Here are a few more observations about Carleton and Macalaster from someone who knows both colleges a little but knows neither college well.

Carleton is beautiful. While it looks Midwestern--there are hills but no mountains--it is one of the few Midwestern LACs I've seen that is as beautiful as most of the elite Eastern LACs. Macalaster is pleasant but generally not beautiful, except for a few buildings.

Maclaster is located in an interesting neighborhood and is about halfway between downtown St. Paul and downtown Minneapolis. The neighborhood feels roughly like Woodley Park, Cleveland Park, or Tenleytown in D.C. Macalaster is a major presence in that particular neighborhood but the neighborhood feels like a fairly small part of the Twin Cities, which have just about everything you could want in an urban area (theater, art, sports, parks, shopping, etc.). By contrast, Carelton is located in Northfield, which is an attractive but fairly dull town. Even with St. Olaf College up the hill, there isn't all that much happening in Northfield, which is probably a 45 minute drive from the Twin Cities.

Students at both campuses struck me as very funny and very friendly. Students at both campuses seemed very smart. From the admissions statistics, it appears that Carleton attracts more super brainiacs, but this could not be discerned from my interactions with people on the two campuses. There were significant numbers of quirky people at both campuses, but probably slightly more at Carleton.

The performing arts seemed to be a bigger deal at Macalaster. Macalaster also seemed to attract more people interested in politics and world affairs.

Many people apply to both and many people who are admitted to both choose one or the other based on the considerations described above. More probably choose Carleton, but plenty choose Macalaster.

Anonymous wrote:Carleton is a more intellectual place and generally involves more class work in comparison to Mac. I think of Carelton as being University of Chicago light. Also, Carleton is on the trimester (also called quarter at other schools), so students are taking 3 classes 3 times a year (so nine-classes annually) versus 4 classes twice a year (8 classes annually on average on the semester system). Carleton has one of the strongest computer science departments in liberal arts colleges, and has one of the highest rates of women graduating with science majors in country.

Mac. has done very well in the last few years and is aided by being in city like Minneapolis that has been booming. I think of Mac students as being more practical and pre-professional because the location allows students to intern at various local business and organizations. Also, the Mac students appear to be more diverse and reflect changing Minneapolis demographics, and there are strong international studies programs. Mac is known to give merit scholarships to strong students so that the cost of attending would be comparable to attending a state school.

Mac is technically in St Paul. Probably not a big distinction if you live here, but people there don't like them confused! Obviously you could still do an internship in Minneapolis.

As a an alum I think Carleton is a little quirkier than Mac, and embraces the quirkiness. But in a recent conversation with a Mac alum he thought Mac was quirkier. Maybe it speaks well to both schools - I'm not a quirky person and was happy at Carleton, he is a quirky person and was happy at Mac.

See how nice people are when discussing these schools? This is not typical of DCUM. This should tell you something about Midwesterners.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Carleton is located in Northfield about 45min to an hour outside of MSP. Macalester is located in the city. In terms of FA, Carleton is need based only (at least it was in 2016 when we toured) so that put it out of the running for us. Hard to describe, but I found Mac to be 'nicer' the faculty and staff we interacted with were very nice and warm. My son found some of the Carleton stuff off-putting (introduce yourself as your spirit animal for example).

spirit animal lol!!

look, that aside -- they are both great schools -- it's a wonderful situation to be in

Kind of funny, because in every “woke” circle I know, asking someone what their spirit animal is is like Woke 101 DO NOT EVER DO. It is considered derogatory cultural appropriation if Native Americans.
https://www.dictionary.com/e/stop-using-in-2020/

Beyond mere animals, today people claim their spirit animals to be everything from avocado toast to the movie Deadpool. They mean to imply that they relate with something or deeply love something. But using the term spirit animal in such a way is not only overdone, it’s also offensive.

The problem is that spirit animals are an important part of the belief system of some cultures and refer to a spirit that “helps guide or protect a person on a journey and whose characteristics that person shares or embodies.” Referring to Baby Yoda as your spirit animal is actually cultural appropriation, so next time you go to type this on social media, try one of these fun synonyms instead.

Better alternatives:

Baby Yoda is my kindred spirit.
Pistachio ice cream is my raison d’être.
I’ve flipped over that movie; it is my new BFF.
That piano-playing cat is my daemon.

Merit scholarships is a big difference. Carleton doesn’t give them; there are a handful of endowed scholarships for MN students mostly.

My son is at Carleton now and is sad to be away from campus. Toured both and felt Macalester was more pre-professional than Carleton with lots of talk about how many students do multiple internships while enrolled. I saw that as a plus but he didn’t.

