I didn’t get an email but it’s been posted to my portal
I got deferred EA? Very surprised lol…
I also got deferred EA and was quite surprised, as with my stats this was a target for me.
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My son got accepted EA with $23,000 year merit scholarship. From Southern California.
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My son also deferred…seems like a lot of deferrals this year. His brother just graduated from Mac in May, and we thought his stats made him very competitive there, so it was a bummer. But not a rejection at least! St. Olaf came out just a few minutes later, and it was an acceptance and great scholarship there, so…mixed bag tonight!
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Same situation here—3.9UW and 1400SAT, deferred from EA. Acceptance and great package from St Olaf. Little surprised in our house this evening.
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I’m wondering if they’re playing around with how they use EA this year, since they’re still pretty new to it. In particular, my son needs a lot of FA, so I wonder if they’re being very careful with budget until they see what the RD pool looks like. Anyway, we’ll see! DS likes Macalester a lot, but St. Olaf might have already had the edge (largely because of music), so he’s handling it pretty well. ETA: for reference, DS 4.0 UW, 1490, 7 APs and 6 DE classes
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DD was Accepted with 30k merit.
3.95 GPA, 33 ACT, lots of sports and music.
It’s a contender, but she is waiting for more schools results.
Are there any stats on acceptance/deferral/denials this year?
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Our DSs are tracking—8 APs and the remainder honors (DE not offered). Tons of ECs and community activities, strong LORs, lightly recruited athlete. Mac was a target school on our list so we’re doing a lot of processing here. So many talented kids!
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Yep, same…
Sounds like a weird mix with this. I got accepted into Sarah Lawrence with 66,000 in merit and grants but deferred from macalester - very interesting! Makes me feel better that many are going through a similar situation
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Curious how this is surprising.
Sarah Lawrence (rank 100, accept rate 59%) is much lower ranked and less selective than Macalester (26, accept rate 28%)
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Those who received merit—did you also apply for need-based aid?
Nm—wrong thread!
I don’t tend to think they’re playing around with it this way because they’re new to it but rather using it the way they intend to use it. There was a similar pattern for them last year. Congrats on St. Olaf!
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Nichols51–could you explain more (using EA ‘how they intend to use it’)? Thanks!
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I just meant that all schools (understandably) have institutional priorities that guide their decision making. I don’t think Mac is experimenting with how to use EA but rather using it in line with the way they have chosen to build the class they want.
I would caution students with strong applications but financial need from thinking about Mac as a “target” school as a result. Many think their chances are mainly dictated by their stats in comparison to the typical class profile (as if schools don’t have reasons other than strength of application to decline to admit students). Tuition revenue is an example of one institutional priority that can come into play. Schools may choose to spend their financial aid budget on full pay (or closer to full pay than not) students they can attract with merit scholarships or on students who may help them address other institutional priorities like first gen or low income or rural etc. Financial need can be an admissions factor (positive or negative) for a school that is need-aware in admissions. A school may also consider your geographical location or how likely they are to yield you in comparison to another student (likely to yield could be based on student’s engagement with the college and fit but also based on stats/strength of application and how successful the school has been in yielding similar students in the past). There are many factors at play.
This isn’t unique to Macalester. I do think it’s helpful for applicants to be aware of the many factors that can impact their candidacy so wanted to share that I don’t think this is a deviation from last year or is Mac playing around/experimenting. If your student loves Mac and was deferred, have them write a great LOCI in January and also keep these factors in mind while finalizing a balanced college list that includes true safeties and targets. And good luck - it can be a rollercoaster, and having been through it with a D last year, I definitely understand that.
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I had read (on here, I think), that Mac had a much higher acceptance rate EA than RD last year, and glancing at old threads I didn’t see so many deferrals…but of course that’s not a lot of evidence. It would be interesting to see numbers about deferrals vs. acceptances over time (I think this is just the 3rd or 4th year they’ve done EA? They didn’t when my oldest applied). My oldest also said Mac has overenrolled a few times in recent years, so all of that led to my speculation that they’re being more cautious this year than in years past with EA. But, again, plural of anecdote and all that. Definitely aware of the harsh realities of need aware admissions!
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This is what led to my question about whether merit scholarship recipients applied for financial aid. I’m curious whether Mac is using its merit money for students for whom financing college is more of a stretch rather than full-pay students. This would be a very smart approach! Just curious if there’s any evidence to support my hypothesis.
It’s been 5 years now, but my oldest kid got very generous merit from Mac in addition to a solid need based package.
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