<p>We live near Albany and when my daughter was at Lafayette ('12) she usually took the Transbridge bus to NYC and then Amtrak upriver. Sometimes she’d hitch a ride with a friend who lived in North Jersey, then take NJ Transit and Amtrak home.</p>
<p>Hi, I was wondering if I could ask a question about the students at Lafayette… As a very shy person, I often have a difficult time meeting people. One of the things that attracted me to Lafayette in the first place, aside from the wonderful things I’ve heard from my counselor about its writing program, was that it sounds like it has a really wonderful feeling of community. Do you have an opinion on whether a more timid, bookish individual would fit well into that community? I’d really like to become more outgoing and would love to find a college warm enough to facilitate that change.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for your time!! It’s really awesome of you to volunteer to answer so many questions.</p>
<p>Short answer, yes.</p>
<p>I’ve never had an issue with people not being accepting. I too was shy (and didn’t speak much for the first month) and still am geekish. I spend weekends in my room and not that social but I never have an issue when I need to talk to someone or when I hang out with people. You find people lots of different ways: class, dorm, clubs, etc etc. usually works out great one way or another.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the reply!! That makes me feel a ton better.</p>
<p>Andromedatonks, if your screen name indicates your interest, you should check out the quidditch club. You will probably find a few others like you.</p>
<p>lotsofquests: Thanks!! As you guessed, I’m a huge Harry Potter fan, so that sounds awesome.</p>
<p>Hi… anyone have any info about the nature and content, questions for the off campus interview ? Has anyone had an off campus interview experience they can share ? Any points to emphasize or be aware of ? We’ve been told that the interview can take the place of the essay on the supplemental application… true ? Thanks for any and all insights</p>
<p>This is likely a question for admissions, but I would like to get your opinion. If a student applies ED, what are the advantages? I see that the average SAT scores are lower for the ED group, and that the percentage of students accepted is higher out of the ED pool than the reg decision group, but are you still eligible for the Marquis scholarship and others? Maybe I read it wrong, but it stated that Marquis annoucements went out April 1st. So are ED candidates eligible for that as well? Thanks for any insight! My d really enjoyed our visit there, and is almost sure it is her first choice (still not 100%, but getting there).</p>
<p>My D was accepted ED to Lafayette and recently stated her freshman year (and is loving it). After an extensive search and a a few visits to campus, my daughter felt certain that Lafayette was the right school for her. As was saw it, the advantages of ED are: (1) as you can see from the statistics published by admissions, it is slightly easier to get in to the school (the same person could get in as an ED applicant and be deferred or possibly denied as a RD applicant) but more importantly for her (2) she was able to lock in an admission to her top choice school in December which took a lot of stress off of the rest of her senior year-- she felt settled and thrilled with her choice. But, only someone who is sure that a particular school is his or her top choice should consider an ED application.</p>
<p>I believe that the same scholarships are available to ED and RD applicants, but hopefully someone can answer that question with more certainty.</p>
<p>@momto2013grad:</p>
<p>I’d suggest you email someone in admissions for that. I feel like it’s best to get this particular info from a college official rather than the forum. Here’s a link to the staff page in admissions (It has the email addresses in it): [Meet</a> the Staff Admissions Lafayette College](<a href=“http://admissions.lafayette.edu/meet-the-staff/]Meet”>http://admissions.lafayette.edu/meet-the-staff/)</p>
<p>Thanks Sixstring and happy1, I figured it was best to ask an admissions person as well, I just didn’t know if anyone here would have personal insight. </p>
<p>Does Lafayette allow overnight visits? That would likely seal the deal I think. She is in the process of scheduling an interview. She loved the tour we had in summer, but any campus is different in summer than when classes are in session. And usually they are much more impressive with actual student activity.</p>
<p>Happy1, so glad to hear your daughter loves it there! I’ve read on CC that some people regret applying ED, since when their friends are all getting their acceptances and offers in April they feel left out. But I agree with your daughter, I think having that decision made early would be a good thing!</p>
<p>Momto2013grad, my S did not apply ED or rolling admission to any school and things got a bit tense in the spring when ALL of his IB classmates had at least one admit and he was still waiting to hear. Laf does allow overnites but they must be arranged in advance; we requested too late and did not get one.</p>
<p>ED admits would receive a separate notification about the Marquis while my regular admit S received his notification with his acceptance letter.</p>
