St. Olaf, Macalester, Carleton: thoughts, differences, experiences?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Excited to see this thread ..want to learn more about Carlton and Macalaster


How important is Demonstrates interest in terms of visiting ? It’s pretty far, so wonder if we could visit after admission if child were accepted

Check the CDS for each. IIRC, I don’t think Macalester considers it.

[Anonymous]

Not sure why Grinnell isn’t on this list. It’s better than St Olaf and Macalester academically, in the same league as Carleton, has a lot more money than any of them and is much more generous with merit aid, and attracts the same type of student.

[Anonymous]

If you think your kid might want to work in the Twin Cities, going to any of these three schools is a really good thing. Will they ricochet back to the DMV? UVA may be a better option.

My kid has a few friends at St.Olaf doing physics. The Lutheran church actually funds scholarships every year for physics majors, $10K awards, which was unexpected to hear about.

Chemistry instruction seems strong, with access to equipment I never got to use at my large university, like NMRs. I think that is shared with Carleton, and Carleton hosts a fancy shared microscope? Not sure of the particulars, but there is some sort of agreement.

My kid has dined at the Carleton cafeteria, because they use the same company and swipe cards work at both. You can take a class there, but with their trimester system it gets complicated. I think there was a joint symposium for kids who did summer research? But no, not a lot of mixing socially.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Excited to see this thread ..want to learn more about Carlton and Macalester

How important is Demonstrates interest in terms of visiting ? It’s pretty far, so wonder if we could visit after admission if child were accepted

Admissions consultant here. Three of my students applied early action to Macalester last year. Applying early action definitely gives students a leg up. Two of these students prepped (researched) for and took advantage of offers of optional Zoom interviews, and none visited before admission (except online).

[Macalester, Carleton, and St. Olaf also offer free fly-in programs each fall for students from traditionally underrepresented groups. Students need to apply in advance.]

We learned that Macalester's merit aid ranged from about $1000 to $23,000 in 2022.

My Mac applicant who didn't interview received a merit offer of ~ $84,000 over four years, but $0 from the peer SLAC she also applied to under an early action option. The applicant was interested in premed pathways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure why Grinnell isn’t on this list. It’s better than St Olaf and Macalester academically, in the same league as Carleton, has a lot more money than any of them and is much more generous with merit aid, and attracts the same type of student.

Some experts would group Grinnell and Macalester in the same academic category, like Fiske. In fact Fiske seems to like Mac more overall. There are other good perspectives but maybe OP trusts Fiske. More likely, OP is planning a trip to MN and the three schools they asked about are 45 min from each other with Grinnell being a 4 hour drive away. Grinnell is an excellent school but many people are turned off by the lack of regular direct flights (if coming from the coasts).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Excited to see this thread ..want to learn more about Carlton and Macalester

How important is Demonstrates interest in terms of visiting ? It’s pretty far, so wonder if we could visit after admission if child were accepted

Admissions consultant here. Three of my students applied early action to Macalester last year. Applying early action definitely gives students a leg up. Two of these students prepped (researched) for and took advantage of offers of optional Zoom interviews, and none visited before admission (except online).

[Macalester, Carleton, and St. Olaf also offer free fly-in programs each fall for students from traditionally underrepresented groups. Students need to apply in advance.]

We learned that Macalester's merit aid ranged from about $1,000 to $23,000 in 2022.

My Mac applicant who didn't interview received a merit offer of ~ $84,000 over four years, but $0 from the peer SLAC she also applied to under an early action option. The applicant was interested in premed pathways.

BTW: Macalester admitted all three early action applicants. None chose to attend a SLAC (so the choices weren't among comparables).

[Anonymous]

I also have heard that Grinnell is much more generous with merit aid. They have a lot of money and are striving for a very diverse student body.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:St. Olaf kids are more musical and there is definitely less of a drinking culture on their campus.

All the Carleton kids are very bright, but the non-athletes are a little quirky. I would make sure my child felt it was a fit with one or the other.

Northfield is pretty close to my ideal college town and conveniently located close to a major airport.

Macalester has a more international vibe and a much more urban campus.

Agree with this. I went to Carleton many moons ago but just went back for a reunion recently and Northfield has really come up in the world. Cute shops and restaurants, a farmers market Saturday mornings, etc. One of my favorite stores from college, the Rare Pair, is still there and is bigger and better. And for a rural college town it is very close to the airport and to the Cities.

A number of my classmates sent their kids there but Carleton just dropped legacy consideration in admissions so it will be interesting to see if that changes. To some extent the offspring of Carleton alums are probably particularly well suited for the school, assuming they are smart and quirky, although neither of my kids were interested in it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure why Grinnell isn’t on this list. It’s better than St Olaf and Macalester academically, in the same league as Carleton, has a lot more money than any of them and is much more generous with merit aid, and attracts the same type of student.

Well, it’s not in Minnesota, to start.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Excited to see this thread ..want to learn more about Carlton and Macalester

How important is Demonstrates interest in terms of visiting ? It’s pretty far, so wonder if we could visit after admission if child were accepted

Admissions consultant here. Three of my students applied early action to Macalester last year. Applying early action definitely gives students a leg up. Two of these students prepped (researched) for and took advantage of offers of optional Zoom interviews, and none visited before admission (except online).

[Macalester, Carleton, and St. Olaf also offer free fly-in programs each fall for students from traditionally underrepresented groups. Students need to apply in advance.]

We learned that Macalester's merit aid ranged from about $1,000 to $23,000 in 2022.

