<p>As that May 1st deadline approaches, I find myself getting numerous anxiety waves as I have yet to decide which college to attend.
Got some merit from Macalester, none from Haverford of course<br>
Macalester vs. Haverford
Yes I wanted small, and yes I wanted to be near a city
My considerations:
Strength in Sciences
Variety of Classes
Professor quality (I always love nutty professors)
Stratification with the education (thirst for knowledge)
A helping hand in my future (grad school or jobs)
Social Quality (I do not like parities...but I like being busy)
Food
Quirky people
Cross Country/Track (I want to run, but I always put school first and don't want it too serious)
Happiness of the Students!!!<br>
(I posted this on both threads)</p>
<p>Wow, those are two GREAT choices! I think you are going to find both are good in everything you are looking for. I believe I have heard that Haverford’s Bio program focuses more on the Molecular side (if you are interested in that). Although I am sure you could take whatever mix of classes you wanted with Bryn Mawr in the picture.</p>
<p>I do love Mac, but going to say… if I had to pick AND could afford either one, I would probably give Haverford a slight edge. I am a sucker for their pretty campus, I like the honor code and the Quaker tradition, and the strong almost communal vibe, and the consortium is a nice addition. I am not a huge fan of Philly as a city, but it has pretty easy access to the rest of the east coast.</p>
<p>But Mac is also fantastic. Great neighborhood and access to the cities, strong academics, a great international flavor, and I think a nice and interesting student body. Definitely some quirkiness there, but not overwhelmingly so. I live nearby (used to live really close) and love to visit campus sometimes for speakers and events.</p>
<p>You really can’t go wrong between them. Have you visited both?</p>
<p>I did visit both schools.
I adored Haverford for a long time and actually considered ED, but changed my mind to regular due to financial reasons. However, that has been sorted out, and I could attend Haverford if I wanted to. Anyway, my first ever overnight was at Haverford and I, to my disappointment, did not have the best time due to some unlucky circumstances.
Haverford Overnight:
*Never attended the accepted students day, and only the overnight portion
I was matched with a student with totally opposite interests (indignantly hated science and only took humanities)/ and the person had opposites social and political views of me, and aggressively wanted to discuss them. I felt very uncomfortable during my visit (but also it was my first overnight so did not know what to expect). My host was also currently experiencing family troubles at home, which caused some more awkwardness. Then I met one girl from the Track Team and she loved to party, which I do not care for. This overnight cause me to re-evaluate the school and ponder what the rest of the student body might actually be like…<br>
Macalester Overnight:
I had a great time. The food was excellent, something I really appreciate. I was a skeptic of the ‘international spirit’ of the school that might cause cliques, but was pleasantly surprised to find everyone was accepting, happy, and engaging. Everyone had a great sense of humor and I enjoyed the classes I visited and the students. Cons: The lab facilities were disappointing, and there was not a lot of variety on the different types of science classes to take outside the core requirements to a major.
I go back and forth between each school by the hour! </p>
<p>Hmm… my D2 changed her mind on which school to attend last year based on bad overnight experiences at 2 of her top 3 choices. And in her case it turned out to be a really good thing that she listed to her gut after accepted student visits.</p>
<p>Regarding the science class variety, you need to think about how many elective science courses you would have room for in your schedule once you fulfill the requirements for graduation and your major. Also, do you plan to study abroad? If so, then you will have a semester or year off campus, reducing further the number of “elective” slots you will be filling. And you may want to use some of those slots for non-science electives, too. So something to think about – one school might have 15 science electives outside the core major, and one school might have eight. But if you will probably only take 4 anyway, and you see four that look interesting on the list, then that is all you need (barring schedule conflicts).</p>
<p>When you say the lab facilities were disappointing, is there some specific equipment you hoped they would have that Haverford does have? Or just not shiny new? Or something else that seemed substandard? </p>
<p>On Macalester’s website they have a fabulous Periodic Table of the Science, which I have to say is pretty nifty and interactive. When you walk into the Olin-Rice Science center there is a huge pendulum swinging in the corner, and there are cases of fossils and minerals on display in the geology department. All great things. However, the biology department is below ground level where all the labs have no windows or natural light. When you first walk in, there is a little bit of dankness to the bio lab rooms and that white incrimination lighting you see in the movies. And these are things obviously anyone can move pass from. But, then I noticed that some of the machines and microscopes were a bit dated (but remember I am just a high school student not a scientist and I might be off), and the storage rooms were on the small side. Nothing really that dramatic I would say, maybe disappointing was too strong of a word.
@intparent I agree what you said regarding the slots of the classes to take, that is only so much room. I found looking at the class schedule there were a lot of interesting humanities classes at Macalester. They had the broad ‘geograph’ type classes, but also upper levels classes with specific concentrations that had thought provoking titles. However, I found that the chemistry, biology, and physics, department didn’t have as many classes to offer outside like, Physics I and II or Organic Chemistry, classes that are more specialized. The Geology department definitely did though, I actually visited a class on groundwater/hydrology. The teacher was energetic and passionate and the students were participating and looked like they were enjoying the class.<br>
Overnights can be a bit peachy. And I wished I tried harder to get the most out of all my visits to the school, now looking back. Accepted Students Days can be very staged, and overnights experiences vary so much from student to student.
Both great schools. Bountiful opportunities. But I have to pick one. </p>
<p>I have been in that basement area where some of the bio classes are. In fact, while my D2 sat in on a bio class inside, I took a nap outside in a beautiful garden of red tulilps on a warm spring day. Then we walked over to Jamba Juice across from campus, and brought our smoothies back to the tulip garden. And we took a bunch of photos with our phones of each other in the garden. It is actually one of my favorite memories of all of our college visits. 
I realize it doesn’t offset your concerns about that classroom space. But I did like the upper floors of the science building, too. I am not sure whether all the bio classes and offices are in that lower space or not.</p>