@citymama9 - my DD is a sophomore at Lafayette- loves it. She also had applied to Bucknell and Richmond interestingly enough. Happy to answer any questions you or she may have about Lafayette.
@citymama9 I have one at Lafayette and one at Bucknell. Both kids have had great experiences. The Lafayette kid started in engineering and now seems to be moving to history and math. The senior at Bucknell is all about the arts at a school that is not particularly known for that and has had a wonderful experience. Different vibes between those two colleges for sure though.
@myjanda and @momofzag Thanks! I will send you messages at some point. Lots of questions for you both:) In the meantime, can I ask you if my take on Lafayette was accurate or off base? Thanks again.
@momofzag how would you describe each vibe?
My take is that while there are many similarities between the two, Lafayette has a bit more laid back, down to earth vibe than Bucknell. I personally prefer Lafayette’s more architecturally eclectic campus but I have the impression that the housing is a bit nicer, more modern at Bucknell (at least where my D has lived compared to my son). Lafayette’s library is spectacular though and they are building a new engineering facility. Bucknell has recently finished a cap campaign and has done quite a bit of campus building. Lafayette recently started a cap campaign and is gradually increasing the size of the student body to about 2900 I think. It may be that with both engineering and business at Bucknell that there is more of a pre professional vibe. Of course, Bucknell has a very robust Greek scene so if you don’t want that I would think twice about Bucknell. I like both Easton (small city) and lewisburg (small town) but Bucknell is definitely more remote from urban centers. My sense is there may be more obvious displays of wealth among students at Bucknell, maybe more privilege but both colleges seem to draw heavily from Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, etc. bottom line for me is that both kids are happy and thriving.
“She thought the tour guide was very good, but was disappointed that there seemed to be a lot of focus on science and engineering, two areas she has no interest in”
Science and engineering are big, but my daughter has many friends who are liberal arts majors and they quite happy. I would suggest looking at the course listings in her area of interest to make sure there are enough for her. Keep in mind that the kids only take 4 classes per semester not the ‘usual’ 5. My DD is a neuroscience and art major, and the school is pretty big on art actually, with a whole small campus devoted to it.
“My impression: I liked it in terms of the lovely campus and the laid back vibe. It seemed much less preppy and “perfect” than U of Richmond and Elon. I saw real diversity and a wide range of kids. Many seemed nerdy and jockish. It looked like a comfortable place to be a student.”
My daughter isn’t very preppy but you will definitely find plenty of preps on campus too and yes, plenty of jocks as well but smart ones. I definitely think they do a great job with diversity: my DD really has a mix of friends: one very close friend is a self professed nerdy Computer science geek who skipped two grades and rooms with two other very good friends of theirs who are from Africa (guys). My daughter goes to Greek events and just joined a sorority (many of her friends did not) but also attends all the theater and lecture on campus, like TED talks etc as well as events in Easton. For a big city kid like my other daughter, Easton would be boring but my daughter and her friend never run out of things to do during the days and evenings - Easton is really up and coming, with some very nice restaurants and festivals.
“We need to just find out more about what it’s like for non-stem students”. -
Non Stem students will definitely feel totally at home but conversely a smaller school (which also encompasses Bucknell, Elon and Richmond) will not offer the variety that a large university will of course.
Lastly, as momofzag mentioned, there are many plans underway on campus - in addition to the big life science building, lafayette has been in talks with the City and neighborhood to build new dorms, a new health center, bookstore (yes, the student union is a bit cramped) and diner right next to campus, so lots of great new things in store as well.
@myjanda and @momofzag My son toured Lehigh, which he liked, but was not able to tour Lafayette (tour co. organized) and at this point, we won’t be able to make a trip there since we are on the West Coast. Now it looks like he will be applying to Lafayette and I know “demonstrated interest” is important. Any thoughts on how not visiting will affect his application? His uncle is an alumnus if that helps.
I am glad to hear that Easton has some shops and restaurants because my husband thought the city did not have much going on.
Temple - Tyler School of Art definitely went up on the list. My son really connected with the faculty and students and the facilities are open, bright and impressive. It isn’t that often that you come across an art school within a large university with the diversity in mediums that he found at Tyler. I thought it might seem like they were just throwing things against a wall in order to look like they have so many options but after spending the day there during the tour and with students it feels like they are truly invested in each discipline. The only down side is that my son would like to concentrate on a path to game art and Tyler doesn’t truly have that focus.
My DD attended an open house day at Skidmore and was very impressed. Faculty, staff and students were engaging , informative and friendly. She loved the arts buildings. It was quite cold up there after a pretty warm fall where we are, but that didn’t seem to discourage her at all.
@stardustmom - its really hard to know how not visiting will affect one’s chances and we did tour Lafayette before applying. However, I’d like to think that a school takes into consideration that someone from the west coast may not easily make it to Easton PA and not penalize them. Lafayette does want to expand their student body from the NE so I would think being from a different part of the country would actually be something in your son’s favor. I’d suggest he reach out to the school just to ask them if they will be in your area anytime soon since he won’t be able to make it on campus. Or maybe he could meet an alum in your area. I think there is more than one way to show interest in a school.
Another very happy Lafayette mom here. My D graduated a couple of years ago and absolutely loved her experience (and she had a great outcome for grad school as well). I would echo what the above posters said about the school. I have said it may times before but I do feel that Lafayette has found that “secret sauce” that allows students to feel academically challenged and still find time to get involved in EC activities they care about, research work etc.
