Macalester College Top Questions

Freshmen dorms tend to be the friendliest; students often prop their doors open when they're in their rooms and often entire freshmen halls can turn into groups of best friends. After freshmen year, it can be harder to make a lot of new friends, because people have already formed their freshmen friend groups. As a sophomore, though, I have definitely made several new very close friends this year. There are no sororities or fraternities, but drinking is present at most on-campus parties. Still, I have never observed pressure placed on drinking; it is totally acceptable to go to a party and have a great time while not drinking or smoking. Off-campus also offers a wealth of options of things to do, from ice skating to contra dancing to art museums to teaching ESL classes to immigrants.

It's nice not having a greek system, it takes off a lot of pressure to the social scene. But the truth is, social life on campus is about as diverse as the students who go here. If you are a big party kind-of-a-person you can sure find that scene. But if you'd rather just play board games in your room on a Friday night, that's cool too.

The soccer team is very popular and everyone goes to soccer games. Other sports often go sort of unnoticed. Dating is practically impossible; girls are at a disadvantage due to the male:female ratio. Homework and studying are probably the most popular social event. Most people party, a lot of students don't drink and those that do usually favor liquor over beer. There are no frats or sororities.

you can do whatever you like and there will be other people who like it too

The week is pretty tame at mac, and if you're up at 2 am on a tuesday you're probably buried in your books. But on weekends Mac kids know how to have fun. Going to on-campus events are pretty popular especially for underclassmen, and it's always just a question of half the people at a concert have been drinking and half haven't been. When it comes to drinking its a pretty laid back atmosphere- I would say that no one ever feels like they have to drink to fit in, and people don't judge you whether you drink or not. Dating at Macalester for girls can be difficult girls already outnumber boys 60/40 and a significant number of the boys are gay- but if you're really looking for a relationship, there are always people out there. There are no frats or sororities, which I really like because there are no huge parties where people get ridiculously wasted and then make asses out of themselves. Parties tend to be a little more low-key, although there are certainly big blow-outs every once in a while.

Great. I love it here. A fabulous blend of getting off campus and going to campus activities. The cities are a great resource

Macalester does not have a huge party scene. Most social events involve small gatherings of friends rather that wild parties. However, there are a few campus wide events that draw large crowds such as Founder's Day and Springfest. Dating can be a little awkward. It usually falls into attached-at-the-hip couples or one-night-stands.

if you want to do something, you can find a group to do it with. whether that be intramural sports, activism, improv comedy, drinking, community service, music- it's al here for the taking.

The social life here is pretty interesting: there are no fraternities or sororities, so parties are smaller and more intimate. I met my closest friends during my first couple of semesters, just hanging out with people in my dorm. People's doors are always open, and most people have a great sense of adventure, so you end up doing a lot of fun things if you make any kind of effort. There is almost too much to do on and around campus; in addition to all the events we have on campus, there are tons of restaurants, museums, and theater and music venues to go to.

I'm involved with the soccer team. Most campuses I get the impression that football and basketball are the most popular sports, in terms of how good they are and the number of fans. At Mac the best and most popular games are actually the soccer games! Our football team got kicked out of our conference because they are so bad. Our women's basketball team recently had to end the season early and forfeit the remaining games because they only started out with 7 players, and lost 3 to injury. Macalester's not exactly the most athletic bunch in the jock sort of way. Frisbee is more up our alley and hiking and biking. Students in the dorms often leave their doors open. For my main dating scene comment see the Big Picture section. I'll add here that Mac students don't really date. They hook up or they magically become a couple with no dating involved. I'm still a little confused about how it works and I guess I'll never figure it out exactly... I met my closest friends because they lived on my floor when I was a first year. And let me just say it's scary how true that is for so many people. They're still best friends with the person who lived next door to them their first year. 2am on a Tuesday, I am writing a paper. A nice tradition that's started up when I was a first year actually is called Founder's Day. It's the celebration of Macalester's birthday. It's a campus wide "party" or as close as we get. Everyone's invited. Everyone dresses up. Most of Mac's cool music groups, like a cappella and assorted jazz ensembles play music, and over 21s get two free drinks. Students, faculty, staff, everyone comes and it's very festive. It started out the first year a little "formal" and less of a fiesta, but I think it's settled into something everyone thinks is fun, no matter what they spend their time doing - mingling, drinking, listening to music, playing music, gossiping about clothes, etc. Partying: Some people freak out when they're first years and party all the time, but really scale back by the time they're seniors. Some people start out barely partying, but once they're 21 realize they are unable to drink soda without anything else in it. Some folks study hard and party hard, and that's all they seem to do. Some folks are huge pot heads, but not exactly "partiers". Some people spread out their drinking to twice a monthish. And some don't drink at all. We don't have frats and sororities (of course). I really like to see live music. Most touring bands come through Minneapolis. Plus there's a thriving local scene. Mac also has almost weekly music performances of some sort. On a related note, the Current 98.3 is the best radio station I've ever listened to. Other than the music, if you don't want to drink, you can watch movies with friends, chill at nearby coffeehouses, bake something, go for a walk. It's really up to you to be creative whether it involves drinking or not, right?

