Macalester College Top Questions

Mac has a reputation for being really liberal.

A bunch a dirty hippies!! Awkward, but damn smart!

Hippies, nerdy, international

There is so little consistency with Macalester steriotypes, which perhaps speaks to how diverse the student body truly is. Some of my favorite steriotypes: High school history teacher: "I bet if you go there you'll come back with green hair and tattoos". High school friend: "You have to be from the Middle East or India to go there" Family I babysit for: "That's a good school, you must be really smart, I hope my kids get in" Somali immigrant I tutor: "That's where Kofi Annan went!" My guidance counselor: "Macalester...where is that?" But the more common (and more accurate) stereotype is that Macalester is an academically strong school that attracts a lot of international students and is often overlooked.

That we are extremely liberal, gay and hippies.

all talk and no action in terms of politics and social works

They are activists and sometimes pretentious.

Macalester's stereotypes depend on who you talk to. Probably all the social conservatives would say Macalester's students are all a bunch of pot-smoking, Earth-worshipping, tree-hugging, peace-loving hippies. A lot of notable alumni or even high school teachers who have actually heard of the school would probably tell you Macalester students are hard-working, book-reading, no-social-life-having nerds. I think, also, Macalester has a reputation for being the "quirky," prestigious college.

The stereotype is probably that we are all hippies, homosexual, kind of weird.

That we are all vegetarians, that we are well-meaning upper class European American kids, that we are sheltered, that we are always politically correct, that we are strange and awkward.