[1] Upon graduation, MacVicar was awarded a Rhodes scholarship, but it proved impossible for him to attend due to the outbreak of World War II.
[1] MacVicar earned a Master of Science in 1940, authoring a thesis entitled "The Effect of Adrenaline Injections on the Chloride and Phosphorus Distribution of the Blood".
[4] Following the conclusion of the war, MacVicar moved to Madison, Wisconsin, to attend the University of Wisconsin–Madison, from which he obtained a PhD in biochemistry in 1946.
[1] MacVicar's dissertation was entitled "The Boron Metabolism of Plants" and included material which he had been able to publish in the American Potato Journal and Botanical Gazette.
[1] In 1968, MacVicar was named chancellor of Southern Illinois University, located in the town of Carbondale in the state's downstate coal mining country.