Located in one of Minnesota’s Twin Cities, Macalester students often refer to St. Paul’s Grand Avenue area as the “Mac Bubble.” The nearby restaurants, galleries, and other hot spots often keep students within a six-block radius of their campus, and some find that the winter chill further inhibits their meanderings. Still, motivated students will venture out into St. Paul and Minneapolis, and many Twin Cities attractions are only a ten- or fifteen-minute drive from campus.

With seven academic buildings, ten residence halls, five language houses, a library, and a tech center, Macalester’s St. Paul campus is cozy. With Macalester’s endowment rising, the university is renewing its commitment to upgrading its facilities. A new campus center was opened in 2001, and a new athletic facility, the Leonard Center, opened in 2008. Also in the works is an Institute for Global Citizenship.

Macalester requires its students to live on campus for the first two years of their academic careers. There are eight residence halls on campus: -Dupre Hall, a freshman and sophomore dorm, was built in 1962. Housing around 260 students, this is Macalester’s largest dorm. -Turck Hall houses 180 first-year students. -Doty Hall, a freshman dorm, is one of two residence halls on campus to have single-sex floors. -Bigelow Hall was built in 1947 and features single-sex and co-ed apartments. -GDD Hall is a dorm composed of four- to six-person suites. Sophomores, juniors, and seniors typically -live here. -30 Macalester St. is one of the newer dorms on campus, and is handicap accessible. -Wallace Hall, built in 1907, is Macalester’s oldest dorm. -Kirk Hall houses upperclassmen. It is divided into nine co-ed and single-sex sections. There are also specialty housing options at Macalester: -Veggie (Vegetarian) Co-op -Cultural House -Hebrew House (part of Kirk Hall) -All-Gender Housing (part of Kirk Hall) -Eco-House -Language Houses: German, Japanese, Russian, French, and Spanish

Macalester isn’t as sports-crazy as some other colleges. The Scots compete in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Conference and are an NCAA Division III school. Students do seem to rally around the men’s and women’s soccer teams, and you can often find a bunch of people cheering on their friends at matches, but most sports get minimal attention from the general student body. Intramural offerings range from ultimate Frisbee to dodgeball, and there are many casual athletes on campus who participate. Macalester's football team used to hold the record for the longest losing streak in division III, but so far this season they've already won a few games and are hoping to pick up their first winning season in years.