He has his eyes set on graduate school and Carleton has a very strong track record for placing students in good programs. I honestly don’t know how Macalester does with that, or if it matters to your kid.

No talk of spirit animals during our visit or since he’s been enrolled (I just asked).

Carleton is a more intellectual place and generally involves more class work in comparison to Mac. I think of Carelton as being University of Chicago light. Also, Carleton is on the trimester (also called quarter at other schools), so students are taking 3 classes 3 times a year (so nine-classes annually) versus 4 classes twice a year (8 classes annually on average on the semester system). Carleton has one of the strongest computer science departments in liberal arts colleges, and has one of the highest rates of women graduating with science majors in country.

Mac. has done very well in the last few years and is aided by being in city like Minneapolis that has been booming. I think of Mac students as being more practical and pre-professional because the location allows students to intern at various local business and organizations. Also, the Mac students appear to be more diverse and reflect changing Minneapolis demographics, and there are strong international studies programs. Mac is known to give merit scholarships to strong students so that the cost of attending would be comparable to attending a state school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Carleton is located in Northfield about 45min to an hour outside of MSP. Macalester is located in the city. In terms of FA, Carleton is need based only (at least it was in 2016 when we toured) so that put it out of the running for us. Hard to describe, but I found Mac to be 'nicer' the faculty and staff we interacted with were very nice and warm. My son found some of the Carleton stuff off-putting (introduce yourself as your spirit animal for example).

spirit animal lol!!

look, that aside -- they are both great schools -- it's a wonderful situation to be in

Okay, totally weird.

We were very impressed with Mac when we visited last year. I agree that it’s a college on the move. Very proud of their international focus and students from all around the world—which means the coming year will be tough on the budget. (True to some degree for most schools, of course.) Located in a very pretty section of St. Paul that feels a bit like NW DC.

Anonymous wrote:Carleton is located in Northfield about 45min to an hour outside of MSP. Macalester is located in the city. In terms of FA, Carleton is need based only (at least it was in 2016 when we toured) so that put it out of the running for us. Hard to describe, but I found Mac to be 'nicer' the faculty and staff we interacted with were very nice and warm. My son found some of the Carleton stuff off-putting (introduce yourself as your spirit animal for example).

spirit animal lol!!

look, that aside -- they are both great schools -- it's a wonderful situation to be in

Anonymous wrote:


My DH went to Carleton and hated it for the SJW and ultra liberal agenda. YRMV

I think that is a problem for many schools. The political balance wasn't there 40 years ago when I went. That said, I think Carleton actually does a good of maintaining freedom of thought.

Anonymous wrote:Carleton is located in Northfield about 45min to an hour outside of MSP. Macalester is located in the city. In terms of FA, Carleton is need based only (at least it was in 2016 when we toured) so that put it out of the running for us. Hard to describe, but I found Mac to be 'nicer' the faculty and staff we interacted with were very nice and warm. My son found some of the Carleton stuff off-putting (introduce yourself as your spirit animal for example).

My DH went to Carleton and hated it for the SJW and ultra liberal agenda. YRMV

One is urban and the other is small town. Probably the vibes are similar. Carleton is a major PhD producer. Both Minnesota nice with a sense of humor. I get the sense the sense that Macalester is moving up in the world. Carleton is the best LAC in the Midwest and has a high proportion of CS/Science majors. (Of course I am biased.) I think Carleton is very comparable to Swarthmore. I would say the best departments are Chemistry and Geology. If you are interested in both, I would suggest looking at Grinnell, which is much like Carleton, both with a large endowment such that they offer merit aid. If, instead, it is decision day, you can't go wrong with either and if you don't have a specific point of comparison that you are interested in, I would go by urban vs rural.

Anonymous wrote:Carleton is located in Northfield about 45min to an hour outside of MSP. Macalester is located in the city. In terms of FA, Carleton is need based only (at least it was in 2016 when we toured) so that put it out of the running for us. Hard to describe, but I found Mac to be 'nicer' the faculty and staff we interacted with were very nice and warm. My son found some of the Carleton stuff off-putting (introduce yourself as your spirit animal for example).

Helpful - TY

Carleton is located in Northfield about 45min to an hour outside of MSP. Macalester is located in the city. In terms of FA, Carleton is need based only (at least it was in 2016 when we toured) so that put it out of the running for us. Hard to describe, but I found Mac to be 'nicer' the faculty and staff we interacted with were very nice and warm. My son found some of the Carleton stuff off-putting (introduce yourself as your spirit animal for example).

What's the difference in the vibe of each place?

TIA