How does Mac make it easy for students to graduate early? How does that compute to a lower overall cost? Can you explain a bit more?
Mac is quite open to accepting AP and transfer credits, and study abroad credits. They also give credits for private lessons, choirs and externships. There are also few distribution requirements. It saves you a lot of money because you/your family don’t need to pay for a semester’s worth of tuition. When I graduated early, I lived off campus in the same house with my classmates and worked. In addition to tuition savings, making a salary for the equivalent of a semester has a huge financial impact. Does this make sense?
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We had a great visit at Mac! We loved that it’s only 15 mins from the airport. (The other two schools we visited in MN were 45 mins and over an hour away) Mac is basically on the edge of downtown St Paul. But it’s in a mostly residential neighborhood, filled with beautiful historical Victorian homes. When you are on campus, it doesn’t feel like you’re in a big city, it has a small town feel. There are many shops and restaurants within a couple blocks if the campus you can walk to. It’s a nice area. There’s so much to do close by - we did some sight seeing around the capital, and visited the Mall of America.
The admissions tour was good. The school has a “can-do” attitude about everything. They told my D she can dual major, play TWO sports (she’s already a recruited athlete for one) and study abroad. It seems like if it’s important to the student, they want to make it work. We loved that.
As far as comparing to UCSD, it’s apples to oranges for the most part. Mac has only a couple thousand students and is a LAC. UCSD is huge, and you may have classes with 500 students or more. You won’t get that at Mac!
My daughter is also going to be a bio major on the pre-med track, and she’s considering a dual major in Spanish as well. She felt like she would get very good support at this school to reach her goals. We spent a lot of time on campus with staff and coaches, and everybody was incredible.
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It absolutely makes sense. Thanks!
Hello dear posters,
Thanks a bunch for your time answering this formerly confused (currently anxious) high school senior! Due to your insights, personal research, and talking to current students, I committed to Macalester College. My apologies for not answering for so long but it has been a hectic few weeks.
- charger
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Congratulations!
We are going back to visit Mac in a couple weeks…and the following week visiting my D’s other top choice. Down to the final three!
May I ask what made you decide on Mac?
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Lol this is a late reply but I thought I’d reply since I also was deciding between Macalester and UCSD myself! I ultimately took the pragmatic route that since Macalester is smaller, offers better individual support, and was wayyy cheaper (at least for me) and will be in the twin cities next year. I do feel bad that I’ll be missing the great weather and awesome parties in san diego though.
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Sorry this is so extremely late, but it was the prospect of better advising and admissions chances to medical school. At the end, I was pretty focused on what I wanted from the college and I realized that, while Mac would be difficult in the beginning, I would come out as a better more well rounded and interesting applicant than if I was at UCSD. I would also improve a lot of my soft skills as I’m a much better one in one or hands on learner, so that also made the decision slightly easier.
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Emilianacos, i guess I’ll be seeing you at Mac as well!
Thank you for your reply. Mac is my 2023’s top choice now. Just waiting on the pre-read details but hoping she can commit soon. It’s a great school.
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Much thanks on joining my journey. Take care!
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Hi, my son is frosh at Mac.
We are also from San Diego.
He was recruited for Track & Fields.
If you see an Asian boy hurdling at the field, that’s him.
He doesn’t know what he wants to study yet.
Funny. A few students here were trying to make a decision between Mac and UCSD last year.
My older son is actually studying CS at UCSD, but my second fell in love with Mac when he was tagging along with his brother at the college tour.
He loves Mac.
Did your daughter decide to attend Mac?
Hi! No, she decided to stay in CA. She’s very outdoorsy and decided the harsh weather wasn’t for her lol!
She’s currently trying to decide between UCLA, Cal Poly SLO and UCSB.
I still have a place in my heart for Mac, and so does she. We loved the school and St Paul!
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