Macalester College Top Questions

Classes are small. Unless you are in the rare large introductory lecture, students and professors will likely notice if you aren't there. Professors may invite you over for dinner or to the bar. Chatting with them in the halls or outside of classes is very common. Some students can be quite competitive, depending on the department. More often, students are just determined to do well and make a change (which can cause a lot of stress, especially around finals). I was expecting a more laid back attitude towards academics, where learning is more important than performance, but it seems Macalester is increasingly becoming more "professionally focused". Either way, Macalester students are known for being very outspoken and argumentative (in a good way, usually). I've taken philosophy, biology, sociology, geography, art, political science, chemistry, environmental studies, french, international studies, and math classes at Mac, while still having time to graduate with a major and two minors. Double majors are actually quite normal. My biology department seems to train people to become academics; I considered going on to graduate school before realizing academia isn't for me. Macalester is primarily a teaching school (with a comparatively large amount of research for a liberal arts school), so that is so bed expected You can take other classes at the Associated Colleges of the Twin Cities (ACTC) schools in the area.

Small classes with caring professors make Macalester a place of deep learning. On top of my professors who are excellent educators, my classmates are brilliant. I need not be in class in order to have intellectually enriching conversations, because my peers and I initiate them either way. Professors are genuinely interested in my life and are invested in my success. Because of this, academics here at Macalester are singularly rigorous; professors here know we are capable of great things and push us accordingly.

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Professors usually know your name by the end of the first week and class participation is expected. Students are genuinely excited to be here and committed to the material, which is reflected by many late night intellectual conversations. There's no getting around it, Macalester students spend the vast majority of their time with their nose in a book. However, were never cut throat. I'm a Biology major and geography minor. As a premed, I was concerned that the competitive coursework would bring out the worst in my piers. Fortunately, students want to see their piers succeed and you often make friends with others in the class. This goes for your professor as well, it is common for professors to have their entire class over for dinner.

At Macalester, many of the classes take Oxford-style learning approaches with lots of student participation. Also, professors are always accessible. My Japanese instructor had the whole class over for sushi and wii, TWICE! Although many Mac students may not think too hard about post-graduation job opportunities, the resources are there. I'm not even an econ major and the econ department always sends me emails of internship opportunities! The physics department here is small, but great. I'll hopefully be able to start doing undergraduate research after my sophomore year, which is an advantage over larger universities (for the most part). Intro physics the class size was 22, which is impressive considering how many people want to take the class.

The academic life is intense, and that is definitely the priority on campus, but there are plenty of ways that students balance study and fun. Everyone here participates in and outside the classroom which is a huge indicator of the activeness of the students and faculty.

Top-notch: is in second tier in midwest schools (after UChicago, Northwestern, WashU, Notre Dame)

Macalester's classes are small and so this facilitates good teacher-professor relations. Students tend not to compete with each other because we all know that we had to be among the best to be at Mac anyway. The academi standards are very high at Mac and good grades dont come easy.

The academics at Macalester are fabulous. Professors are really enthusasitic and eager to build relationships with students and facilitate interesting discussion in class. The work load is fairly heavy and most students are fairly academically focused but if you do the work and go to class it is definitley managable.

Gotta pick and choose your classes carefully. Not too much deviation between classes for a major. You basically have to take all the classes to be that major. Competitiveness is really between the big majors, like Econ or Chem