<p>What can any one tell me about Lake Forest College outside of Chicago? What kind of kid goes there? What are the academics and career opportunities like?</p>
<p>DS#3 is checking it out--he is interested in LACs with a strong business/internatonal bent combined with the possibility of playing DIII soccer.</p>
<p>Bumping this old thread. I am interested in learning more about this school. Does anyone who reads CC attend who have a S/D who goes there?</p>
<p>My son had a former classmate from TX who went to LF and bailed after freshman year. It was too small and insular for him. I don't know too much about it other than that.</p>
<p>MOWC, Thanks. My son liked the small LACs that we visited. We think that he would like and do well at a smaller school, so the smaller size doesn't bother us. My son likes the idea of not being "trapped" on campus. A lot of LACs are rural, and my son won't have a car (for at least 2 years anyway). I think that he would like the idea of going to Chicago on occasion by train, but he does not "need" a city nearby. He just wants to be able to walk to a cafe, a movie, or a few stores, or he wants access to things by either public transit or college shuttle.</p>
<p>My husband went to Lake Forest (decades ago) and one of the things he loved was that he could hop the train to downtown Chicago when he wanted. He had a good education there and I think they have continued the tradition. When I worked in a Chicago prep school I met several faculty from there who were great teachers. I don't know any students who have gone there recently, but I've followed the school generally and continue to hear good things about it and definitely think it is worth a look. The opportunities for city internships is great, Chicago is a wonderful city, and the teaching there has the quality of any good LAC.</p>
<p>Lake Forest is a very upscale suburb, not a college town. Not really sure there are any cafes and stores that kids would like in walking distance.</p>
<p>D's friend went there freshman and sophomore years on heavy FA. He wound up hating it and is taking a year off. He won awards for academics, got into a frat, and even though popular because of his great personality, he said they were basically all rich, lazy, playboys. He has taken this year off and is transferring to another school this fall. He loved the area (beautiful on the lake), the ability to go into Chicago, etc., but financially, he was unable to keep up. He really wanted to have better academics too, but the grade inflation he said was huge, because if they gave real grades too large a percentage would fail.</p>
<p>Thanks all. Anybody else?</p>
<p>ejr, what you described about rich, lazy, playboys scares me. I had read about this being passed reputation, but perhaps not. On the bright side, at least he says that there is grade inflation. I read about 2 different private schools where students claim that there is grade deflation, and the students claim this is done so that nobody can transfer out! I find that scenario to be far worse, if it is true. I am going to do some detective work to try and find out! Was there pressure to spend a lot of money in the frats, or to go on winter and spring breaks to warm islands? What exactly was the financial pressure? I am concerned because we definitely could not keep up with those things either regardless of the financial package.</p>
<p>This school was included on one of our early lists and was dropped due to reputation as a party school.</p>
<p>My daughter and I visited Lake Forest, Northwestern and Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo Michigan last July. She had Lake Forest pegged as a safety, Kalamazoo as a match and Northwestern (journalism) as a significant reach. She had friends in Chicago and that made the area interesting to her even though we are from the northeast.</p>
<p>She ended up applying early at Kalamazoo because she loved the campus and the people. She had a great tour and interview at Kalamazoo. While she later was accepted at a binding Early Decision school she felt like Kalamazoo was a school she would have liked to attend.</p>
<p>She did not apply to Lake Forest because she thought the campus, while pretty, lacked any kind of spatial cohesion as it wound around a meanering road in the very upscale suburb of Lake Forest. She hated downtown Lake Forest and felt that the school was way too far from Chicago by public transit. Her tour and interview weren't positive and it was thumbs down before we were out of sight of the campus.</p>
<p>I did think that the athletic facilities at Lake Forest looked terrific. There were several soccer camps in progress when we were there and there were a couple of turf fields...</p>
<p>I am not fooling myself that the train trip into Chicago means that a very occasional trip (it is an hour each way). I thought that was sort of the best of 2 worlds, living on a traditonal campus in the suburbs, but having access to the city perhaps once or twice per month. Does anyone know if there is anything commercial to walk to near the school (ie:cafes, grocery store)?</p>
<p>I don't like that party school reputation, btw. Anyone else with opinions on whether this school should be tagged this way?</p>
<p>This is not a school that impresses me, and I see value in a LOT of schools. I think there are better alternatives.</p>
<p>D's friend is lucky to be able to travel due to free flights, but when he went somewhere to visit a friend, what they wanted to do was so costly, that he felt left out. Pressure to party and goof off, and academics came second or third or fourth. Pressure to club, etc., which costs a lot. Students like to eat out at good restaurants. It is exemplary of the kind of students that attend that as a frosh he was asked to be a research asst to one of his profs for the summer. He didn't ask any of the upper classmen. When friend asked about it, he was told they didn't have the appropriate skills.</p>
<p>While I can't necessarily comment on the reputation of all the students there, the handful or so that I've known to go there have been the kinds of kids you'd want your kid to bring home as a boyfriend/girlfriend... well rounded, motivated, engaging. </p>
<p>One kid I know that goes there now was pretty much forced to go there by his parents... his father is a cop and wanted some amount of control over where his kid was at, and what he was doing. Funny thing is, he was a cop of a neighboring area, so I know he has some idea of the reputation of the school, and pretty much forced his kid to go there anyway. And again, none of these handful of kids I know going there are by any means wealthy.</p>
<p>Just another perspective.</p>
<p>Thank you for your honest opinions. Anyone else? Keep the opinions coming. Sigh, the college search can be so tough.</p>
<p>This probably won't help much, but I have a friend from HS who went there. She loved it and did well, but applied to med school and didnt get in anywhere. She ended up in nursing school. FWIW</p>
<p>What exactly are you looking for? A less selective LAC? A less selective LAC in/near Chi? A less selective LAC near any major city?</p>
<p>froghorn, 2nd and 3rd tiers which are not completely rural. Son would like to be able to walk, take convenient public transit, or get on a college shuttle to some things (ie: cafes, perhaps some stores/mall/strip mall, pharmacy, and/or movies). He does not want to completely feel stuck without a car. He does not need a major city nearby at all.</p>
<p>What about Ursinus? It has access to King of Prussia and Philadelphia, but is in a cute, small town that does have restaurants and cafes.</p>
<p>Lake Forest College is one of those Top 100 (USN&WR) LACs that is trying, with mixed results, to reverse a historic perception that it is a "party school" for Eastern preppies who lacked the academic credentials to compete for admission to the Ivys -- or Tufts for that matter. The perception of LFC as a resort for the spawn of the idle rich is magnified by its location in Lake Forest, Illinois, one of the wealthiest mature suburban communities in America. The town is extremely safe (a positive), but its residents are overwhelmingly white and well-to-do (a real turn-off for many students). </p>
<p>From what I've been reading LFC's admissions office is working hard to create a student body that is truly "national," which has tended to reduce, or at least stabilize, the percentage of easterners seeking admission. They are also actively seeking to enlarge the international student body.</p>
<p>As for partying? It's there, but I've seen little evidence that it is more prevalent at LFC than at 90% of the other LACs out there. Greek life doesn't seem to be a huge feature of life at LFC (5 sororities and 1 active fraternity); a result, perhaps, of past crackdowns by the administration?</p>
<p>My advice to the OP is to go see Lake Forest College for yourself -- after classes have resumed if at all possible. You might also read throuigh back issues of The Stentor, the campus weekly newspaper. In my experience student journalists are rarely shy about pointing out the shortcomings of their school, so if LFC is still the site of nightly bacchanals you'll read it in their paper first. Good luck!</p>