<p>I recently posted on the Barnard board asking about whether a non-city girl could thrive at an urban LAC. The response, from them, was mostly no. Does Mac have a similar joined-at-the-hip connection to St. Paul? I prefer lots of green space and a defined campus; I've been assured that I could stand somewhere (outside) on the Mac campus and not see or hear cars rushing by. For those who have visited in-person, as I am unable to, how else would you describe Mac's campus/community atmosphere?</p>
<p>While Macalester is technically an urban campus, a residential neighborhood of St Paul is a far cry from New York City! The campus itself looks like a typical campus, complete with brick buildings (some ivy covered), some new, some old, even a typical-looking quad. In contrast to the rural LAC’s, the campus is just much more compact. The buildings are mostly on the outside of campus property, with green space in the center and mature trees. Most of the dorms are bound by Grand Ave on the south and Summit Ave on the north. Summit Ave is an entirely residential boulevard with beautifully maintained and landscaped Victorian homes (the longest stretch of these homes in the US) that extends eastward to downtown St Paul and westward to the Mississippi River (a great bike ride). Grand Ave has coffee shops, several reasonably-priced restaurants frequented by students (Coffee News, a Thai restaurant, the Italian Pie Shoppe, Shish) as well as people from the neighborhood. Cars do drive on Grand Ave, but pedestrians certainly have the right away and you certainly don’t feel that you are dodging traffic to get to the library or academic buildings. I’m from a town of less than 100,000 and never feel that the campus area is loud or congested with traffic. The Twin Cities has a lot of green space, several lakes and the Mississippi River. There a several other college campuses nearby: Hamline University about 2 or 3 miles north on Snelling, University of St Thomas about 1-2 miles west on Summit, and the University of Minnesota (and Augsburg college literally across the street from the U) 5 miles northwest (Snelling to University Ave).</p>
<p>Personally, I think Mac is a prettier campus than Carleton, which has a little bit too much of a plopped in a cornfield feel to me. Mac is in a very quiet, leafy, very pretty residential area of St. Paul, (which is itself a much quieter city than Mpls.). If you’ve been to Vassar, Grand Ave. reminded me of the shopping area near the Vassar campus. The College of St. Catherine, a residential Catholic women’s college is also in the neighborhood.</p>
<p>As someone who’s grown up in NYC and who visited Mac this spring, here’s my take - </p>
<p>The campus is very nice. There are certainly places you can be on campus (if I remember correctly, especially the science building and library) where you just forget you’re in a city. The freshmen/sophomore dorms are across the street from the campus center and academic buildings and yes, there are cars, but I didn’t find the cars numerous or the drivers crazy (granted, I’m from New York) or anything, and it certainly did not seem like a big deal. The college campus is distinct from the city, and while it’s easy to get onto, say, Grand Avenue and just get off campus for an hour and walk around the neighborhood, it didn’t seem like that was at all necessary. The feeling I got was that frosh and soph years you stay mostly on campus, you live in the dorms and you’re on the meal plan and your social life is mostly on campus. There are people who swear by studying in one of the coffee shops on Grand Avenue, but other than that you don’t really leave campus too much on a regular basis. Junior and senior year about 50% of students live off-campus (like 3-4 blocks away) and/or have internships or things in the city, so you’re more connected to the city those years, generally speaking.
Most people I asked told me that they used the cities less than they expected to, especially in their first couple of years. The dinner out with friends or the going to a museum on a Saturday in the cities happens, but it’s the exception rather than the norm.</p>
<p>I can’t shake this image of down parka-clad students darting from building to building in the deep snow to race through subzero temperatures.</p>
<p>Does the weather seriously impact the ability to have a nice lifestyle (and even identify if the people walking past are male or female)?</p>
<p>The weather here is overplayed a bit. The locals revel in “braving the elements” and play it up to some extent. I’m from Hawaii. I’ve lived in the Twin Cities for 20 years and it’s perfectly manageable. Yes, its cold in January. Yes we have snow (recently not as much as people would like), but not as much snow as say Buffalo, NY. People here use the winter for recreation opportunities (skiing, skating, snow shoeing, ice fishing, sledding, etc.). There are lots of outside rinks and groomed ski trails available. People know how to dress for and deal with the weather up here. You’ll learn how too. Don’t worry, clothing fashions here take the weather into account. </p>
<p>It is pretty rare that the weather is so inclement that things shut down around here. You are more likely to see that sort of response in Missouri and points south. Here, the roads get plowed pretty quickly and people go about their business and just incorporate some extra time into their planning to get to where they need to go. Just remember, if you are bringing your car with you from a more southern clime, you will want to shift to a multi-viscosity oil, like 5W-30, before winter sets in. Straight 30 weight won’t cut it (I did have that happen with a friend who moved from California to International Falls).</p>
<p>If you’re worried about the weather, the weather in the southern portion of Minnesota isn’t quite as bad as it is in the northern part; therefore, St. Paul is alright. I used to live in southern MN, but now I live in northern MN. The northern portion is 10-20 degrees colder in the winter, and sometimes more. There is much more snow up in the north as well. Also, the winter is extended by a few more weeks up here. </p>
<p>St. Paul is manageable. You will not be snowed in out in the middle of nowhere. (That’s where it gets unmanageable, haha.)</p>
<p>PS: Minnesota is not New York. I feel that the “city-slickers” of Minnesota are located in rich suburbia. I’ve always noticed that you find a handful of outdoors-people no matter where you go in Minnesota. Not to say that everyone is a “city-slicker” in New York, but I am just trying to get across the character of MN.</p>