<p>Looking for information about Drew University, Lafayette and York College. Anything would be helpful. These are the "localish" schools DD would like to visit.</p>
<p>Drew is a lovely small school in suburban Madison, N.J.
We have lived down the road for 20+ years but don't really know too much about the school itself, mostly the area.
We've been on the campus many times for "Shakespeare festival" performances and similar events. The campus is small and pretty with many tall trees and shady lawns. It is an easy walk to the Midtown Direct train station in Madison; a train to NYC is less than one hour. Madison is a friendly, safe, small town; but hardly a big college town.</p>
<p>Our son has attended a wonderful residential summer chamber music program at Drew several times.....they have just opened a very large new performing arts center, as well. We'll have a chance to check it out during the final instrumental performance this summer.</p>
<p>Hope some of this is useful. I'm sure many others will be able to tell you about Drew's programs!</p>
<p>Very impressive. Beautiful campus, happy students, great new sports facilities and library. There campus is at a top of the hill in avery nuice neighborhood and the twon at the bottom of the hill also seemed quite nice.</p>
<p>Lafayette is a very attractive campus, a "LAC" type school, but we visited because it is strong in Engineering as well. </p>
<p>It is a hillside campus, variety of traditional and contemporary architecture, predominantly red-brick. Lots of green space. It's relatively handy to Philadelphia (about an hour) and other colleges are nearby (Lehigh and Muhlenberg, in particular, so some folks may want to visit all three at once). It attracts a relatively strong student, but below HYPS/AWS level.</p>
<p>One striking impression for me was the welcoming nature of the campus. I also felt that this would be a great school for a student needing some "nurturing." It is a relatively small student body (2500ish?) and they emphasized that one can't get lost there. Profs will check in, via email or phone, with a student who's been awol from class. It didn't feel overbearing or big-brother, in that respect, but rather a place where you are not anonymous. Interestingly, my S - who is an independent sort - was not at all turned off by this (if, of course, he was paying attention ;)).</p>
<p>Since it's been a while since our visit, my memory fails. I believe almost all students live on campus all 4 years; Greek was present but not predominant. Atmosphere was casual, not much preppie factor to my eye.</p>
<p>We had an Outstanding sandwich at a little cafe on campus.</p>
<p>There is a 5 school consortium where students can take classes at Lafayette (Easton), Lehigh (Bethlehem) , Muhlenberg (Allentown), Moravian (Bethlehem), or DeSales (near Bethlehem). Easton itself is a nice sized City and has the State Theatre with good shows and some great places to eat, Crayola Factory, and some other touristy stuff. They had a couple of big floods in Easton this Spring that affected the downtown area but the college is up on a hill so was safe.</p>
<p>My niece visited Lafayette for engineering and she and her dad were very impressed. S visited it for economics, and was also impressed, but likes Colgate better. Lafayette is DI sports and is in the Patriot League with Bucknell, Colgate, Lehigh et al. Easton isn't too great of a town, but the Lafayette campus is great and there is easy bus service to NYC and Philadelphia.</p>
<p>The 3 schools are very different and don't share much in common except small size. </p>
<p>Lafayette, beautiful campus with easy access to major cities. It has a good reputation as a LAC and sciences incl. pre-med and engineering are strong for a small school. Fraternities and sororities are big.</p>
<p>Drew, a decent LAC not as well known as Lafayette. For my money I'd try TCNJ. One plus is proximity to NYC.</p>
<p>York, been there for high school soccer games. It's by far the most regional of your 3 schools and would be more a safety for the other 2. I don't think it's too selective, one advantage: low price for a private.</p>
<p>If you are looking at Lafayette and Drew, you might also look at Lehigh, Dickinson, F&M, Gettysburg, Ursinus, TCNJ.</p>
<p>I agree with what's been said about Lafayette, which was on my daughter's list. It's been a very good school for a long time, and they've been good about keeping up with physical and academic improvemements. I don't know the other schools first-hand.</p>
<p>i went to york.</p>
<p>And even graduated! Tell her more fendergirl! Any good news on the job search?</p>
<p>As a senior in high school, my D had taken the
York college freshmen writing course. She
got an A. COA @ York College is about 15K
which makes it very affordable for a private
school. They are currently building a new
athletic center and many of the other buildings
are relatively new. Student population is about
5000. Chances are good that you can receive
a full tution scholarship of 8K if you have around
1300 SAT score and apply before Jan. 1st.</p>
<p>My D is off to Bryn Mawr in 2 months.... didn't
want to take the free ride and live @ home.</p>
<p>Thank you all for the info about these three schools. DD has decided to visit Drew and Lafayette (although we think Lafayette is a bit of a reach....12/198 class rank, GPA 3.7 unweighted...higher weighted but has not been calculated, but SATs were 1200 for the CR and Math combined and she will retake in October, great ECs and very likely great references....any opinions??).</p>
<p>she can do better than drew. It's an ok school but not in the same league as lafayette. look at the other PA Lacs.</p>
<p>We visited Drew--don't think there's much wrong with it, nice campus, good options for off-campus semester, convenient to NYC, good college president, but somehow it was a bit lackluster, not exciting, and students made an underwhelming (but not negative) impression --nice kids but little evidence of drive or imagination.</p>
<p>DD is only looking at these northeast schools because we have told her she must apply to at least two schools nearer to home (in case she changes her mind about going far away). We know there are a ton of LACs in Pennsylvania and New York. BUT truthfully, she is not looking for a school in this part of the country...she is looking for schools that fit her needs and are closer to home than California and South Carolina....per parent request. She would like to find one or two schools in this area that she would be interested in attending IF she changes her mind about going far away. Also, the parents here would prefer a shorter drive (Drew is about 3 hours from where we live) than farther (York is too far away....about 5 1/2 hours). We live in Northwest CT.</p>
<p>Son is attending Lafayette in the fall. It is a beautiful campus, but offers so much more. The Marquis Scholar program was a huge incentive to attend--none of the other schools he was accepted to came close. The others were what we expected and truthfully were not bad, but Lafayette blew us away--not only is the money huge (and I'm talking scholarships and grants) but the Marquis includes a paid-for interim session trip abroad, special activities and dinners, etc. </p>
<p>It also helps that they have a very well respected program in his major of choice, with numerous opportunities for undergrads to participate in research. Lafayette is most definitely climbing the ranks in the ratings.</p>
<p>All of the staff that we have met and worked with through the admissions and orientation processes have been outstanding. Admissions staff, Dean of Students, professors--all willing to assist in any manner--and this was after the decision to go was made--not merely during the hard sell phase. </p>
<p>Son is very excited to go in August and we are very pleased with his choice.</p>
<p>we visited lafayette twice and came away very impressed with the campus, the academic programs and what we surmised to be the culture of the campus. for a small school they seem to have a large endowment. based on what we saw i'd assume the school has a very loyal group of alums.</p>