Hey! I am admitted by Macalester and considering this school. For current students: what don’t you like about Macalester (except the cold weather)?
I read online that the crime rate in Macalester is fairly high. I’m wondering how could that be?
Also, I read that some students really hate it the first year and then loved it later (but they didn’t elaborate…), so any information about that would also be great!
Anyways, thanks for anything, really!
I don’t see Mac as a high crime area. We used to live about six blocks away.
I am a parent, not a student. I don’t think you need to worry much about crime. Macalester is in a city, and you should take the usual precautions when wandering around, but it is probably safer than many more isolated campuses because there are always people walking around.
You can access St. Paul crime reports at: https://www.stpaul.gov/departments/police/crime-statistics/annual-and-crime-reports Macalester is in Ward/District 3. You can access very detailed monthly crime maps at: https://www.stpaul.gov/departments/police/crime-statistics/crime-maps I’m having a little trouble pinpointing Macalester’s exact location on these maps, but it is on the far left around the purple line near where Summit and Snelling come together. As you can see, that area is in the lowest crime area of St. Paul, and for many months there are 0 reported incidents in most categories in the area. There is some theft - please, please do not leave your laptop and other devices alone for even a minute in the library, student center, etc. Librarians at colleges everywhere will tell you that these get stolen on almost a daily basis.
Crime would not be a major worry to me in that area. It gets a bit seedier a few blocks to the north on the other side of HWY 94, but even that is pretty tame, IMO. The heavier crime areas such as parts of North MPLS are quite a ways away, and are places you actually have to try to get to. In general, the twin cities are pretty safe compared to most large and mid sized US cities.
As with any place( there are some nasty small cities and towns out there, also), take care and use common sense. Don’t go asking for trouble and you should be fine. Mac is surrounded by some singles and students for sure, but there are a lot of families also, with schools, parks, and well run shops and businesses. It is not an urban ghost town at night.
I’m a Mac grad who still gets back once in a while. Crime is very low in this area of St. Paul; it’s really a pretty peaceful neighborhood.
It’s a pretty small and honestly somewhat ugly campus, compared to other schools in its league. But its location halfway between Mpls and St Paul is really great, which makes up for it.
Late to this party, but I live in St. Paul a couple miles from Mac. I’m in the campus area regularly and was actually on campus today. It’s actually in a beautiful and desirable historic urban neighborhood planted right between downtown Mpls and St. Paul. Use common sense of course, but crime is not a big concern in that area at all and the vast majority is petty crime. I’d be thrilled if my kids wanted to go there.
Thought I’d chime in since we visited Mac recently and thought it was fantastic. We really liked the campus (not sure what would be considered ugly about it), as well as the surrounding neighborhoods - a nice mix of lovely residential and restaurants/shops. It was our first time visiting the Twin Cities. We are fans!
Curious to know if the OP chose Mac or another school. I don’t think the campus is ugly. It doesn’t have the beauty of some other schools I visited, but many of the buildings are aesthetically pleasing and the layout is very nice. The “uglier” buildings are not as bad as those at some other schools that look like prisons! I’m about to move my daughter into her Mac dorm next week and I must say that the more I have learned about the school since her acceptance, the happier I am this is the school she chose. It doesn’t hurt that the college president is a Yankees fan from NY, as are we, lol.
It’s funny how a thread asking what people don’t like about the school has mostly positive responses. I think that tells you a lot.
Too close to home was the only gripe my kids had about Mac. 
Mac is definitely on S1’s radar. Baseball coach is great, and the rest of the school simply works, and works well. Mild concerns about it being overly, in your face, Left leaning, but in your face Minnesotan is milder than in your face other places.
I wouldn’t call it an inspiring campus, but it is pleasant, with greenery, and clean. The facilities are up to date, for the most part.The surrounding area is pretty nice, also. Not high rise to be seen, plenty of trees, interesting storefronts, and well kept homes.
You can do a lot worse for a quasi urban campus. There are not a lot of good LAC’s in urban locations.
My son had his computer and backpack stolen out of his dorm room at Mac while he was visiting a friend down the hall. Campus security answer was that he should have locked his dorm room if he was down the hall. No updates in security has happened since then. The 2 men who robbed him were let into the dorms by another student. They were caught on camera at St Tomas University and apprehended no thanks to Macalester. We never got anything back. They just threw their hands up and said we should have known better and gotten renters insurance. How does renters insurance cover class notes and notebooks for a whole semester?