Hopefully they don’t wait till 11pm! The other school we are waiting on announced they are releasing decisions at 8pm EST tonight. At least we know what to expect there.
Check the portal even if you didn’t get an email.
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Thank you so much! We would still be waiting if I didn’t see this.
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Did they announce?
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Yes. No email but there an update in the portal once you log in
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Alas, a deferral to regular admission.
Son was admitted with merit. Rest of financial aid package will follow 1/15. Good luck to all!
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Daughter admitted with merit. She’s beyond thrilled.
Good luck, everyone!
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Congrats!!!
Curious: did your daughter choose to go test optional?
Thanks! We rolled the dice and submitted her SATs (1430), both here and everywhere else. We figured that as long as she’s roughly in the ballpark of the median score for a school… it’s worth a shot, and probably wouldn’t hurt her. Guess we’ll see how it all shakes out between now and late March, but for tonight at least she’s feeling great: Macalester is definitely a favorite.
Fingers crossed that you get similar good news a bit further down the road!
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Thanks 
It will all work out for her somewhere I’m sure! But Macalester is certainly special. She is allowed to send in additional info for the RD round, so she might send in her test scores … only took the ACT once, was a 32, solid, but not spectacular. Ultimately her call!
Appreciate the response.
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Our kiddo got in with merit, but not enough to make it affordable…ugh! Rough day.
My daughter just got accepted EA with generous merit. Yay! I am confused though. How much will the merit scholarship impact her need-based financial aid? Hypothetically — if the FAFSA and CSS say we can pay about 30K, and the merit scholarship is about 20K, does that mean they’ll only give us enough need-based aid so that our bill is still 30K?
Us too. I don’t think we’ll qualify for need-based aid, but we submitted all the paperwork just in case.
I think that you’ll need to ask the financial aid office to confirm, but with a different LAC a couple of years ago that also pledged to meet 100% of need, that was the case (that the merit aid first reduced the need-based grant before going towards the EFC). The advantage, I suppose, is that if you win the lottery and no longer would qualify for the need-based aid in future years, you would still have the merit scholarship.
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As this thread has gone quiet, just thought I’d chime in to say that late last week my daughter received her Mac winter hat, and today got a handwritten note from the admissions team.
In her words: “Macalester is really making it hard not to love them.”
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My daughter got the hat too! If only they’d sent us a less scary financial aid package.
My daughter got socks.
Hi everyone. My son admitted last year. Mac meets 100% demonstrated needs based on FAFSA plus CSS profile.
If you have any questions about Mac, let me know. My son loves Mac, by the way.
Well, sure, but schools decide what “demonstrated need” is. As do other schools, so it’s not just Mac, but the system is across the board puts the squeeze on middle class families with unrealistic expectations. My daughter got a very generous merit scholarship that is useless to us because it’s bundled in with need and does not lower our frightening EFC.
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