Macalester is a very unique institution in the sense that professors are here to teach rather than just to do research like at bigger universities. And you can really develop these personal relationships that not only lead to help with assignments and such, but you can also get, you know, jobs research opportunities. And so you always feel like you have someone to talk to you, I think, which is important.
Professors, faculty, will know their names. We'll be able to put a face to a name. We'll be able to treat them as individuals and not just as numbers.
I've gotten fairly close with a lot of my professors by just going to a lot of their office hours. And I feel like although the classes at Macalester are already extremely interesting, the conversations that I have with these professors in office hours really add a lot of depth to my education here.
They reward your work. They recognize it. There's a lot of one-on-one time in a way that's not coddling, like they really push you to grow.
They were all caring for me, and they're for me, which completely changed my expectation for professors who're only there for my classroom or teaching and homework.
The reason I chose Mac in the first place was because of how small the class sizes are. I came from schools that had large class sizes of 30 to 40 students, and it's helpful to learn from each other. It's also helpful when the educator knows your name, in terms of being able to make connections but also to have that time to talk about our lives as more than students and professors.
