<p>Hey,</p>
<p>I am trying to decide between Macalester vs Dickinson. </p>
<p>---Which has better academics---especially the sciences?</p>
<p>---Which is more well known/ prestegious??</p>
<p>---Which has a better campus and dorms??? (I am international and unfortonutely cant visit)</p>
<p>---Which would you choose and why?</p>
<p>Please help.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>anyone? plz help</p>
<p>I would go Macalester for the better academics and being more prestegious.</p>
<p>idk about the dorms but the campus looks very nice.</p>
<p>I'd choose mac. I was going to apply there for a while before I changed my mind. I like the student body- they seem like the stereotypical nice, friendly people. And I'm a big fan of the twin cities. I think it's more academically sound too. Outside of the academic community, neither is very well known. Don't go to a LAC for prestige.</p>
<p>Although, like Celebrian, I'd give Mac the edge academically, you can get a great education at either school and Dickinson certainly has strong science programs. However, if you feel like a fish out of water, you're less likely to have a good experience at ANY school, so I'd pick the school that seems to best fit my personality and style. </p>
<p>Dickinson and Mac have very different student bodies and campus cultures. Dickinson tends to attract more pre-professional, preppier and traditional/conservative students. Mac tends to attract more free-thinkers, more outside-the-box types, perhaps more intellectually curious types, and definitely more liberal students.
(Disclaimer: there are obviously exceptions at both schools so no flames please). So, think a bit about which type of person you are, and then figure out where you'd feel most comfortable. There really is no wrong decision, just different choices. Good luck!</p>
<p>I don't know much about Macalester, but from what I've heard about Dickinson I think Macalester is the better choice. Dickinson is located in Absolutelythemiddleofnowhereville, PA. A family friend lectured there and said that the campus was dismal and isolated, and that town-student relations were bad. I got the same sense from the brochures they sent me.</p>
<p>The hell is Dickinson? Some kind of homosexual incest fetish?</p>
<p>Macalester is one of the best LAC's in the country. Go there.</p>
<p>PavelB, The ignorance of your comment is only exceeded by the irony, given the name of your location. Dickinson is a really nice small college in Carlisle PA. Unlike many small colleges that are physically isolated from their town, Dickinson is right in the middle of Carlisle and it is an easy walk to the historic downtown area. It's a nice campus, nice town, they take their academics seriously and it is worth a visit. Don't take my word for it.</p>
<p>I could probably name well over 100 LACs and universities in the US, but somehow I had no idea what or where Dickinson was before this thread. Mac is supposed to be great, I was planning to apply there before I applied to Whitman ED. I found these videos today about campus life, you should probably check them out:
<a href="http://www.macalester.edu/admissions/admitted_students/macalesterpresents.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.macalester.edu/admissions/admitted_students/macalesterpresents.html</a></p>
<p>
[quote]
The ignorance of your comment is only exceeded by the irony, given the name of your location
[/quote]
;) I know you love it.</p>
<p>I go to Macalester but have visited Dickenson. The number one difference between them is the towns that they're in. Carlisle is a very pretty town of 18,000 people. Macalester is in a very nice neighborhood in St. Paul, which has a population of 275,000 (and neighboring Minneapolis has 380,000 people). So, even though downtown Dickenson is very nice, there's just a lot more around Macalester, including coffee shops, restaurants and internships. Dickenson has more of a rural feeling.</p>
<p>so would you say that academically, both Dickinson and Macalester very similar?</p>
<p>and suppose Dickinson is offering me $10,000 more in financial aid. Is the difference between Mac and Dickinson great enough for me to pay an extra 10 grand a year? </p>
<p>eagerly awaiting your reply</p>