<p>My son is a junior now. First semester he questioned his decision, second semester he decided to stay. . . .now he doesn’t want to come home for summers anymore. It definitely was the right place for him.</p>
<p>@momto2103grad - As lotsofquests said, the overnights must be arranged well in advance. We were a little late in arranging things for an overnight, but my D was able to shadow a student for a day (from like 8AM-4PM or so) and that was enough to seal the deal for her. She interviewed on campus one day, we stayed in a hotel that night, and she shadowed a student the next day. My D was happy for her friends who had choices in April (other friends committed ED to various schools), but she was thrilled with the choice she made to apply ED to Lafayette. Again, I do think that unless a student feels strongly about a school, then he or she should not apply ED.</p>
<p>Thanks again for the feedback. She says she is sure about Lafayette, but she said that about two other schools as well. After the first tour, that was the school she wanted. Next tour, nope that was now the school. Lafayette was the last tour we did. Granted, in between were other tours that were definite no’s. Did your D go throught the same flip flopping before she knew for sure?</p>
<p>It is getting down to the wire, and I just want to make sure she doesn’t change her mind again. I think there is one last big college fair locally in October. If after that, she is still sure, I feel ED would be the way to go. I grew up roughly 20 min from Easton and still have all my immediate family in the area (another bonus for her to go there since she grew up seeing them only 2 times a year, it would give her a chance to connect some more with that side of her family). So having a place to stay for visits is pretty easily arranged!</p>
<p>She fell in love with the school during the engineering session of the tour. In fact, it changed her whole mindset about what to major in. I have to admit, the session did make it sound really exciting. Our guide was great, and the school showed very well, even without many students around. </p>
<p>I was a little concerned when our the guide mentioned there was not too much within walking distance for variety of places to eat when you get tired of the dining halls. They mentioned that the big treat is going to WaWa. Since we don’t have that chain here, I took her to a WaWa for a sub later that weekend, and she loved it. She said it actually was another bonus for going to Lafayette!</p>
<p>It is so good to read how happy your S’s and D’s are there.</p>
<p>@momto2013grad</p>
<p>Just butting in on the conversation since engineering came up.</p>
<p>I honestly don’t care about any activities on campus, all the facilities and what not. The thing that matters most to me is the faculty and engineering. I love engineering and I feel like Lafayette’s small class sizes, even in engineering, makes it much more awesome. I drop by professors’ offices all the time and I’ve learnt a lot from them outside of class. Because it’s a small, undergrad only school, I also get to do research. I did research with a professor in the summer of 2011 and summer of 2012 and I’m doing research this entire academic year! It’s simply incredible for me.</p>
<p>sixstringrocker - that sounds 100% what she is looking for! </p>
<p>The prof that did the session was very clear on what Lafayette engineering was and what it wasn’t. We both learned so much in an hour presentation. After listening to him, and the examples he gave, her whole outlook changed on what she wanted. What you described as your experience is exactly what he described as what Lafayette is good at offering. Thanks for confirming that everything we learned at the tour is true.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure I know who you’re talking about (the prof). That guy inspired me to study engineering. I took 3 classes with him and every moment was awesome. He’s one of the best professors at Lafayette. Best part? He never lies, or try to oversell Lafayette. He tells you exactly what it is, and how it is.</p>
<p>@bookbuddy I suggest you go for Lafayette! You have a chance Lafayette > Colby in terms of what you can offer. Goodluck!</p>
<p>@momto2013grad - Just to jump in, i also havea 2013 grad, and we had a similar question about the fact that the school felt so good after, in our case, an Open House. But I can tell you when my older son decided he wanted to transfer and we decided to visit rather last minute, we couldn’t organize anything other than a tour/info session and a last minute interview. He got the same great feeling that his younger brother did. He is now at Laf and I can tell you that he feels, if anything, that it is even more friendly than he expected. Sixstringrocker is right about there always being folks around. He is also really enthusiastic about Engineering now. I am sure whatever your daughter decides, it will work well for her.</p>
<p>Sixstringrocker - definitely sounds like the same prof. His presentation was so…I don’t know the right word…maybe “real”? </p>
<p>Gvamom - thanks! After all the positive remarks about Laf’s engineering program, I am leaning more and more towards her applying ED (she already wants to and ultimately it is up to her, I was the one who was leery of ED). But after all the positive comments, I think I see her point that it is the right place for her, and to do what gives her the best shot at getting in. Here’s to hoping all the pieces fall into place!</p>