I would describe Macalester as a tight knit community of really fun people. As a tour guide, there's a question I get a lot from students like, what's a typical Macalester student? And I think it's good that I have no answer for that, because you don't have to fit a mold to come here. Definitely, what surprised me about Macalester was kind of how collaborative everything is. It definitely feels like people are working together, rather than against each other. I never see people comparing their grades or achievements, but there's a lot of encouragement, and classes are just fun. The residential first year course program really helped my transition. So that basically meant that I was living with peers who were in my first year course. And this design really set up me with a community of peers that would later become some of my best friends at Macalester. So that really supported my transition to college. One of the great things about Macalester is how small the classes are, and the connections you can make with faculty. There have been so many times when I've just been invited to events, to dinners, to field trips with faculty-- small groups of people. I was kind of expecting something similar to New York where there's lots of sirens, lots of noise, major roads. Being present on campus, and just really realizing how much Macalester is located in an urban area. Even though we are a very small college, and it does have that small college feel-- experiencing and being able to visit different locations throughout the Twin Cities has been a really eye opening experience. What surprised me was the fact that it's so quiet here-- it's not very loud.
