Macalester College is a private school in St. Paul, Minnesota. With an urban setting important to its character, Macalester has an undergrad population of about 2,000 students. There are no graduate students and the majority of kids study abroad at some point in their college career. They also have cross-program offerings with four other liberal arts schools in the state. The acceptance rate is 32%. Below, we offer some advice on how to tackle the supplement:
Macalester is one of few highly selective liberal arts colleges located in the middle of a metropolitan area. Students benefit from the strong sense of community on campus and opportunities to engage in academic, social, and civic engagement options in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Have you thought about how Macalester's location might impact your experience? If so, in what ways? 500 words
Wow. We don’t like this question so much. It’s often challenging to write about location-specific details because they rarely factor in the college decision too much. In other words, most students we know pick a school based on myriad factors including the academics, the social life, the prestige, the size, or the overall vibe. With a few notable exceptions (Tulane, the University of Hawaii….), the location isn’t always—and in fact is rarely-- the make or break…especially when that location is the urban center of St. Paul, Minnesota.
We digress.
We recommend thinking of this question as simply, “why Macalester?” The objective of any “why x school” essay should be to draw a clear connection between you and that school by way of academics. We encourage our students to develop an academic area of expertise throughout high school that informs, not only their coursework, but also their extracurriculars. You should position yourself as an expert in a specific area. First, write about how you came to love that academic niche, an origin story, if you will. This can (and should) be a simple tale. If your area of expertise is architecture, talk about how you used to look up the blueprints for all the houses in your neighborhood as a kid. If you’re into economics, talk about how you wrote a report on the DJI when you were in 8th grade that enthralled you.
Next, identify the major or program that correlates to your academic niche. Talk about some of the upper-level courses available within that major and why they interest you. Consider talking about a professor and the research they’ve conducted. The key is to be specific about your area of expertise. You should also talk about the relevant extracurriculars. Finally, because this is a location-specific prompt, focus on—you guessed it-- the location. This might require some additional research for you and that’s fine. If Macalester is a fit, they’re supplement and the research about the city and the community should be interesting to you. Find something about the location that connects or speaks to you, ideally regarding your academic area of expertise, but also regarding the culture and the life of the city itself.
However you choose to answer the prompt, consider that the objective is to create a Venn Diagram between you and Macalester and the overlap (which should be a wide overlap) comes from the academic offerings at the school and your academic passions.
Need some help writing a great essay? Reach out to us. We’re experts at tackling the Common App.