<p>So I am probably just tortuing myself at this point. My daughter has already decided on Gettysburg. We paid her deposit at the accepted students day and she got the orange dot and a sweatshirt. I just still have some lingering doubts and concerns...and if anyone can speak to them I would really appreciate it!!</p>
<p>I was kind of secretly hoping she would pick Lafayette College which I felt may have slightly better academics. She didn't truely give Lafayette a chance, mostly because we live about 15 minutes away from the campus and she knows a few people from her high school who go there and wanted to get a little further away from our small town. </p>
<p>I really like Gettysburg a lot, and I was getting very excited about her decision, but then the whole frat party scene issue came up again when I read an article in the Gettysburg student newspaper discussing the prevalence of the party scene. Now I have heard that this is also a problem at Lafayette, but I'm wondering how the two compare in this area.</p>
<p>Also if anyone can speak to the quality of academics and professors at the two schools. They seemed simialr from my research, but it is always hard to tell. My daughter is planning on majoring in English or Psycology, so the whole engineering school thing wasn't really a consideration for us. One plus for her was the presence of the Gettysburg Literary Magazine on campus at Gettysburg. She also felt there were possibly more writing opportunities at Gettysburg between the TV station and the online and print newspapers. Gettysburg also had an advantage for her due to having a marching band which Lafayette does not.</p>
<p>So I guess that is a long winded way to ask anyone to compare the greek/party scene and the quality of the academics/professors at the two schools. I am telling myself that she would mostly likely have a similar experience at either school. Do you think I am correct?</p>
<p>My son also got his orange dot this weekend. We were undecided until then. I think the greek scene from what I have heard is similar and both schools. I was worried about that myself. My tour guide the other day was not a part of Greek life and she still said she had alot to do on campus. I told my son he has a year to meet people and decide what he wants to do since they cant join in their first year anyway. If your daughter joins marching band she may not want to be involved in greek life. I hear the marching band is amazing.
I also had another school that may have been stronger academically but Gettysburg had a health science major that seemed to be a better fit for him. They also had the athletics he was looking for.
From what you said with the magazine and tv station it seems like a great fit for your daughter. As parents we just want our kids happy. Both schools are similar… I think sometimes it comes down to where they feel most comfortable. For my son it was Gettysburg. As a parents I can only pray for the best but I do feel like I will leaving him in August at a school I feel very good about. Good Luck!!</p>
<p>GCmom…Thanks for your reply. How did you like the accepted students day? I guess you must have enjoyed it since your son got that orange dot! I am always a little leary of these organized days. Sometimes I feel like they may be a little “put on”. Everyone was very nice and I thought it was very well run considering the amount of people there. I’m still worried about the greek thing, but it seems like that is an issue pretty much everywhere. Guess I’ll just have to deal with it and hope for the best!!</p>
<p>I can’t really conmpare the Greek scene between Gettysburg and Lafayette, but I can tell you that there are 11 fraternities at Gettysburg and only 5 at Lafayette. Lafayette once had a (pick one) vibrant/overbearing fraternity presence. That is old news. The Greek influence at Lafayette is hugely diminished from what it was only 10-15 years ago, but reputations take even longer to die. </p>
<p>As to what the presence of 11 fraternities at Gettysburg really means in terms of campus climate, I’ll leave that to those who are much more familiar with the school.</p>
<p>I concur with Hudson Valley. Lafayette considered eradicating Greek like altogether 15-20 years ago. Ultimately decided to leave a small Greek presence for historical purpose. Toda only 25-30% choose greek life after 2nd year rush. Alternatives to Greek living are more popular.</p>
<p>Well the article in the gettysburg campus paper painted a very unflattering picture of Greek Life on their campus. Frat guys judging if a girl is pretty enough, thin enough etc. to be admitted to their particular party on that given night…sort of made it seem like that was the only activity on campus. The whole thing made me feel very uneasy. You can imagine how disheartened I was. We had just spent the whole day on campus at the GAD event. I arrived home excited and hopeful for my daughter. And then I sat down to go over all the different reading materials we had picked up while there. I came across this article and it really was a let down. Did anyone else read it?</p>
<p>BTW, i don’t want to leave the wrong impression. Obviously we have been very impressed with Gettysburg College or we would not have gotten that orange dot!</p>