Macalester College Top Questions

I absolutely love Macalester and I feel completely at home there. One topic I know a lot about is religious life at Macalester, so I want to share a bit about it: The chapel, which was recently renamed the Center for Religious and Spiritual Life (CRSL) houses the various religious orgs on campus. There are a wide variety of orgs, from Mac Protestants which meets for Vespers on Sunday nights to Sitting at Mac, which is a new Buddhist org to Mac Jewish Organization which holds Open Shabbat every other Saturday. There have also been groups for Pagans and Ba'hai and Unitarian Universalists, although these groups are smaller, and sort of come and go as students maintain/dont' maintain them. There is also a new Multifaith Council at Macalester which discusses issues of faith and holds events concerning various faiths throughout the year. These events could be a large group discussion, a speaker, or just a chance to hang out with the Council and have some snacks. The chaplains who work in the CRSL are very caring and wise people, and i think they are an often overlooked resource when students are going through a hard time. While Macalester often gets painted as "godless" the students there are actually spiritual in a wide variety of ways, and the CRSL is a great student resource.

Truth be told, it's a great school, and I really mean that. It took me a year to like, but I really like it now. I've developed an appreciation for the area, the people, and the ethos of the place. It is an institution whose recognition is on the rise, whose mission has never seemed so relavent as now. Being there feels like being part of something, which is not something that I can say I would expect to find at any college, or even very many of them. I would say come, visit, and if it feels like its worth a try and there's nowhere else you'd rather go, go, and take it in. It may take some time but it has its rewards. You certainly get out what you put into it.

Reslife at Mac is a bitch. Reslife is the entity that controls dorm life and punishments, and they really piss me off. There are too many contradictions in the system at Mac. Some RAs feel it's there duty simply to protect students, while others feel responsible for punishing as many people as they can. THAT IS NOT THEIR JOB DESCRIPTION. Protection is great, RAs should be their to regulate so that excessively dangerous situations don't arise; however, they should not take it upon themselves to shut down social life in the dorms when so few alternatives, especially in winter, are presented as activities.

I would go here again if I had to redo my college career.

Mac is wonderful, seriously.

Macalester students are politically correct to a fault. Sure, it's important to make sure that everyone is comfortable in the community they live it. But give me a break, sometime Helen Keller jokes are just funny.

it's a great place. there are definitely problems- but the students here want to work towards a collective solution because they want to own their education and their four years here.

Beware of Macalester if you are susceptible to Seasonal Affective Disorder - getting through that long, frigid winter is NOT easy. You WILL get tired of waking up every morning, seeing that the high for the day is -2 degrees Fahrenheit, and thinking you need fewer layers than the day before.

That was a long survey, dude. But I hope it helps.

Don't bother with this place. It's a waste of time and money.