Should I go to Lake Forest College for Computer Science?

I’ll be completely honest - I’m only looking into computer science because of the job security and salary. I feel like I don’t have any option left, but I was wondering if Lake Forest College would be a good choice. They don’t seem to have many math requirements either, which is good for me.

I’m a humanities grad, so I’m no expert on CS or math, but is a concern about math requirements a red flag for a potential CS major?

I’ll comment more on Lake Forest, as I’m originally from the Chicago area. Lake Forest is a fine school and has a beautiful campus. It is in a very wealthy suburb of Chicago. Lake Forest, Winnetka, Evanston, and Kenilworth are largely home to Chicagoland’s 1%. This is good in one way. You won’t find a safer environment than the town of Lake Forest, but it also means that there’s not much for college students to do. It’s a sleepy, wealthy town, and what shops or eating options that are available are more than a typical college kid can afford. This means that life is entirely limited to campus. However, this is also pretty common at most LACs. Once classes start, one is focused on coursework; few students exit the bubble.

That said, Chicago is close, though it takes some time and planning. It’s not as if Chicago is going to be a Lake Forest student’s playground every day or even every weekend. But there are some cool resources in Chicago, and sometimes LF professors take advantage of them: trips to the city to study art, visits to the city to see business in action.

I’m from Chicagoland, and I’ve always admired Lake Forest College. It used to have a rep as a haven for rich slackers, prep school kids who didn’t have the grades to get into a more selective school. That rep has long died, and yet LF keeps having to fight it (I’m aware that my comment keeps this rep alive!). LFC is much more diverse than in decades past, and, as I said, it has a really pretty campus. If one could go back in time and reset history, LFC could have been the Williams or Amherst of the midwest; it has all the ingredients. Sigh.

If you like LFC, and, who knows, if they are giving you substantial FA, I see no reason not to attend. I would have considered LFC myself if not for the fact that I wanted to get away (and I didn’t go too far away; I went to Knox College, which plays LFC in sports and is part of the same consortium of schools, the Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM)). Best of luck!