<p>Hello. I am a new member of college confidential.
I am an international applicant and I've got admission from Oberlin College & Macalester College.
Thankfully, I got financial aid from both colleges. (Macalester-$30000 / Oberlin-$38000)
I know both colleges are good. It is very difficult for me to make a final decision.
I now plan to major in economics and also I want to study in a great graduate school in the future. (However, I can not sure... I also love to study politics, international relations...)
I know that Macalester College is in urban area and has more international students
while Oberlin College is in countryside and has less international students.
Now, what I want to know is academic side.</p>
<p>(1) Which school is better in economcis & politics?
(2) Which school has better faculty in economics & politics?
(3) Which school is better for me to prepare for graduate school or professional school?
(Not just a graduate school but one of the best ones in the U.S. - I wish to study in
IVY League after undergraduate... Of course... I know I have to work hard...)
(4) Which school has better alumni...?</p>
<p>Please Help Me to make a fine decision... Thank you...</p>
<p>woo<em>ah</em>chin, congratulations to you and your family. It is an honor to be accepted to these two schools. You sound like you are very serious and willing to work hard. With determination you can succeed no matter which school you attend. American graduate schools will care much more about your performance than about small differences (if any) in the reputation of these departments. </p>
<p>One thing to consider is the climate. If very cold weather affects your attitude or your health, do not go to Macalester. Saint Paul, Minnesota is one of the coldest major cities in the continental U.S. If that is a problem for you, you should be happy that Oberlin offered more money, so why not go there?</p>
<p>However, if you prefer the opportunities of a big city, and the cold is not a problem, go to Macalester. Oberlin is in a very rural area.</p>
<p>I agree that the difference between #9 and #15 is probably not significant, especially since it doesn't tease out whether these PhD's are in Econ and Political Science or Psychology and Sociology. I know that Macalester has very strong departments in Economics, Political Science and International Studies, and I also know that Oberlin is strong in English and Music.</p>
<p>As an International Student, several things favor Macalester: 1) larger international community and institution-wide commitment to internationalism; in addition to your fellow international students, many of the American students you will meet there have also lived abroad (I think 13% of US students have lived abroad); 2) the cities of Minneapolis and St Paul, as well as the University of Minnesota just 5 miles away, have a larger international and more diverse population than the small town of Oberlin; 3) the MSP International airport is just a short cab ride or shuttle away from the Macalester College campus (like 10 minutes)--which makes for significantly easier travel.</p>
<p>True, it is colder in Minnesota than in Ohio, but it is a dry cold with bright sunshine not the gray dampness of Ohio. (I lived in Ohio for the first 23 years of my life and have now been in Minnesota for even longer--I vastly prefer Minnesota)</p>
<p>I disagree with Masquemom on the weather. I graduated from the U of Minnesota and lived there for 16 years, plenty long enough to get sample. Minnesota cold slices through goosedown and cuts through bone. It’s inhuman cold. Cold so brutal it’ll snatch your heart from your chest. </p>
<p>And don’t go up to International Falls, Minnesota. That’s an icebox. The town makes Alaska seem like San Diego.</p>
<p>Nah. I’m originally from Hawaii. Went to college in Wisconsin. Grad school back in Hawaii. 10 years in Iowa and the last 20 in Minnesota. Yes, we have real winter here, but it’s entirely manageable. People know how to deal with it here. Dress appropriately and take advantage of all the winter sports opportunities and you will be fine. Sure by the time February rolls around, everyone is longing for Spring, but it is hardly Siberia or the Yukon. I don’t think that any difference in the weather between Ohio and the Twin Cities is material in choosing a college - you will have cold weather in both locations.</p>
<p>Ya sure, people in Minnesota like to cultivate the image of the hardy Scandinavian immigrants braving the sub zero weather here on the tundra. Very Prairie Home Companion.</p>
<p>If the 60,000 Somali immigrants that live here can deal, you can too!</p>
<p>^
Good point about the Somalis, but if your choice is to gnaw off another frostbitten digit every winter or being raped literally on a weekly basis by competing warlords, picking rat tails out of your bowl of gruel, and dodging lead rain every other night, I’d move to Minnesota too.</p>
<p>Dude or Dudette, aka original poster, don’t believe for a minute that Ohio gets as cold as Minnesota. </p>
<p>Flip a coin on the two colleges, but I’d put up with boring rural Ohio before sucking ice cubes into my lungs during another eight month long Minnesota winter.</p>
<p>econ is one of the mac’s strongest departments, and if you do really well there aren’t really any limits to where you can go… the faculty is very supportive in this respect. the department probably goes out of its way more than any other department to maintain alumni connections and pass them on to students.</p>
<p>just avoid the visiting profs!</p>
<p>that said, OP has already made his/her choice</p>