I was accepted into Macalester College via QuestBridge regular decision, and it’s the only school I got in so far lol. I didn’t know much about the school when I chose to apply, but as I learn more and more things about the school, I am really liking it! I plan to visit during their extended Spring sampler, but I just wanted to know more information that parents or students can offer. I’m Southeastern Asian, live near ATL, and pretty liberal. I plan to major International Relations, and I’ve heard pretty good things about that aspect of their academics. More insight would be great!
My daughter is a first year student there. Here are a few of my impressions. Feel free if you want to know more.
The campus is compact, so if you are scared of the Minnesota weather, know that you will not have long distances to traverse as long as you live on campus. There are businesses and restaurants within easy walking distance. Like most Liberal Arts Colleges, it is in its own little bubble, but I think the Mac’s location mitigates this more than at other schools. You can easily get off campus, and there are lots of free and low-budget activities in the Twin Cities. Students come from all over the world., but there is good representation from Twin Cities area high schools. Daughter has found that there is a lot of truth to the “Minnesota Nice” stereotype, and she has become friends with several students who hail from the area and are more than happy to take her around to sites and activities that she wouldn’t know about herself. It is also not very far from the airport (can be as quick as 10 minutes if it is very late or very early). This is a blessing for people coming from far away that I didn’t appreciate until talking to a couple of students from my area who are attending St. Olaf’s (I think about 45 minutes from the Twin Cities). Getting home from Northfield - where both St. Olaf’s and Carleton are located - can be difficult to figure out and a chore before you even leave Minnesota.
From my perch, 1,000 miles away, the academics are excellent. If you are a QuestBridge applicant, you may be from a high school like my daughter’s - low-income with a high dropout rate. I was very worried that my daughter would not be able to hang academically with her peers from wealthy suburban and private prep schools. She definitely struggled more than they did, but the supports from her professors and other offices on campus has been superb. So if you do end up at Mac and find yourself struggling, please go talk to your professors and take advantage of all the offices there. (Interesting fact that I learned from college staff - students from private high schools are much more likely to take advantage of academic support services than those from poor public schools. Theories varied - maybe stigma, maybe not being used to having people there to serve you. Anyway, they really, really want you to use these services, so please do!) Classes are mostly very small, you will be expected/encouraged to participate in discussions, professors are easy to access in office hours.
It is a very liberal campus - sometimes so much so that she feels silenced, and she is a liberal who was head of the Gay-Straight Alliance in high school. She has had to learn new language to use on campus, which was very disorienting at first, but now she has adjusted. (Learned to “code switch” as they say on campuses these days. 
) The school touts its diversity, and it IS diverse in many ways, especially the geographic distribution of its students, but it terms of socio-economic group, political leanings, race and religion, it is much less diverse than what my daughter was used to in high school. Students seemed very worldly yet sheltered at the same time, if that makes sense.
My interactions with the staff is what sold me on this place. Each response to my questions, even annoying ones, was speedy, personalized and cheery. This has continued after enrollment. One staff member I met on Family Weekend even remembered talking to a small group of us about some changes she was advocating to improve health on campus, and emailed me when one was made that she thought my daughter would appreciate.
My S1, a rising HS senior, is considering Mac. I think it fits in his sweet spot academically and athletically, and he likes the idea of being in an urban (albeit a benign urban, we're not talking Philly here) environment rather than out in an isolated LAC. AS MN natives, the weather and the area hold no surprises...proximity to Snuffy's Malts has been noted and been given a disproportionate importance( Coffee Malt is INSANE).
S1 is of mixed race...not especially sensitive about it, but seeing some splashes of color(albeit faded from the winter) in the surrounding faces is a plus.
Econ/Intl. Studies( do they go up to International Falls to study?) look to be strong.
Only possible worry is that Mac might be Uber left. S1 is very interested in politics and people, and is able to laugh at both sides of the political spectrum...I would describe him as a thoughtful centrist. He is very practical about money matters, and his parent's experiences as citizens of other countries, and his own travels have given him an open mind. He would hate to find himself in a knee jerk environment of any kind. In other words, "you can vote any way you want, as long as it's for a far left Dem/Green Party."
