Hello!
The most obviously enjoyable aspect of Mac, to me, is the student body.
It is far from perfect, of course. As a white student, I acknowledge that I cannot speak for BIPOC on campus, many of whom feel ignored by the student body and used by the administration. (There was a racist message written on the board of a study room recently. It has been an instance of trauma for many BIPOC students, and I sincerely hope the school’s discussion time on it is conducted seriously and with respect for these students.)
So, with a grain of salt: thus far in my personal experience, most people try their very hardest to be kind and open. 99% of us have been extremely dedicated to the mask policy. There is a concerted effort to understand perspectives outside of one’s own. Even the “party people” on my floor (I am far from a partier) have been extremely inclusive, striking up conversations with me and others outside of their friend group. The “taboo” of striking up a conversation with a random classmate is gone. We are all here to learn from each other, and that occurs just as much outside the classroom as in.
I’ve made friends who share my passion for politics, my disability, and my dedication to learning. To this day, I rarely speak English with a peer from French class, even outside the classroom. If you want to have a conversation in French or discuss the US education system in the dining hall on a Friday night, Mac is for you!
In terms of what’s surprised me (although that’s a bit of a strong word)-- the workload. It is not characteristic of Mac students to brag about how difficult their workload is to non-Mac people, giving some the impression that Mac is a second-tier LAC with only moderately rigorous academics.
We may not be Swarthmore, Reed, or UChicago, but the challenge of our academics is there. I texted my mom about my workload (a 200+ page book a week, 6 large writing assignments so far this semester, etc) and she said she did not have that kind of workload until graduate school. (She attended a T100 midsized private university with a prestigious pre-professional program. It was a serious school, but not a “rigor for its own sake” kind of place.)
Also, the idea that STEM majors are constantly hitting the books and non-STEM majors are watching Netflix is not true here. My first ever B-minus on a large paper came from a humanities department viewed as “easy” in popular culture. Make no mistake, fellow straight-A high schoolers and valedictorians-- you will be challenged here!
Most of my classes are made up of about 30 people, which is an anomaly for Mac. Part of that is the classes I’m taking, part of it is the record enrollment this fall. So it’s been a little harder to bond with faculty because of that, but I’m working on it!
As for what I would tell my former self-- you’re going to have the opposite problem that you did in high school when it comes to extracurricular involvement. In high school, the possibilities for involvement were limited, to the point where you had to pioneer a lot of activities yourself (at my high school, anyway). Here, there are far too many activities to count, and oftentimes, you will have to make difficult choices between going to an interesting event and doing your homework.
Mac is a small school, but the adjustment period of finding your place on campus still very much exists!
That said, if I had to do it over again, I’d still come here. The people alone are worth it, not to mention how the academic challenges will benefit me in the long run. The frequent discussion of important world issues serves as a check on the campus bubble, exactly as I was hoping for.