<p>Want to know if there's a good diversity there and what words would you use to describe this school, preppy, liberal, conservative...? What are other colleges which fall into the same category? Thanks!</p>
<p>Lafayette is renowned at having very little diversity. At 83% white, it may be less diverse than almost any top 50 LAC. I would say it's considered preppy and conservative, although (along with Bucknell & Union) is one of the only LACs to offer engineering. As far as same category of school, I would say Colgate, Middlebury, Hamilton, Colby come in at the high end and F&M, Dickinson, Gettysburg, URichmond at the low end with Bucknell, Trinity & Lehigh slighly better peers and Union & Skidmore as slighly lower peers.</p>
<p>I'm a mom with one in college and one applying next year.</p>
<p>It's my impression that schools like Lafayette (liberal arts colleges a step below the top-ranked ones) tend to attract a very affluent population. Families who are not so affluent (such as my family) tend to decide that the cost of attending such a college, as opposed to a much cheaper but comparably prestigious flagship state university, is not worth it. </p>
<p>This is not to say that Lafayette and its peers are not good schools and nice places to spend four years. They certainly are. But I think that socioeconomic diversity is likely to be lacking, and I can definitely see where the "preppy" label comes from.</p>