My Mac applicant who didn't interview received a merit offer of ~ $84,000 over four years, but $0 from the peer SLAC she also applied to under an early action option. The applicant was interested in premed pathways.

BTW: Macalester admitted all three early action applicants. None chose to attend a SLAC (so the choices weren't among comparables).

Did they submit test scores? My 4.0 UW, high rigor, great leadership/EC kid will be applying EA TO; trying to gauge admissions chances and merit possibilities.

[Anonymous]

Mac grad here from the 90s. As time goes by, I remain impressed by how the school pairs practical experience with it’s “social justice” cred. The alumni magazine typically focuses on people doing pretty unique stuff - like this month features a Senegalese math major who started her own fashion line! I think its less heady and intellectual than Carleton, but has a culture that prioritizes creativity and self-initiative. And the international focus is not just the student body but also the expectation that most will study abroad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Excited to see this thread ..want to learn more about Carlton and Macalester

How important is Demonstrates interest in terms of visiting ? It’s pretty far, so wonder if we could visit after admission if child were accepted

Admissions consultant here. Three of my students applied early action to Macalester last year. Applying early action definitely gives students a leg up. Two of these students prepped (researched) for and took advantage of offers of optional Zoom interviews, and none visited before admission (except online).

[Macalester, Carleton, and St. Olaf also offer free fly-in programs each fall for students from traditionally underrepresented groups. Students need to apply in advance.]

We learned that Macalester's merit aid ranged from about $1,000 to $23,000 in 2022.

My Mac applicant who didn't interview received a merit offer of ~ $84,000 over four years, but $0 from the peer SLAC she also applied to under an early action option. The applicant was interested in premed pathways.

BTW: Macalester admitted all three early action applicants. None chose to attend a SLAC (so the choices weren't among comparables).

Did they submit test scores? My 4.0 UW, high rigor, great leadership/EC kid will be applying EA TO; trying to gauge admissions chances and merit possibilities.

The one offered the merit $$$ did. Cumulative ACT above 35/36 with 36/36 in science. The two admitted without merit aid didn’t. However, many of my TO students receive (relatively) great merit aid offers. Rigor of curriculum and AP exam scores can help TO students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a great thread.
NP here: anyone know about the physical sciences at these school? How would those departments rank of the three?
Kid interested in maybe biochem and history double major…

Physical sciences might be Carleton's strongest area. I have always found it helpful to consider both the distribution of majors within a school, as that says something about what the current students like, as well as PhD production rate. Even if a student doesn't intend to pursue a PhD, funded grad programs are highly selective. So a high PhD production rate tells you something about the quality of the program as well as the seriousness of the students in it. Neither of these measures paints the full picture, of course, but they are useful imo.

Here are a few stats comparing them in physical sciences:

Carleton: 14.2% of total majors (table J of CDS); ranks 3rd in percentage of students from all schools (including universities) who go on to earn PhDs in physical sciences, behind only Caltech and Harvey Mudd (second list in table 8 of below NSF report, also see table starting on p16 of pdf from Swarthmore)

Mac: 5% of majors; 22nd in alumni who earn PhDs in physical sciences (the NSF table below only goes to 10, so taken from report on Swarthmore's site)

Olaf: 5% of majors; 42nd in alumni who earn PhDs in physical sciences

https://carleton-wp-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/sites/292/2023/03/CDS-2022-23.pdf

https://www.macalester.edu/ir/wp-content/uploads/sites/156/cds.pdf

https://wp.stolaf.edu/iea/files/2022/12/2022-23-CDS_J-Degr-Conf.pdf

https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf22321

https://www.swarthmore.edu/sites/default/files/assets/documents/institutional-research/Doct%20Rates%20Rankings%20by%20Broad%20Disc%20Field-Summary%20to%202021.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure why Grinnell isn’t on this list. It’s better than St Olaf and Macalester academically, in the same league as Carleton, has a lot more money than any of them and is much more generous with merit aid, and attracts the same type of student.

It aims to compete with Carleton but isn't quite there.

But OP seemed to have some particular interest in Minnesota.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Excited to see this thread ..want to learn more about Carlton and Macalester

How important is Demonstrates interest in terms of visiting ? It’s pretty far, so wonder if we could visit after admission if child were accepted

Admissions consultant here. Three of my students applied early action to Macalester last year. Applying early action definitely gives students a leg up. Two of these students prepped (researched) for and took advantage of offers of optional Zoom interviews, and none visited before admission (except online).

[Macalester, Carleton, and St. Olaf also offer free fly-in programs each fall for students from traditionally underrepresented groups. Students need to apply in advance.]

We learned that Macalester's merit aid ranged from about $1,000 to $23,000 in 2022.

My Mac applicant who didn't interview received a merit offer of ~ $84,000 over four years, but $0 from the peer SLAC she also applied to under an early action option. The applicant was interested in premed pathways.

BTW: Macalester admitted all three early action applicants. None chose to attend a SLAC (so the choices weren't among comparables).

Did they submit test scores? My 4.0 UW, high rigor, great leadership/EC kid will be applying EA TO; trying to gauge admissions chances and merit possibilities.

The one offered the merit $$$ did. Cumulative ACT above 35/36 with 36/36 in science. The two admitted without merit aid didn’t. However, many of my TO students receive (relatively) great merit aid offers. Rigor of curriculum and AP exam scores can help TO students.

Curious what other schools these kids were looking at …my dd is sort of intrigued by Mac and Carleton but neither would be a top Choice for her …she is trying to work on her list