stockmom123: I take long, vivid notes when I visit colleges to refer back to later, and here's an excerpt from my notes on Mac:
"I like it. I like it a whole lot.
The entire campus seems lively, the campus more open and the buildings more well-lit than Carleton's and Grinnell's. The food is fantastic (thank you, internationalism), the tour was good, everyone seems friendly, happy, and socially aware (Sexual Assault Awareness something or other was selling shirts they'd made) but unlike the other urban places I've visited there's no pretension and no hipsterdom. The facilities are absolutely beautiful, too; the chemistry labs were good and the art/music/theater&dance building is beautiful architecturally and looks good. The sports facilities are are brand-new and amazing, and the library looked alright but not amazing. Walkways between dorms and between science buildings are great.
Thing that I didn't really like: Half of upper-termers live off-campus. I asked my interviewer about the effect that has on social life, and she said that between moving off-campus and study abroad, there is a definite shift when you get to junior year and sometimes you can feel alone."
Essentially, I knew about the urban-ness and the internationalism and all that good, interesting stuff before I visited, but in visiting I really got a feel for how it all played out in real life. I would strongly encourage visiting, as the intangible things I really liked were quite subjective and I can completely see someone else having a very different reaction; I can say "I loved the architecture and I felt I could really fit in" but those are highly personal reactions.
BengalMom: Interestingly enough, I originally wanted to fly out to the Midwest to confirm that Carleton was, in fact, my first choice. I decided to add on Macalester because we were already in the area. I ended up really disliking Carleton and really loving Mac, so ultimately it was just a happy coincidence
I also visited Grinnell, but while I liked the students there I didn't get the same vibe as I got from Mac. Also, I realized upon visiting Grinnell just how rural and remote and isolated it was, and I realized that that really wasn't what I wanted.
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