And from what I could gather there is no issue being a non-STEM major at Lafayette. One reson my D liked Lafayette was that she felt it was strong in both STEM and non-STEM disciplines. My D was a psychology major and a theater minor. She did take probably 8 STEM classes (biology, physics, chemistry, calculus) including one at a school in the consortium but that was largely for her own benefit. She had amazing teachers in a host of liberal arts disciplines such as theater, music, English, sociology etc. She had friends who did research with history and political science professors. She knew people who took a double major in art. There is no shortage of excellent teaching and learning opportunities. I do agree that looking through the course catalog and the classes offered could be helpful.
Easton has evolved into a decent little college town. There are plenty of restaurants, a small theater, bars (for the 21+ crowd) etc. There is a mall in Bethlehem, shuttles to stores and movie theaters etc. When kids want to get off campus, there are places to go.
In terms of demonstrated interest, I don’t think that Lafayette would expect a student from the west coast to visit necessarily. There are other ways to demonstrate interest such as: 1) join the mailing list, 2) if there are any presentations near you or college fairs that Lafayette is at you can try to go there, 3) definitely request an alumni interview which can be done locally, 4) in the supplement show an understanding of why you are a good fit for the college (go through the website can give a lot of information about the school), 5) if there are any questions that can’t be answered on the website then email your admissions officer.
If you have any questions at any point in the process feel free to PM me.
@myjanda and @happy1 Thanks for the feedback! Lafayette was on our list, but my son has not narrowed down his picks until recently so he missed the visit at our school and they don’t have anything coming up in our area. I will have him do some research when answering the supplementals.
Yippee! Four more colleges to report on!!! I think I have set a CC record for visiting the most in one day (one was a glorified drive through, see below.) Note that the weather was absolutely frigid, with a high of 23 today, and occasional flurries.
Syracuse: WAY UP! My son loved this school and it’s now in first place. He liked how the campus is in the city, but still feels self-contained. He liked that there were a ton of different things to do. He thought the kids seemed like him. He loves the sports vibe. I liked the kids, no one type of student, for sure. I also like that it has a good reputation. I was very pleasantly surprised.
Ithaca College: Probably off the list. Not really his type of kids I think. Absolutely no one was outside. Admittedly, it was terribly cold, but we saw many people outside at all the other schools we went to. I think he thought they were too wimpy for him, lol. Probably a little too much PHF (purple hair factor.) He also didn’t care for all the really modern architecture.
Cornell: This is pie in the sky, and we mostly went out of curiosity, and because we were visiting Ithaca College. But my son thought it was lovely and he was intrigued by the many different kids he saw on campus. We didn’t do a tour, but had a very extensive drive all around campus. He liked the mix of buildings and we both thought the town of Ithaca was super neat. This is the college that made him realize that he does like a nice campus. If he applies (in the event of a really good ACT score), it will be a Hail Mary.
Binghamton: On the list. I was sure I would hate this school and the town. In fact, both my son and I were, again, pleasantly surprised. We had a quick drive through the downtown area, which was pretty cool. Once on campus, we met a very friendly rep who gave us a mini tour. There were happy students everywhere, and it is very diverse, which is great. The campus is not lovely, but it is nicely laid out and not as bad as I thought it would be. We liked that the main campus is surrounded by the residential “villages.” This went from being not even thought of, to being on the list for sure.
@Lindagaf I went to Syracuse but it’s been many years since I’ve been there. At the time, the area around campus was pretty sketchy and I never really went off campus. That was fine with me but my D, who is applying there, likes having urban amenities. She loves studying in coffee shops and going out for ethnic food. She’s never seen the campus but had an interview in San Francisco recently. I was talking to the Admissions rep while she was interviewing and was told that the area around campus was now trendy and fun for students. Did you get this impression?
@Marcie123 We’ve visited Syracuse and although it didn’t remain on my DD’s list, we walked around the off campus area easily and without concern. There were many shops, stores and restaurants. We know people who go there and they are very happy with their choice.
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Not sketchy at all. In fact, my son really liked that the university just felt like part of the neighborhood. @Marcie123
@WWC4me and @Lindagaf thank you for the updates. It’s good to know that the surrounding areas have improved. Now she’ll need to decide if her California blood can handle Syracuse winters!
I went there two years ago with my younger daughter and frankly felt that the area around M street seemed almost the same as when I was a student there in the 80’'s- gritty casual college scene- no worse and no better- filled with students eating shopping and getting coffee.
What had changed however was downtown Syracuse. There was a totally gentrified section- forget the name- that was VERY cool and hip. Not walking distance to the school but seemed to be a mix of well heeled adults and college kids. Definitely fun
It’s kind of amazing how quickly a college neighborhood can change. F’rex, I was a grad student at Penn, and the neighborhood around the school (particularly in the direction of my apartment…) wasn’t precisely dangerous, but was certainly iffy (and I’d’ve probably called it straight-up dangerous if I wasn’t a tall male). I left the area in 1999, and heard a couple years later that a lot of work was going into improving the area—and when I came back to campus for a research conference in (I think it was) 2007, I was stunned by how much better it had gotten in less than a decade,
(Unfortunately, it can go the other way, as well.)
@dfbdfb I’m Penn 86. There were clear lines you didn’t cross (much past 42 except for Koch’s or on Spruce for Murphy’s Tavern (fuzzy on that name but great cheap beer). I was on campus last year for a tour with my son and was blown away by how much it has all changed. Still urban with some sketchy parts but oh so different! 