Macalester Anthropology Major

Pot-smoking, liberal, hippies that dance around their hookas in the late-night hours discussing politics and racial issues. Either that, or socially inept and sexually frustrated dorks who play Magik the Gathering and frequently quote Star Wars.

Well...I mean...it's not like...I can't say EVERYONE is....ok, yeah, they're accurate.

Macalester is a pretty small school (little more than 2,000, all undergraduates) and it's a very open-minded, liberal school. I absolutely love it, but at times people can get a little TOO politically correct. A good example: there was a recent controversy concerning a themed party on campus - the theme was "political correctness" and people had to basically come as the most politically incorrect thing they could think of. Someone came as an aborted fetus and I think someone might have come as a Nazi...not 100% sure about that, but you get the picture. People were obviously offended and, because the party happened on school-property, the school authorities got involved. Now, I'm sure the people who attended/planned the party did not mean for it to get as out of hand as it did, but people did end up getting offended. As a result, these students were verbally attacked and ostracized from the tight Mac community, even though they did not mean to hurt anyone. That, however, is the most extreme case that I've encountered here. The city - St. Paul - is absolutely amazing and Minneapolis is right across the river...gotta love the Twin Cities!

I am extremely proud of the level of education I am receiving at Macalester; it is constantly rated among the top liberal arts schools in the country, and it definitely lives up to its reputation. All of my classes are intellectually stimulating and usually inspire wonderful conversation, inside and outside the classroom setting. Teachers are extremely intelligent (almost intimidatingly so), but are always willing to talk to you one-on-one and are not there to talk down to their students; they realize that we have something to say and want to know what that is. Most of the students were in the top 10% of their graduating class in high school - a lot of them valedictorians (Macalester was noted in one of those other college-rating booklets as the place where the students who got rejected from Harvard due to "not enough room" go - I should know, I'm one of 'em). They're not particularly competitive, but they are fiercely intelligent; of course, there are always those kids who make it in based on the fact that their families can tote the hefty $43,000 a year price tag without any financial aid, but I won't go into that....

Like I mentioned before, everyone is very open-minded and accepting of all types of people - we have a very active LGBT group on campus and very present multi-cultural club. We have people from all over the country and all over the world - it's really amazing, actually. I've never been on a campus that has as many culturally diverse students as Mac. Everyone pretty much mixes well together - there is a noticeable difference between the international students and the domestic students, but it is not hostile or anything like that...mostly it has to do with the way everyone is oriented in their first year (we have different orientations...something I, and many other students, feel is somewhat detrimental to meeting and mixing with people from other parts of the world). Students are VERY politically active and aware, often organizing protests, rallies, and boycotts for whatever cause they support; since the War on Terror started, there have been annual (maybe bi-annual...obviously I'm one of the slacker students) events around school protesting the war (and don't even get us started on Bush...). As a result, there is a lot of emphasis on voting; as you can probably guess a lot of stuff has been going down regarding the upcoming election (unfortunately, I'm not able to observe any of the goings-on, as I am currently on my study abroad term).
One thing that is regrettable is that, because of the enormous amount of cash it takes to go to Mac, I think it is hard for someone without financial security to come to here...that's not to say that everyone is rich because some of us get kick-ass financial aid, without which we wouldn't be able to attend, but it's more often than not that a student or her/his family is well-off.

We don't have fraternities or sororities on campus (if you want that sort of shit, go to the fucking U) and we are definitely NOT known for our varsity athletics (football team is shit, although our track, cross country, and soccer teams are pretty good, let's give credit where it's due), so the most popular teams are extra-curricular or random-ass social organizations (Scrabble Club, anyone?). I'd say that guest speakers are quite a bit more popular than athletic events, mostly due to the caliber of speakers we've been able to secure over the years (Spike Lee and fuckin' Kofi Annan?! Are you kidding me?!).
Oh, and don't let all this talk about how great the academics are throw you off about our lifestyles: Mac students know how to get our drink on. Since our campus is pretty small (two blocks), most of the parties are house-parties and usually end-up with people having heated debates about the relevance of anthropology in the medical field be or, ya know, which Hogwarts House you'd end up in (yes, I've actually had both conversations). If you're not into drinking (but seriously? It's COLLEGE), there's always the Twin Cities that have tons to do on any given night. St. Paul is more home-y and residential, so you can go to a coffee shop and just chill or maybe hit up a cool antique book store or haberdashery on Grand Ave. (an AMAZING place if you like cool independently run shops). Or, if you like to go clubbing or hit up a show at a theater, Minneapolis is just a short bus-ride (or car ride) away. The best thing about living in the Cities is its great variety of entertainment, especially its music scene - probably the best in the Midwest. I LOVE music and concerts, so this is my heaven.

I think I pretty much covered anything...oh, gotta plug my department: Anthropology rocks my socks off! The department is so cool and fun...anthro students are definitely the coolest on campus.