Student Profile
Quinton
- Class: Sophomore
- Major: German Studies
- Gender: M
- High School: Wilson
- Transfer Student: N
Big Picture
First I'll explain the truth about Mac, especially what the people are really like. I feel like the student body and the climate are the main difference between any given small liberal arts college. Coming to Mac I might have had some preconceived notions about what kind of kids I would encounter, but I mostly expected it to be more cool people and less stupid idiots (than high school). For the most part that's true, because you don't get in unless you have some kind of brain, and that generally entails some kind of social skills. However, Mac is conforming more and more to the "small school big price" business model, and losing what made it so unique. From a business perspective it makes sense, but why the hell would I go to Minnesota for the exact same education and experience I could get in California? The reason that I came to Macalester was that it possessed a quality, indefinable perhaps, that is Mac. We are steadily losing that quality, and within ten years we will have sold our soul to be exactly like every other goddamn "new Ivy" out there.
Academic Life
Academics at Mac is good, probably on the same level as you'll find anywhere. The education here can be shaped into whatever you want to get out of it; if you want to gear towards a profession or grad school and have extensive research experience, all you need to do is ask. If you'd rather float through and take it easy, a kind of $160,000 pleasure cruise, you can do that too. It is what you make it. Discussion classes that actually have pertinent, engaging discussions are fairly hard to come by, although whether that's due to the students or professors I can never tell. Most of the time people just make dumb*** remarks because they like the sound of their own voice. That might be a little harsh, because I just got out of one those classes 20 minutes ago and am still grating my teeth over another wasted hour, but people do have a propensity for stupid comments. I have had good discussion classes, one in particular taught by Professor Cooey called "Jesus, Dissent and Desire" was extremely interesting and Paula fostered very good discussions. Professors at Mac are, by and large, extremely good and very open, friendly and helpful. I don't have a bad thing to say other than that some of my professors have been pretty boring, but those ones have been kind enough to let me sleep through class. Geology (which is my primary major, followed by German) is the most amazing department at Mac, the professors are hilarious and great.
Student Body
Mac students are diverse. There's not a whole hell of a lot to say other than that; people get along well, internationals maybe stick together a little more than seems necessary-- it always feels like a club-- but besides that it's really extremely mixed. I've never heard of an incident of racism at Mac, but that could just be because I haven't been listening. Also, going back to those stupid idiots that I referenced earlier, they still exist, they're just vastly in the minority. For some reason they're almost all on sports teams, and they're just a bunch of douchebags, but it always kind of seems like they know they're outnumbered and stick together and away from everyone else. That's not to say that everyone who plays sports is an ***, far from it, I have a ton of friends who play varsity sports, it's just to say that there is a higher occurrence of ***heads in sports.
The Best Things
My friends.
The Worst Things
It's only four years.
