Macalester College is a private liberal arts school with about 2,200 students that boasts a six- year graduation rate of 91%. Among other distinctions, it has long been known for its international emphasis: 94 countries are represented in its student body, and nearly 60% of its students participate in study-abroad programs at some point.
Its alumni reflect Macalester’s worldliness, too. Among them are the late Walter Mondale, former U.S. Vice President and ambassador to Japan, and Kofi Annan, former secretary general of the United Nations and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. Other notable alumni include National Book Award-winning novelist Tim O’Brien and DeWitt Wallace, the founder of Reader’s Digest.
Purely an undergraduate school, Macalester offers nearly 40 majors and has small classes, on average, with a student-faculty ratio of 10 to 1. For extracurriculars, Mac students have more than 100 clubs and organizations to choose from as well as many opportunities for civic engagement in the Twin Cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, which are about a 10-minute drive from campus.
