Macalester vs. UW Madison

College Search & Selection
1

I’ve recently been accepted to Macalester and UW Madison, among a few other schools. It looks like my final decision will come down to these two. I’m notoriously awful at making important decisions, so I’m trying to gather as much information on the distinctions between Mac and Madison as possible.

I live very close to Madison, so I know the area very well. I’ve toured both colleges and though I appreciate both locations, I find Madison’s campus to be a bit more aesthetically pleasing than Mac’s campus. I’m a little worried about how urban Mac’s campus is, and our tour was cut short by a blizzard so I didn’t get to spend very much time in the area. I’d appreciate any more information on Mac’s location!

I’m pretty undecided in what I want to study, but something along the lines of political science, anthropology, international development, history, english, religious studies, or urban studies. I’m planning to minor in spanish or studio art, though this could change.

Here’s my pros/cons list for each school

UW Madison
Pros:

  • cost is only about 17K/year as I qualified for Bucky’s tuition promise
    -more beautiful campus, next to a lake
    -from what i’ve heard, food/dorms are good
    -I would be able to study abroad twice if I wanted to

Cons:
-Madison is known for its party/greek scene, and I’m not into either of those things. worried that I would struggle to make friends if I’m unwilling to party/drink.
-Not interested in the game day/tailgate culture
-I’m worried that because I know the area and have friends attending Madison, I’ll be set in my ways and won’t branch out, try new things
-bigger class sizes
-less diverse than Mac
-no spanish minor/certificate

Macalester
Pros:
-small class sizes, more stimulating discussions/better relationships with professors
-more opportunities for internships, concerts, art museums, etc.
-diverse (for the midwest). mac has more domestic racial diversity than uw-madison
-more my ~vibe~ as students are liberal, socially-conscious, less inclined to party hard
-could minor in spanish!
-don’t want to be vain, but would probably be prouder saying that I went to Mac

Cons:
-cost is 49K/year (!!), parents say anything over 35K/year will be taken out of my inheritance
-slightly worse food/dorms (not 100% sure this is true?)
-small, not super impressive campus

Obviously, Mac is much more expensive than Madison. Not sure if I can justify this cost. Any help/information would be greatly appreciated!

*I also posted this in the Macalester forum. New to College Confidential, so I hope that posting in both forums is okay!

2

One of my kids went to UW, double major in Poli Sci and History, while my other kid went to a LAC, both kids loved their experiences and there is much to be said for each experience.

At the same time, UW at $17 k a year is a bargain for a major research university. There’s an expression, “it’s easy to make a big school small, but hard to make a small school big.” While greek life and tailgates may seem like the main deal at UW, there is LOTS more happening, and with 6000+ in the entering class, even if you think you know lots of people, there are lots more to meet. Ways to expand your experience at UW: a living learning community for housing, if one of the more specialized communities doesn’t appeal, then what about Chadbourne, as that can be a great way to meet like minded people. Also, don’t choose to room with a classmate but instead go random or at least find a roommate on FB admitted student group who is not from your area, as there are many Minneapolis and Chicago area students as well as east coast and west coast kids. Apply for Honors at UW, if the deadline has not passed, and go to events at Washburn. I will say, the whole “can’t get to know your professor at a big school” thing is, pardon me, hogwash. Sure, in Intro International Relations, your world famous professor is not going to know all 150 of you by name. But if you are in Honors program, you can take the class for Honors credit and be in the discussion section with the professor, rather than a TA (who is, in all fairness, a Ph.D. student in a world class department). As you progress from Intro to Intermediate level classes, you will have much smaller classes at UW, my kid generally had 24-40 in Intermediate classes and 16-18 in majors seminars. He had no problem developing close relationships with faculty and got phenomenal recommendations from them for law school. Personally, the lack of a minor/certificate in Spanish doesn’t seem significant – continue with the classes, and what your bring to your work/grad school will be fluency, and they don’t need to see a “check” on your transcript to credit you for that.

Of course, it will be easier to find your “people” at Mac, and it would be fun to live in a new city. Only you and your family can decide if those opportunities are worth $100,000. But as the parent of a UW alum, I can tell you that you can find your people and have incredible experiences at UW, it just takes more effort than at a small school where the community has essentially been “pre-selected” for you.

3

@Midwestmomofboys Thank you so much for all of this awesome information! I didn’t realize the class sizes were so small in seminars.

4

Will your parents even have $50k/year in free cash flow? If you qualified for Bucky’s Promise (<58k income) but got a 50k net price at a meets full need school, that implies that your parents have a lot of assets (farmland?).

A couple of things about UW. At 14% Greek, it isn’t a big deal. The party school reputation comes from non Greek parties. UW is huge if you want to avoid things (parties, game day, etc) there are lots of people like you. I wouldn’t worry about knowing others on campus. You will actually have to try to see them. It is highly unlikely that you will gut randomly bump into them. You are correct about no minors at UW. Minors are basically useless anyway. It doesn’t stop you from taking the equivalent classes. The relationship with professors is up to you. You would be surprised how much professors like having students show up to office hours not just at exam time. Lastly, you will have no problem finding SJWers at UW.

5

@Eeyore123 Yeah, our financial situation is odd. Our actual income is fairly low, but because of a recent inheritance, we have a lot of assets. Thanks for the info!

6

I went to Macalester (graduated last May) and I would say that the “vibe” and culture that you’re looking for seems much more in line with Mac than UW. Everything you said about the small class sizes were true, and being around museums, non-profits, etc. is seriously incredible for internships/general experiences. Drinking culture at Mac is very light, exists if you want it to but no pressure to do so whatsoever (I think something like 97% of first years think its acceptable not to drink at a party)

Since your financial situation is a little odd, I’m wondering if you’ve received your aid package yet? If your actual income is fairly low, I would assume that Mac’s good financial aid would lower the cost a lot for you (the average aid package is around 45K a year, so hopefully you would benefit from that!)

Food at Mac was better than what I got at home haha, not awesome but not bad at all.

Good luck with everything!!

7

I sense enthusiasm in your post that you prefer Mac. While UW has many fine components, many of the things you cite as cons are also on my list of cons. The Greek thing and tailgating and the football dominance is hard to overlook–girls dressed in red and white traipsing down the street to frat parties every game day. It just depresses me to think about it. Sure, you can try to avoid this, but …

Mac is in a completely different cool city (Madison is also cool!) and you will enjoy getting to know it. You won’t go into debt it seems, so you won’t need to worry about student debt. One nice thing about having savings (regardless of where it comes from) is that it allows you to make choices you might otherwise pass up. If your heart says Mac, and you are sure you can swing those finances, then I say go to Mac.

If you look at your finances and find that paying for Mac would take out too much of your nest egg, then your choice is clear. Go to UW. So the question is, what else might you want to do with your nest egg? Grad School?

My gut tells me that life is short and if you have the means to make the most of today, while investing in your future, that’s what you should do.

8

Just to provide an update on the situation - my family appealed for more financial aid and received what we needed. Thank you to everyone who provided me with great information on both UW Madison and Mac. I’ll super excited to spend my next four years at Mac! :slight_smile: