<p>It doesn't have a huge profile in the Chicago area, in my opinion.
I think their positioning of "Chicago's liberal arts college" is an intriguing one, though. You are right that Lake Forest is an extremely wealthy (and perceived as snobby / insular) area, and it's not within easy striking distance of Chicago.</p>
<p>My daughter, now a rising college junior, considered and visited LFC. She thoroughly enjoyed her conversations with the profs she met but ultimately decided not to apply. Her reasons had more to do with the students she saw on the tour (lots of designer clothes) and the students she spoke with (lacking in the political awareness she was looking for). I think I reacted more positively than she did, and my daughter's response was that LFC "wasn't bad, just not for me."</p>
<p>NE mom, I think Ursinus sounds like a good suggestion. This might be a reach but how about Occidental in LA?</p>
<p>froghorn, thanks. LA is out of the question. My DH won't let him go to the west coast without a very good rationale for attending. He wants to limit schools to about a 10 hour driving radius (10 hours one way).</p>
<p>You really have to look at this one yourself, Northeastmom. When I lived in Illinois, what I heard about Lake Forest was a sort of HobartWilliamSmith like reputation. However, two very lovely young ladies I know went there--one of my generation, one of my children's. They loved the school, were top notch students who went there because of a combination of merit money and they liked the atmosphere, and both have done extremely well. One went onto to Hopkins med and the other is currently a professor at a major university. So the quality of education there certainly can prepare you the best post grad programs. Though neither women came from wealthy parents, nor did they come from needy homes. The younger one was looking a Miami of Ohio, Penn State Honors, Allegheny College (generous award) among other schools and picked Lake Forest. Have you also considered Beloit? That is a school that every parent I know who had a child there liked very much. And parents are happiest when kids are thriving and happy.</p>
<p>Mezzomom, I sent a PM to you. </p>
<p>Cpt, thanks. We aren't going to fly to Chicago without a good package in hand. If my son applied there, it would be the school furthest from home that he would be applying to. I have thought of Beloit, but I think my H would have a stroke at my suggesting Wisconsin. Wisconsin just sounds so far, even though it is a 2 hour ride to Ohare (I think anyway). Frankly my H would rather limit the distance to within 10 hours one way. This way, we could get there within a day if there were an emergency, and not need to worry about finding flights. It is just easier to move in an out by driving than flying IMO.</p>
<p>The thing is, Northeastmom, there are not that many LACs in the Illinois area. The bigger schools tend to be the thing there, and if you should drop any of the NE LACs where Lake Forest is, the word about the school would be about the same. You get this in areas where small schools are not common. My son is going to the only LAC in some large number of miles (can't remember how many, but they do make a bit of a deal about it). As a result, the perception of the school is that it is a "rich kid's" school, and liberal. When you live near Sarah Lawrence University, calling some of these schools liberal is a hoot; they seem positively redneck in comparison. So do bear that in mind. Lake Forest is a well to do suburb on Chicago's north shore and there is a north side/south side thing that goes back and forth. You need to look at the school through your northeast eyes. I don't think it has any more drinking and partying than Amherst or Williams or any of the LACs here, and it is closer and accessible by public transportation to a major city than many of the NE LACs. People in Lake Forest do commute to Chicago.</p>
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<p>Also, I'm a bit puzzled about the 10 hour driving range. Accessibility is more the issue, in my opinion. To have to drive 10 hours there and back, means at least a night's stay, probably more for a visit. To have plenty of direct flights to the place and have it reasonably close to a major airport would make it far more accessible. My good friend would curse up a storm each time her kid had to come home or she had to go to her school even though it was not a 4 hour drive. It was a slow, nasty 4 hour drive, and there were no good public transportation options. It took as long to fly there using small airports and connections, was expensive and still required driving. There was just no good way to get to the danged gum school, and she was so happy the last time she had to go there. Though my son's school is a good 7-8 hours away, there are many travel options there, including lots of kids who come down this way, so the distance is really mitigated by those circumstances. I can fly there and not even have to rent a car to get around. There are schools half that distance that would be a bigger pain in terms of accessibility. As far as driving goes, 10 hours is an awfully long drive. I usually split my trips with driving a rental one way and flying back the other to cut down on road time and fatigue.</p>
<p>cpt, I agree with your post #27, and post 28. I was not too clear. The absolute furthest we want to drive is 10 hours! This would be to drive to and from school twice per year, and yes, it would be draining. During the year, if he went that far from home, we want him to fly. We are investigating how to get to and from the airports, and how far they are from campus. We also want to be able to drive to campus freshman year for the parent/family weekend. It might be cheaper to drive than fly if we both attended, especially since we would not need a car rental. We have thought about all of this. My older son's school is 6 hours from home. We made more trips there than expected. We are trying to look out of the NE (south and midwest) because we are looking for the best financial deal. Sticker prices tend to be lower once out of our area (excluding SUNYs and our still high priced instate public options). We are hoping for better packages because we are willing to create that geographic diversity.</p>
<p>In some areas the car rentals are down right cheap. Particularly in the south. And if you are spending time just around campus, you are not going to use that much gas. We spent 4 days in Memphis and I believe the car went for about $19 per day, I remember, and did not even use half a tank in all of that time even as we looked around Memphis and did the tours. </p>
<p>But then I'm one who is having a son go nearly cross country to place where there are no direct flights from here, so..., oh well. I'm sure it'll be an issue for us.</p>
<p>hudsonvalley: "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. "</p>
<p>Was that this historical reputation? I wouldn't have even thought it was on the radar screen for Eastern preppies. I am curious where you got this from! (I do think I remember it being in the Preppy Handbook in the mid 80's!)</p>
<p>I doubt very much that the majority of the kids at LF come from the east coast. They are primary mid westerners with many coming from about 2 hours away. There are not that many good LAC options out there, so if that is what a student/family wants, LF is one of the prime choices in the area. </p>
<p>LF is one of the better LAC choice for students coming from areas a distance away because it is not as much of a suitcase school as many of the small colleges there are. It has the facilities and the student body to support a campus life despite its size. This is one of the things was primary in our college searches. In small schools, this can be particularly important if you kid is not from the area. In my opinion, LF is a better than average lac pick. Don't know how they are fixed in terms of money for financial aid or merit.</p>
<p>I have to be honest, as a Chicagoan, when I think of good LAC's in the midwest I tend to go more towards the Grinnells, Oberlins, Macalesters, Beloits, etc., not LFC. Which is not to suggest that it's a bad school ... I just didn't have the impression that hudson had that it was a historical LAC for East Coast preps. I just thought of it as a local college in a particularly upscale suburb.</p>
<p>57% of LFC students come from out of state. Living in the Chicago area, I would say LFC does not have a high profile in Chicago. The other small or LAC schools in the area draw much more from in-state (North Central, Elmhurst, Benedictine). Have you looked at Beloit or Kalamazoo? I thought both of them had a NE feel to campus. However, Beloit definitely doesn't have a big city feel, you can get to Chicago in 90 minutes (non-peak travel).</p>
<p>As to LF and Beloit, actually transportation for both to O'Hare is roughly similar as the traffic across Chicago (NE to NW) offsets the distance to Beloit. However, if you are considering LF, I would recommend flying Southwest out of Midway (close to downtown and easily accessable from there). Much cheaper.</p>
<p>As to FA, LF has a reputation of being fairly generous for top students. They are also a FAFSA only school for those of you folks with a lot of home equity.</p>
<p>Do any of you midwesterners know about some OH schools (ie: Ohio Wesleyan, Wittenberg, Wooster, Denison, Allegheny in PA, Otterbein, and Marietta)? Any opinions? I know a bit more about Denison, Wooster, and Otterbein than the others simply by reading CC, and because of posters generous with their time giving me some information. I don't know anyone who attends these schools personally. All have very nice to gorgeous campuses, and I have had an opportunity to vist all of them.</p>
<p>goaliedad, I cross posted with you. What is easily accessable from Midway? LFC? Thanks for the flight tips.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl -- Lake Forest, and dozens of other midwestern LACs, have been on the radar of Eastern prep school guidance offices for decades. Places like Denison, Lake Forest, Ohio Wesleyan and Wooster had historically been quite happy to admit average (I don't want to call them mediocre as that tends to demean both the kids and the college) prep school students whose parents were willing to pay full freight. My wife and I both attended midwestern LACs -- in the 70s and early 80s -- and we both had numerous friends and acquaintences who had graduated from Eastern prep schools. We have also noticed that at both of our alma maters the percentage of East Coast kids in the student body has declined markedly from our time to today. </p>
<p>While LFC has a significant EC population, it is certainly not a majority nor has it ever been. I don't think I said that in my earlier post; if I did please disregard.</p>
<p>Northeastmom, I have heard particularly good things about Wittenberg, Wooster, Denison, Allegheny. Also Westminster (sp?), St Vincents, Grove City, Washington and Jefferson, all in PA are good picks from my personal experience. The young mayor of Pittsburgh is a W&J grad. Kenyon is a favorite at my son's high school. John Carroll in the Cleveland area is also a good strong choice and I have seen a number of kids come out of there doing very well, and have gotten some nice aid packages there. But aren't you getting past that 10 hour drive point as you get into western PA?</p>
<p>OK, one thing to remember, I am not a Chicagoan, but I did live in near Milwaukee for a few years and got to spend some time in Chicago and have had opportunity to use their public transit from time to time. </p>
<p>The public transportation is a bit complicated between Midway and LF College (2 different rail services CTA and Metra + a bus in between) but doable, reasonably frequently scheduled, and reasonably cheap (<$15).</p>
<p>The Metra line station is about .75 miles from the college and there are a couple of short walks between bus/train (<.3 mile).</p>
<p>You can use either Metra's Metra</a> - Welcome to Metra or CTA's site trip planner Plan</a> Your Trip With the RTA! function to give you details. </p>
<p>While you might want to have a rental car while touring (it does allow you to go off the beaten path), for a student who doesn't have a car, the accessability of LF isn't too bad at all compared with many colleges outside of a city core.</p>
<p>goaliedad, that the accessability factor is a postive factor. Thanks for the transportation info!</p>
<p>cpt, actually Wooster is an 8 hour drive, the others are further away. cpt, have you heard positive/negative things about OWU, or Marietta? I noticed that you omitted those.</p>