Macalester College supplemental essays
Yes, but every one is optional. Macalester College prints two supplemental essays in 2026-27 and requires none of them. Common App. Personal statement required (250-650 words).
That is two supplements plus the Common App personal statement: three pieces of writing in all. Early Decision closes November 1, 2026, Early Action closes November 1, 2026 and Early Decision II closes January 1, 2027, with the rest in the table below. Every Macalester College prompt is printed on this page in full, with its word limit and who has to answer it, checked against the college’s own admissions page.
Deadlines
| Round | Date |
|---|---|
| Early Decision | November 1, 2026 |
| Early Action | November 1, 2026 |
| Early Decision II | January 1, 2027 |
| Regular Decision | January 15, 2027 |
Checked against www.macalester.edu/admissions/apply/firstyear. Confirm on the college’s own page before you submit.
The essays, 2026-27
Optional · Not stated by Macalester
Macalester is one of the few highly selective liberal arts colleges located in the heart of a metropolitan area. Identify one way Macalester’s location in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul would enhance your academic, social, or community experience.
Macalester says only "The Macalester member section has two optional essay prompts specific to Macalester" and gives no word limit. CollegeVine's 2025-26 Macalester guide lists 300 words per prompt, but with materially different Prompt 1 wording, so do not copy that limit as if Macalester stated it.
Get a free read on this essayPaste your draft, see the verdict before you pay.No draft yet? Pick a topic for this promptOptional · Not stated by Macalester
Four values guide Macalester’s mission: academic distinction, internationalism, multiculturalism, and service to society. Guided by these values, Macalester is a learning environment that affirms different identities and experiences and prepares graduates to work toward a more just and peaceful world. In what ways do your lived experiences, perspectives, or hopes for your college education connect with Macalester’s mission and community?
Apostrophes in "Macalester’s" are curly (U+2019) in the source, reproduced verbatim.
Get a free read on this essayPaste your draft, see the verdict before you pay.No draft yet? Pick a topic for this prompt
Your Macalester College checklist
Two supplements, all optional. The first deadline, Early Decision, is November 1, 2026.
- Common App personal statementRequired250-650 words
- Supplement 1OptionalNot stated by Macalester
- Supplement 2OptionalNot stated by Macalester
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Getting into Macalester College
Macalester College admits 28.5% of applicants. The middle 50% of enrolled students scored 1350-1510 on the SAT and 30-34 on the ACT.
About 1 in 4 applicants are admitted, at a college of 2,131 undergraduates.
| Enrolled students | 25th | Median | 75th |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAT total | 1350 | 1440 | 1510 |
| SAT reading and writing | 680 | 720 | 750 |
| SAT math | 670 | 720 | 760 |
| ACT composite | 30 | 32 | 34 |
What SAT score do you need for Macalester College?
A 1510 puts you in the top quarter of the students who enrolled, a 1440 at their midpoint, and a 1350 at the bottom quarter, meaning one in four enrolled students scored below it. The same three points on the ACT are 30, 32 and 34. A quarter of an enrolled class scoring under the 25th percentile is not a rounding error, so a score below the range is a reason to strengthen the rest of the application rather than a reason not to apply.
US Department of Education, College Scorecard (2026-09-17). Percentiles describe students who enrolled, not everyone admitted. SAT totals are the reading and math bands added together, which is how every source in this market reports them and is an approximation of about 10 to 20 points, because the two sections are correlated.
- What SAT score do you need for Macalester College?
- Macalester College sets no minimum. Among students who enrolled, the middle 50% scored 1350-1510 on the SAT: a 1350 sits at the 25th percentile, 1440 at the median and 1510 at the 75th. A score at or above 1510 is a clear strength in the application; below 1350 it is the part of the file the rest has to make up for. These are the figures Macalester College reports to the US Department of Education, released in the College Scorecard of 2026-09-17.
- What ACT score do you need for Macalester College?
- The middle 50% of enrolled students scored 30-34 on the ACT, with a composite of 32 at the median. There is no cutoff: a quarter of the enrolled class scored below 30. Reported by Macalester College to the US Department of Education, College Scorecard release of 2026-09-17.
- What GPA do you need for Macalester College?
- The honest answer is that the federal data behind this page does not contain one. Colleges report their admit rate and their enrolled students' test scores to the Department of Education; they do not report a GPA distribution, so any site quoting an exact average GPA for Macalester College is either reading that college's own Common Data Set or estimating. What the reported data does say is that Macalester College admits 28.5% of applicants, and the more selective a college is, the closer to the top of the class its admitted students sit and the more the strength of your course load counts alongside the number itself.
- How hard is it to get into Macalester College?
- Macalester College admits 28.5% of the people who apply, which is about 1 in 4 applicants. Numbers inside the reported range put you in a real position here, and the application itself decides the rest.
What Macalester College costs after grant aid, by family income, from the same federal data.
Sort your whole college list into reaches, targets and likelies, or find colleges that fit your GPA and test scores. Both are free and neither needs an account.
Macalester College essay questions, answered
- Does Macalester College have supplemental essays?
- Yes, but every one is optional. Macalester College prints two supplemental essays in 2026-27 and requires none of them. Every prompt is printed in full on this page. Word limits: Not stated by Macalester.
- How many essays do you write for Macalester College in 2026-27?
- Two supplements, plus the Common App personal statement.
Schools with similar admit rates
Macalester College admits 28.5% of applicants. The colleges either side of it in our set by admit rate, most selective first, each with its own prompts and deadlines: University of Texas at Austin (26.6%), Villanova University (27.0%), Franklin & Marshall College (28.2%), Bucknell University (28.9%), Trinity College (CT) (29.3%), Kenyon College (31.0%).