Macalester campus visit:
For those of you who are still with me, here’s another lengthy report. The 5th of 6!
We (I) drove just over 500 miles to get to Mac, leaving early from the outskirts of St. Louis to arrive in St. Paul by the early evening. En route we stopped in Iowa City for lunch and a break. For anybody considering the University of Iowa, the campus is attractive and the city seems very livable. The area immediately adjacent to campus had a nice mix of shops and modestly priced restaurants. I know very little about the U of Iowa, save for the fine reputation of its writing and dance programs. 
Upon arriving at Macalester College, we were immediately impressed by its surrounding neighborhood. To the north is Summit Avenue, reputedly boasting the longest uninterrupted stretch of Victorian homes in the US. If you walk to the west for about a half hour, you will hit the Mississippi River and an extensive network of biking and walking trails. Just shy of the river is the University of St. Thomas, an idyllic campus consisting of classic-looking stone buildings. In the early evening, large numbers of people were cycling along the broad avenue in the dedicated bike lanes, walking their dogs, strolling about. It had a great community feel. To the south of campus is Grand Avenue, a commercial street with the usual college staples – coffee and tea shops, restaurants and bars, independent book stores, gas stations, art supply shops, etc. Oh yes, St. Paul City Ballet is right there, too! There is a Whole Foods nearby but I didn’t lay eyes on it.
The campus itself is compact and attractive but not drop dead gorgeous. Most of the buildings are 20th century brick structures, pleasant enough but not architecturally distinctive. There are a few older structures dating from the 19th century on the main old quad. The dorms are older but the rooms are more spacious than many of the renovated, modernized dorms I have seen. The science building was up to date and it was interesting to note the pictures of chemistry graduates over the years – real racial and gender diversity represented. The athletic center is gorgeous with a ¼ mile indoor track, a necessity given the cold winters. We were told that some professors hold walking office hours there! In contrast, the center for civic engagement had almost a cluttered feel, as though people were more interested in what they were doing than maintaining appearances. I found this oddly refreshing after having seen a number of extremely posh campus over the years – I wonder how much of the decorating fund could have been spent on more direct educational needs.
The presentation was organized differently than many and I found it really effective. A young admissions officer and a Mac grad spoke for about 10 minutes about Mac’s advantageous location with respect to internships, the arts, and career opportunities. Incidentally the Twin Cities has the largest urban Native American population in the US. She rattled off some impressive statistics: 1st in nation per capita for NSF grants, 90% acceptance for med school; 79% for law, and 75% overall go on to advanced degrees. For a LAC, it is more diverse than the norm, both for domestic students of color and international students. She spoke about Mac’s emphasis on civic engagement and how to pursue community service in a tactful and sensitive way. It was neither pretentious or PC sanctimonious; instead it felt very sincere in an understated way. She then opened the floor to questions and when the tempo flagged, she introduced a topic that hadn’t yet been covered like study abroad, the distribution requirements, and the nature of interdisciplinary courses.
The campus tour came next and students and parents were divided into different groups of maybe 10-12 people each. This was a nice size and was the typical tour of science building, student center, sample dorm room, athletic center, musical performance space (very impressive!), library, etc., much of which I’ve already described above.
Next up was a student panel with two rising sophomores – a very articulate Vietnamese man with purple hair and a 1st generation Latino fellow from the south side of Chicago. A third presenter was a recent graduate, a white woman from Berkeley. This was also a combination of set topics and open ended questions. They seemed like smart, socially engaged, unpretentious students. My daughter’s interview with an admissions officer took place during the student panel. It lasted about a half an hour.
The tour concluded with lunch in the dining hall with the students who had participated in the morning’s activities. We got vouchers. The food was typical dining hall fare, not great, but edible. Given that it was summer (there were many summer youth programs on campus), the selections were more limited than normal. That said, I doubt students come to Mac for the food!
Conclusion: My daughter (and I) really liked this school. It seems to have a very clear sense of itself and the kind of community it values. Many of those values happen to resonate with my kid. The location has a lot to offer both in terms of leisure and work opportunities. As for the cold winters, well, she has experienced bitter cold and if asked to choose, would take it over humid heat any day.
Tried getting her credit history. One of them can not get us a report and requests a paper form, with multiple pieces of information for verification. We tried getting her an account on the social security site and it “locked” the number and said to call. (She was on her way to work by then.) We did find her original Social Security card, so we have verified that we have our information correct. Her job requires she passes a “background check” and EVerify so I’m very surprised something didn’t pop up then.
I hope you get more details. Kind of weird that it wasn’t caught by her work or the IRS (One year I accidentally transposed 2 digits in one of the kids’ SSNs and the return wasn’t accepted.)