 |
| Author | Post |
|---|
CardinalFang
Member
| Joined: | Mon Mar 17th, 2008 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 144 |
| Mana: |    |
|
Posted: Tue Apr 8th, 2008 09:46 pm |
|
My son and I visited Macalester last week, as the fourth stop in our midwest tour.
It's a beautiful compact campus in an old, attractive residential area of St. Paul. The buildings are mostly red brick. One major street runs through the campus; it's busy, but not so busy that there was any problem crossing it at any time I was there. There are many ethnic restaurants within walking distance. We ate at the cafeteria, which was excellent, but our tour guide said that the restaurants were good. I believe she recommended an Ethiopian restaurant as worth checking out.
I think it was the first day of springlike weather when we were there-- the last of the snow was melting, it was a sunny, windy day in the high 60s, and many students were wearing what I, a Californian, think of as warm-weather clothes: short skirts and bare legs, shorts, T-shirts. Because of the weather, in the afternoon there were kids playing frisbee and dancing to boomboxes. Various groups were tabling in front of the cafeteria. It was a lively, happy-seeming campus.
S had an interview (I don't know how it went) and sat in on a class about Latin America (he thought it was excellent). We both had the usual campus tour. While S was busy, I chatted up everyone I could: a couple of students, an employee who works with kids with learning disabilities, the new sustainability coordinator. All were enthusiastic about the school.
I also had a good talk with an admissions officer. He emphasized that essays should be used to show a student's passions. He emphasized that applicants are only 17 or 18, so he didn't expect huge achievements from most candidates. He mentioned, for example, that if a student's passion was politics, it might well be expressed merely by boning up on issues by reading print and Internet sources; he seemed to think that would be regarded favorably. This was reassuring to me, since my son's passion, as it happens, *is* politics and reading The Economist, The Daily Dish or Talking Points Memo is exactly what he does for enjoyment or when he's procrastinating.
We are homeschoolers, so I asked about what special requirements we might face. The admissions officer said that since Mac is a liberal arts school, they want to see that homeschoolers have good preparation in math, science and foreign languages. Mac students might not have to pursue those areas in college, so Mac wants to make sure they are already well-rounded.
Everyone we talked to mentioned the international focus at Mac, but of more interest to my son was the political focus. St. Paul is the capital of Minnesota, so there is opportunity to be involved with state legislators. One student I talked to spoke about a course her friends were taking in which part of the course requirements involved interning with a legislator. There's a US Senate campaign going on now, and quite a few Mac students were/are working on the campaigns of two of the candidates, Al Franken and Franken's primary challenger (whose name I forget). I don't think there are a lot of Republicans at Mac; I certainly heard nothing about any students working for Norm Coleman, the Republican candidate for Senate, or for any other Republicans.
We came away very impressed. My son will apply to Mac.
|
Descartes
Super Moderator
|
Posted: Wed Apr 9th, 2008 01:29 pm |
|
CardinalFang wrote: I think it was the first day of springlike weather when we were there-- the last of the snow was melting, it was a sunny, windy day in the high 60s, and many students were wearing what I, a Californian, think of as warm-weather clothes: short skirts and bare legs, shorts, T-shirts. Because of the weather, in the afternoon there were kids playing frisbee and dancing to boomboxes. Various groups were tabling in front of the cafeteria. It was a lively, happy-seeming campus.
Ahh, Spring ... I remember that day it happened.
We're back to snow flurries and low 40's this week. 
Glad you liked your vist to Mac. It is a politically active school. As you may know, Walter Mondale and Kofi Annan are alums. And, yes, it definitely leans left. I can't say, however, how much opportunity there would be to actually work at the State Capitol (about three miles down Summit Ave from Mac), but certainly there's lot of of election activity in St. Paul in which to get involved.
|
moewb
Member
| Joined: | Mon Jul 30th, 2007 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 17 |
| Mana: | |
|
Posted: Wed Apr 9th, 2008 04:40 pm |
|
What did you think of Knox?
|
CardinalFang
Member
| Joined: | Mon Mar 17th, 2008 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 144 |
| Mana: | |
|
Posted: Wed Apr 9th, 2008 09:05 pm |
|
What did you think of Knox?
If that was directed at me, we did not visit Knox on this tour. Is it a college that would be likely to appeal to students who like Macalester?
|
Current time is 06:55 am | Page:   1 2 3 |
|
|
|
|
