<p>Hi MissPickwickian,
One of my sons applied to and was accepted by Lawrence last year. He ended up going elsewhere, but it was a very, very close tie with Lawrence. We both loved that sweet little school! MilwDad was a great resource at that time, too. He knows of what he speaks!</p>
<p>Since these poor little Lawrence threads seem to get so little traffic, I thought I’d put in my two cents – just for fun. Of course, I can’t be too informative, since my son didn’t end up attending, but I can tell you about our impressions during our 3 visits. If you’ve already visited a few times yourself, then I’m sure I won’t be of any help at all. But in case you haven’t…</p>
<p>We really liked what we saw. In regards to your line of questioning, Lawrence seemed to be a very caring, very personalized, very attentive campus. I do remember a few people mentioning their on-campus health clinic while we were visiting, but I don’t remember any specific mention of counseling services. Naturally, that doesn’t mean they don’t have them, but we didn’t think to ask. That would be an easy one to answer with a quick phone call to Lawrence, though.</p>
<p>(Btw, the school my son did choose makes kind of a big deal about their great on-campus clinic and free counseling services. However, we learned mid-fall-semester of his freshman year that they were way too inundated with students in a kind of dire need of services – we were told drinking problems – to offer services to my son when he felt he needed them. He had his first bout of anxiety attacks ever, and a family friend/counselor we know in our home town tried to get him an appointment to see the campus counseling staff. No such luck. No matter, as it turned out. He came home for a long weekend, saw the family friend/counselor instead of his campus staff, and learned enough self-awareness and coping skills to keep the newfound anxiety attacks at bay. Anyway, point being, we have learned that even if the campus HAS the services, and even if they “boast” about the availability of the services, that doesn’t mean your kid will be able to use the services! We both still love his school, though!)</p>
<p>While on campus, we spoke to and about willing and able professors, organized tutoring, and attentive academic advisors while we were there. We both felt very comfortable about the resources, care, and attention my son would/could get in all these areas. It is a very cozy, very personal, very kind and down-to-earth environment, we thought.</p>
<p>My son was applying as a music conservatory student as well as a classics major. It was clear at every music school he applied to, including Lawrence, that the student body is quite diverse in terms of personality and sexual orientation. We did not notice a lot of diversity in terms of color at Lawrence, but we did meet international students from several different countries. As with most music schools he applied to, there were lots of Asian and Caucasian skin colors, but in all honestly, we don’t remember seeing a lot of other “color.” We got the definite impression that diversity in all areas is not only tolerated, but very welcome. But since you asked, we did not see a whole range of color while visiting. Regarding diversity in terms of abilities … well, we noticed that a lot of people at Lawrence were a little “quirky” and “intellectual” in that non-stuffy, entertaining way that we absolutely love! But we got the impression that the kids were mostly smart and very capable, though certainly unique and individual. I’m not quite sure what you mean by diverse in ability – and I’m not sure the kids we met were that. Diverse in interests, for sure. In ability? Don’t know.</p>
<p>Lawrence struck us as a VERY quiet, very safe campus. We just loved the atmosphere! We were able to enter 3 different dorms on our visits. They were all certainly livable and nice enough. One was less aesthetically appealing than the other two. All were roomy and comfortable enough. One was very roomy and charming. The upper class dorms were gorgeous from the outside and from the lobbies. Don’t know enough of anything else to comment here.</p>