@57special - It is kind of a knee jerk liberal environment, but kids are aware of it and make fun of themselves for it, so as long as he is not far right, he should be fine. Allegedly, there is even a Mac Republicans group, although there are also jokes that there is no one in it except for one person who widely posts things.
My daughter went to a very diverse, but very non-PC high school, so the hardest thing for her to get used to is language. People have called her out on terms that were used all the time by her classmates and even teachers in her high school. Now that she has her footing, it is less of a problem. She sometimes rolls her eyes (“I should listen to people who have never met a poor person in their lives on what to call poor people more than I should listen to my friends who have actually lived in a homeless shelter??”) but a lot of that is due to being a young adult college student, and you would probably find some form of this behavior on any campus, right or left.
Eye rolling, that’s perfect! Exactly what S1 would do.
I’m a first-year at Mac. I think I can weigh in on Mac’s “knee jerk liberalism.” Even as a Democrat, I was a little thrown off by Mac’s liberal environment when I first came to campus. For example, at orientation and at the beginning of classes each semester, everyone introduces themselves using their name and PGPs, or preferred gender pronouns (e.g., “he/him/his,” “they/them/theirs,” “she/her/hers,” “ze/zir” etc.). I found this a little disorienating at first, but I definitely appreciate the effort Mac puts into making all their students feel welcomed and accepted for who they are. The classes are also drenched in liberalism, but much more in social justice-oriented liberalism than in political liberalism (well, with the exception of the weeks following the presidential election…).
A slightly less pleasant example of Mac’s liberalism actually came from one of my professors. First of all, I should say that he’s a very nice guy who’s deeply invested in academia and in his students. He also does a lot of advocacy work for underprivileged groups. One day, in class, he told us that we should come to talk to him if we ever wanted to join such an organization because he could put us in touch with “anyone from the far to moderate left. If you’re looking to join a fascist organization, you’re on your own.” I was a little bit offended by this comment, as of course it implies that you are either a liberal or a fascist. I have many loving and kind CONSERVATIVE friends and family members, and this comment showed a refusal to ask–much less consider–their point of view. Apart from that one professor, I’ve never really heard anyone on campus use such derogatory language against non-liberals, although they are sometimes talked about as strange, alien beings (“I really want to make friends with a Republican because I feel like I have so much to learn from them”).
Other than that, my general experience at Mac has been good, especially during this second semester (which ends in a week. YAY!!! Summer!!!). I will admit that I was pretty unhappy here my first semester, but that’s mostly because I was homesick and lonely and just generally frightened by the prospect of packing up my life and starting something new. Mac really does have a wonderful, supportive environment (which they WILL throw in your face–in a good way), and I’ve really loved my professors and classes. I don’t think it’s possible to fully comprehend how little of the world you understand until you try delving deeply into a tiny little aspect of it. That’s the power and the challenge of college. It can be a really overwhelming experience, but so worth it. Sorry to be sappy. In my defense, it is 2:30 in the morning.
Also, to address your interests specifically, I’ve taken a few classes with the International Studies (IS) department. They are always so fascinating!! It’s a really rigorous major (14 courses, a capstone project, a study away program, demonstrated foreign language proficiency), but also one of the most popular on campus.
Anyway, good luck with your decision!! I hope you find somewhere that’s right for you.
@juniper47 Haha thanks for the advice and information. and I already paid the deposit and visited so guess there’s no turning back. What is ze/zir? btw? I only hope no one gets mad at me if I don’t know some things and they don’t it as me being ignorant. I try to be open minded and don’t want to offend anyone.
That hasn’t been the case, in my experience. People are usually more than happy to explain their point of view. Ze/zir is one of many personal pronouns people might use if they don’t feel that they conform to the gender binary. I’ve never actually heard someone use those pronouns on campus, but they do exist. In case your curious, here’s a list of some more pronouns…https://uwm.edu/lgbtrc/support/gender-pronouns/
Congrats on making your decision! You’re way ahead of me–I didn’t click the “accept enrollment” button until 2 hours before the deadline (May 1, 2016 was probably the most stressful day of my life). Good luck at Mac!! And don’t worry–you’ll be great! 