<p>has anyone else had no response to emails sent to admissions??? this is the only college that I've had that problem with</p>
<p>i've had this issue with them as well. i got a response that said "sorry for the delayed response" but then they never actually responded to my original e-mail. haha</p>
<p>Macalester admissions is very disorganized. It definitely was frustrating at times last year and left a less-than-great impression on me.</p>
<p>yes, it really does leave a bad impression.....also I recently realized that international students can't use financial aid for study abroad...which is very unusual for this level of school and goes completely against the whole mini united nations thing they try to sell themselves as...</p>
<p>it was originally my top choice, but these two things have definitely got me rethinking....IzzyD, do you go to Macalester? is it a disorganized administration or just the admissions?</p>
<p>I've been at Macalester about a month and a week, and I haven't had any administration problems so far, if that counts for anything. Are there any particular questions you have that I might be able to answer?</p>
<p>No, I go to Carleton, so I really don't know how organized Macalester's administration is. I realize just how frustrating dealing with Mac admissions can be at times, but I would urge you, if at all possible, to visit the school and not let this one factor dissuade you from applying there.</p>
<p>that's funny because actually Carleton is now my top choice...I actually did visit both in August....there was nothing negative about my visit to Macalester, I was very impressed.....but there were a lot of really positive things with my visit to Carleton....so this has definitely impacted my decision as well as the other things mentioned</p>
<p>upsilamba, thanks for the offer....I guess I have two concerns:</p>
<h1>1 - the no financial aid for study abroad thing for international students really bothers me....very unusual for these LACs.....I guess I'm concerned if it is a warning sign to how the school treats internationals, but they seem very eager to have internationals there??? you probably can't help me with this unless you are an international yourself</h1>
<h1>2 - Macalester just didn't have the same community feel as other schools I visited (eg. Carleton), which is completely understandable with it being in a big city.....I guess my Q is do you find there is enough to do? enough social events? or are people just always heading downtown?</h1>
<p>thanks!!</p>
<p>Macalester considers international students to already be studying abroad, so they do not routinely continue financial aid for study abroad unless this study is required for your major. The college also does provide more financial aid to international students than most schools do to begin with. </p>
<p>From the International Student Handbook:
"If you are a student who is a dual citizen or a permanent resident of the US, or an F-1 student whose major requires study abroad, you will be eligible for financial aid if you have qualified for Macalester scholarships or US Federal aid in previous semesters at the college. With the exception of the Macalester-sponsored study abroad program in Maastricht, Netherlands, students who are F-1 status and whose majors do not require study abroad are not eligible for scholarships or federal aid, but may qualify for certain types of educational loans from the College."</p>
<p>During information sessions I've actually heard Macalester admissions speak proudly of being "intentionally inefficient"--meaning that they really do review applications holistically; however, it unfortunately seems to carry over into other areas of admissions as well. My daughter's acceptance letter ended up being sent to South Carolina due to a typo. She's now a happy sophomore there and hasn't had any problems with other areas of administration. She's also been fortunate to develop relationships with 3 outstanding faculty mentors.</p>
<p>Her social life is centered around the campus, although she will leave campus a few times a month for a concert or one of the museums. She definitely feels part of a community.</p>
<p>We had a very positive experience with admissions. In fact, out of the 6 schools our son applied to, Mac was the first one to bring to his attention that his mid-year transcripts had not been sent out. We always had prompt responses via email and phone from admissions. However, we did try to contact his designated admissions rep when possible. Also, Mac notified fairly early of acceptance which he appreciated.</p>
<p>Daughter is a freshman at Mac and I would concur that notification of her admission was blessedly early by comparison to norification by other schools to which she applied. I would also say that we have experienced none of the slow responses/lack of response by the college. I was in touch with several different offices during the summer with questions and they responded very promptly and with even more thorough information than I had requested. I have been impressed at every turn with the warmth of these responses and the genuine desire to be helpful. Further, my daughter has had several occasions to meet and speak with administrators for one of her classes this fall and has been able to accomplish this on a relatively tight timetable, i.e., administrators are accessible to her and are quick in setting up a time to meet.</p>
<p>Daughter has benefitted during these first weeks from living with other like-minded students on her hall as all are part of the same Freshman Seminar group. This afforded her a built-in community within which to explore new friendships as she gets to know the campus community. While she is better friends with some of her hallmates than with others, living with her seminar classmates has been a real plus.</p>
<p>As a parent, my observations during Orientation and in all our contact with Mac is that community is a vitally important part of the college, encouraged and supported programmatically as well as extra-curricularly. Within the larger college community there are many, many organizations with which students can affiliate, according to their interests, which allows students to feel a part of a smaller "community" as well.</p>
<p>thanks for the feedback everyone.....I was very impressed with the staff when I was there, but am somewhat confused by the lack of response at this point......also completely agree that there does seem to be a community, just didn't seem quite as much as some other colleges....but that makes sense when you have the city right there</p>
<p>also as regards to "Macalester considers international students to already be studying abroad, so they do not routinely continue financial aid for study abroad unless this study is required for your major. The college also does provide more financial aid to international students than most schools do to begin with. "
I still find this an extremely strange distinction. I haven't come across any other top-level school that has this policy (if they give financial aid to internationals in the first place). And I'm from Ontario which is almost exactly like Minnesota....so this policy is really still a huge concern for me and probably means I won't choose the school if I have better options. And I would think that many international students that do care about internationalism wouldn't be thrilled about it either, considering they would tend to be the adventurous types in the first place. Just seems bizarre to me.</p>
<p>Still sounds like a fantastic school though, thanks for everyone's input I really appreciate it!</p>
<p>I wouldn't give up the idea of Macalester without first contacting their study abroad office to ask specifically about study abroad for international students. Checking out published information on a website only goes so far and that information may have changed or could be clarified for your situation. The link below has a Contact option where you can email one of three people. I would think that any one of them could address your concerns.</p>
<p>International</a> Center</p>
<p>if they reply! ha ha....thanks for the info</p>
<p>I'm glad I'm not the only one with this problem. I sent them an email a couple of weeks ago, and I was starting to wonder if they were ignoring me. :P but it seems to be a more general thing then.</p>
<p>i asked a question 2 weeks ago and got no reply yet. couple of days ago i sent another email for another question and received their reply yesterday.
i hear sometimes college just pick up some emails to reply when they got 2 busy. don't know if it's true....</p>