I am on the Women's golf team. It takes a lot of time but we practice with the mens team and its a great group of people. First year my roommate and I propped our door open all the time when we were around, it was a great way to meet people. Mac has no greek system and parties are pretty relaxed. There are regular dances and events. Pressure to drink is pretty minimal if not nonexistent.

most popular groups: stoners organizations/clubs: mperg (social justice), mio (internationalism) teams: frisbee or baseball my groups: i hang out with the swim team. they're really fun and have very balanced lives. we work a lot but we play a lot too doors open: depends on the dorm but generally no athletic events aren't so popular guest speakers are always really really popular and very very crowded theater: not so much the dating scene: everyone who dates is in a really clingy relationship. even the hook ups are clingy. it's a very couple-y school. no one hooks up just to hook up closest friends: my first year course and teams up at 2 am: either studying or procrastinating traditions/events: international show, founder's day, springfest partying: if you party you party on friday and saturday. if you don't really then you basically never do. there are still people drunk/high almost every night of the week no greek life last weekend: i went to a small party friday and a really big one on saturday night. during the day i studied. i went to the mall on sunday saturday night: watch movies, go into the cities, go to shows, just hang out with friends off campus: i go into the cities and explore. i go to the mall a decent amount too. i also eat a decent amount off campus

Soccer I am involved with a soccer tournament designed to raise money for Grassroot Soccer (helps fight AIDS in Africa) Student doors are technically closed, but symbolically open :) Athletic events fluctuate in popularity Lots of guest speakers - a little theater (i've seen 3 plays) some dating They are in the same classes/they are on the soccer team 2AM? (I am always going to be doing homework) Founder's Day = every year, many more cookouts etc. Springfest! People party most weekends No Frats/Sororities Last weekend I went to a comedy sketch show one night, a hockey game the other night There are many different dances, events - something w/o alcohol to do everywhere (most places!) Off campus? The cities!

There basically is no entertainment outside of drinking on campus. Most other activities happen in a time slot known as "pre-drinking". Also, if you don't have a car you're pretty much screwed into going to places in walking distance. Or you can take the hour long bus rides to places that are marginally interesting (like Uptown or the art museums). Macalester students really are just normal kids. There's nothing really that special about them, other than the rare sprinkling of diversity. They do normal kid things, listen to pretty much the same music, wear the same clothes and- well, you get it. The point is that Macalester is just a college. It's nothing special.

My best friends and I met very randomly. My very best friend I pretty much just forced to be my friend on one of the first days of school. I just sat down by him in the cafeteria and started talking. The rest of them, for the most part, I met that night playing frisbee. There was this big group of us, like maybe 15 or so, and we just went outside and played frisbee and joked around and learned each other's names. It was ridiculously fun, and we still all hang out together. Any given night at 2 am, if I'm awake, I'm either studying or in the lounge with my friends. We joke about the 3 Gs of Macalester men: Gay, Gross, or Girlfriend. It's kind of true. Last semester I hung out mainly with four men: two were gay, one had a girlfriend, and the other one was...not dating material. However, you do sometimes randomly end up with some awesome, single straight guy (I'm lucky that way).