know how I would fit in being a white male from an extremely conservative suburb.

Thanks to anyone who weighs in!

2

These are three great schools. Are you visiting/have you visited?

3

I have visited all three and liked them all for different reasons. St. Olaf was very intimate, everybody smiled at you. Macalester was the most impressive, with its facilities and east coast feel. UW-Madison had the most options and obviously the biggest social environment.

4

I got waitlisted at Grinnell so I guess that is also a small chance of that being an option. I was pretty surprised, as I was recruited athletically, but apparently the acceptance rate fell quite a bit this year.

5

On the OP being waitlisted as at Grinnell, it may vary by sport, but our kid’s recruiting meetings suggested that recruits could get a “feather on the scale” at Grinnell for admissions, provided they were very well qualified to begin with. Coach in my kid’s sport was pretty clear that coach support was not going to get a kid in who wouldn’t otherwise be a clear admit. Which, regrettably, meant my kid had to move on because his scores were just not moving enough.

Otherwise, as parent of UW kid, it is a phenomenal school. Poli Sci dept is superb, my kid has developed great relationships, with tons of faculty support. If it makes sense for other reasons – academically, financially etc., I wouldn’t let the idea of greek life at UW put you off. My kid is in greek life, and greek life participation is officially listed around 10% participation, though he claims it is perhaps closer to 15%. There is a big party scene at UW independent from greek life, you can have a great social life and never even walk up the hill at Landgon (where the greek houses are). Greek life seems to be a much more central part of student experience at some other flagships, but is very avoidable, without affecting social life, at UW.

Mac, St Olaf vs. UW are, obviously, very different choices. All great. Good luck with your decision making process.

6

Here is a nice tool that can help you with the money factors, but also has lines to put in other items that might matter: http://www.finaid.org/calculators/awardletteradvanced.phtml

You can get a great education at all of these places, so you are really choosing on “fit”. If you know your probable majors, you can read through the degree requirements for each of those majors at each place. For Wisconsin, you should do your best to determine whether the current budget cuts will affect your probable major. I know that is hard to do, but some departments have begun to lose faculty due to the budget issues. If you have a probable long-term goal (grad school? specific career?) it is perfectly OK for you to ask the departments and career centers to find out where their graduates end up.

Wishing you all the best!

7

Based on what you said, your two “good fits” are St Olaf and UW.
The difference will be:

  • do you want to watch sports, or compete in them?
  • do you want personal attention and interactive classes, or the larger social life?
  • do you want Madison, or Northfield(+45mn to the Twin Cities)?

St Olaf is also well-known for study abroad so if you want to go places easily, that may tip the scales (they also have a study-in-Chicago program that’s great for 2nd semester Sophomores).

For what it’s worth, I don’t think students are bored at St Olaf, so I wouldn’t cross it out due to boredom, but rather think it terms of vibe, academic requirements, importance of participating in sports and competing on a good team, importance of watching football games…

Can you go to both for an overnight? Or at least to spend a day, attend two classes (one in your future major, one in a freshman requirement), eat in the cafeteria(not just for the food, but rather to see if other students are friendly, what they talk about…), read the paper, sit in the library, in the student union… You’ll quickly note differences and feel “right at home” or not. Or perhaps both will feel “right at home” but one will stand out.

8

Can you run at St. Olaf? How important is that to you? For me (eons ago), I would have only gone to a school where i could do varsity sports. My D16 is an athlete who was recruited and got into Grinnell, but cares so little that she is only considering D1 schools (where she is not competitive for varsity sports). Only you can answer this question.

I think the LACs and UW are pretty different. I know all three very well. I think @MYOS1634 summed up some of the questions you need to answer pretty well. I agree that you can get a great education at any of these schools.

9

Mac has a definite international flavor. I am sure study abroad options are also very good there.

10

Thank you all for the responses. They definitely brought up some important questions that I need to answer.

11

Do let us know how your visits go if you visit, and what your ultimate decision is. :slight_smile: