McAtee served as a yell leader over a group called the "Howling Hundred", where he rallied students to attend games and even wrote fight songs to taunt the opposing team.
During his studies, McAtee spent a summer working in Washington, D.C. rearranging a collection of North American and Mexican bird specimens.
This summer job introduced McAtee to members of the United States Department of Agriculture, who offered him a position while he was still an undergraduate.
[3] McAtee served his professional career from 1904 to 1947 with the Bureau of Biological Survey of the US Department of Agriculture, and later in the successor agency, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
McAtee helped develop the Division of Food Habits Research within the Bureau of Biological Survey and served as its first director.
[3] McAtee retired in 1947 and lived in Chapel Hill, North Carolina until he died from stomach cancer on January 7, 1962, at the age of 78.
In 1938, McAtee was named one of the 130 zoologists to be "starred" in the magazine "American Men of Science", having been voted by his colleagues as an outstanding scientist in the field.
In June 1961, McAtee received an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from his alma mater Indiana University.