<p>do they cheer the college sports teams?</p>
<p>are there 'cliques' ?</p>
<p>are they all hippyish? very intellectual? </p>
<p>are all the classes meaningful?</p>
<p>professors good?</p>
<p>current students have any amazing stories?</p>
<p>I wasn't actually a student at Macalester but I took an informal, student-taught class and was on campus about once a week.</p>
<p>The sports teams... I can't vouch for much other than the soccer team. I went to one of Mac's soccer games and it was a blast. I actually wished I was cheering for Macalester instead of my own school because the students made it so fun. I've heard that few sports enjoy the following soccer does, though. I know for a fact that no one goes to their football games because their football team is terrible, haha.</p>
<p>I wouldn't say they're all "hippyish" although the school is very liberal and there is a strong sense of environmental responsibility and social consiousness at the school.</p>
<p>I don't know much about Macalester (which is why I came to this topic), but I've heard that the students are very politically active, which is one of the reasons I want to apply to this school. Now, this seems somewhat related to the "strong sense of environmental responsibility and social consciousness", but I was wondering if anyone else might be able to speak to that?</p>
<p>And also, how big are Mac students into partying, drinking, and that sort of scene? I'm not big into drinking and, while I'm not totally opposed to partying, it's not an activity I want to be involved in on a very frequent basis. How friendly is Mac to sober non-partiers?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance - I really appreciate it!</p>
<p>do they cheer the college sports teams?</p>
<p>Yes! Especially soccer. It's biiig there.</p>
<p>are there 'cliques' ?</p>
<p>Not really.</p>
<p>are they all hippyish? very intellectual?</p>
<p>Yes, really smart and really liberal. Lots are hippies, but not all. Mostly, they're just really smart! And the biggest thing is that they all care <em>deeply</em> about the world around them.</p>
<p>are all the classes meaningful?</p>
<p>In short, yes.</p>
<p>professors good?</p>
<p>Most are great, but there are eceptions to every rule.</p>
<p>current students have any amazing stories?</p>
<p>Of course. There are international students and students from within the US that have wonderful stories to share. I can't think of any examples now, but I guarantee you, with such smart, caring kids, they're there.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, and they smoke a loooot of pot (but certainly not all of them). I'm not so sure about the parties.</p>
<p>Hey, I'm a current freshman, so I'll try to answer your questions.</p>
<p>do they cheer the college sports teams? -- Soccer's big; other sports, not quite so much; I personally am not that into sports, so I can't give that good of an answer, but that's what it feels like for me at least.</p>
<p>are there 'cliques' ? -- Not really; I mean, people form groups of friends, but it isn't like high school or anything like that; so no, I wouldn't say that there are cliques; in general people are very open-minded and accepting of those different than themselves, though I've heard of one girl's roommate wanting to transfer next year (or considering it at least) because she's the type of person who supposedly is or comes off as a bit of a stereotypically "popular girl" (I've never actually met her), and some people weren't that accepting of that (I don't think they openly insulted her or anything to that degree, but they just weren't that friendly, I think); then again, I've met other people who could be described similarly who really like it here.</p>
<p>are they all hippyish? very intellectual? -- Not everybody, but a higher proportion than average; it's more that people are very concerned about politics, social issues, the world around them, etc. They aren't unwashed or anything like that. Definitely a large number of people concerned with political action; there are frequently things going on on campus, I know that students have volunteered heavily for the Obama and Franken (Franken being the Democratic candidate for US senate--and the race still isn't decided yet!) campaigns. As for intellectual, yeah, people here are definitely more intellectual than in my high school, but that doesn't mean that students are all serious and only focused on academics; I personally am not into partying, but I know of plenty of people who are the "work hard, play hard" type; if you want to party, there'll be plenty of people to do it with, though they're usually on Friday nights/weekends, as far as I can tell (though keep in mind that I'm not a partier, so there might be weekday ones that I'm just not aware of), but if you don't want to party, there'll be plenty of people to do that with too, and you can not party but still be friends with partiers and vice versa; same with drinking and smoking (cigarettes and pot).</p>
<p>are all the classes meaningful? -- As with any school, some classes are better than others, but so far, my classes have been good and meaningful (well, I don't know if I'd describe statistics as meaningful exactly, but does have good academic value).</p>
<p>professors good? -- Some are better than others, but overall, I think they're pretty good. Then again, it's just my first semester. </p>
<p>current students have any amazing stories? -- I don't know if I have any specific stories, but I love it here! Watching the election results last night was amazing! MacDems (the student democratic group) had a couple big screens set up in a big room, and there was food, a bunch of people, etc. Macalester is heavily liberal, so there was a lot of excitement about the results, which made for a fun and great atmosphere! On a random note, a couple of weeks ago, a group of friends and I were walking back from watching some episodes of Firefly (a tv show) in one of the buildings on campus [evidently if you can get use of rooms with large screens, even if you're just a casual, small group wanting to watch a DVD], and we somehow got into a random, impromptu leaf fight/frolic/fest, and we actually had a girl walking by join us! </p>
<p>If anybody has any other questions, feel free to post here or PM me; I'd be more than happy to help you in any way possible.</p>