<p>Aside from the obvious differences of size, location and originating religious affiliation, please compare and or contrast these two Midwestern LACs. The relative strength of each school's Art department is of particular interest.</p>
<p>Any overlap between these two schools? St. Olaf (#54 U.S. News ranked) is clearly the more competitive school, but Lake Forest (#97 U.S. News ranked) has redeeming qualities with a much smaller student body and likely greater attention to the individual student. Lake Forest is much more diverse racially and socio-economically and is on the doorstep of Chicago. St. Olaf is within striking distance of the Twin Cities and is particularly attractive to Lutheran students. Both are cold as the dickens in the winter. Any comments from Chicagolanders or Upper Midwesterners?</p>
<p>Living two towns over from Lake Forest, I wouldn't call our winters "cold as the dickens" (though I do love that phrase), especially compared to MN, but I guess it depends on where you're from. It's also a bit more than a hop, skip, and jump into the city... the train would take almost an hour, and driving in could take anywhere from half an hour to more than an hour and a half depending on the traffic and where you're going.</p>
<p>Lake Forest diverse--that's a knee slapper. LF, the town is one of the most blue blood areas in Chicago. It's closer to Wisconsin than downtown Chicago.</p>
<p>School statistics place Lake Forest's URM at 15%, almost double St. Olaf's 8%. Everything is relative and neither school is particularly strong in this area but 15% is not insignificant. Pell grant data reveals a much greater number of recipients at Lake Forest. Yes, I am sure there are plenty of really rich kids there too, but the administration is apparently trying to combat that stereotype.</p>
<p>St. Olaf has no frats and much less of a drinking scene than Lake Forest. St. Olaf has no business school -- more pure liberal arts. I think St. Olaf is a really special place, with very loyal alumni. Lake Forest has a bit of a reputation as a party school for kids from the northeast -- very few kids from the Chicago suburbs seem to go there.</p>
<p>I know that Lake Forest historically had a party school rep, as well as a rep for catering to the private school set. I never thought of it as a school with a particularly large number of northeastern kids, however. Princeton Review indicates that slightly less than half the students come from Illinois. Couldn't find any current stats on which states send the most students to Lake Forest, but I recall a couple years ago being on the LFC website and it had a map of the US indicating where the freshman class hailed from and I don't remember a tremendous number from New England, NY and NJ. </p>
<p>Lake Forest has been working to improve its image in recent years so perhaps the reputation will gradually follow suit.</p>
<p>The Department of Economics and Business is the largest academic department at Lake Forest and there are five social sororities and one social fraternity. Is it surprising that Lake Forest sits alongside another LAC with a historic party school reputation, Ohio Wesleyan, both at #97 in the U.S. News National LAC rankings? I suppose a rich, party school reputation can be hard to shake.</p>
<p>Olaf had 2 Rhodes this year; I was going ***.</p>
<p>So it is teetotaling, chapel attendance and large Lutheran bible studies at St. Olaf or squash, platform tennis and small, intimate toga parties at Lafe Forest's one fraternity?</p>
<p>exploringoptions, I am not sure when you were last a student there, but Ohio Wesleyan has long lost, just like Denison did, its image of a party school. OWU and Denison did a lot in the early 90s to change their image from the 70s when both schools were attracting students from high income Northeast families interested more in partying than studying. I can assure you, as a very recent graduate, that this is no longer the case. Partying does occur on the OWU campus but no more than it does on any other top school campus.</p>
<p>So OWU and Denison have changed their images but LFC's party reputation has been slower to change? Is it the fast pace of life in Lake Forest and nearby Chicago vs. small town Delaware and Granville, Ohio that keeps LFC popular among the party set?</p>
<p>I see neither St. Olaf nor Lake Forest graduates are eligible for a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship (Denison and Ohio Wesleyan grads are ineligible as well) The</a> Watson Fellowship but two Rhodes Scholars in the same year at St. Olaf is very impressive. Chicago, Duke and Yale each had three Rhodes Scholars in 2006 and the U.S. Naval Academy had a most impressive four Rhodes Scholars in 2006.</p>
<p>As to the diversity of the two schools, think of the surrounding area. Within 50 miles of Lake Forest are large areas of 100% minority population and economic circumstances that most Lake Foresters only see in their nightmares. The Minneapolis area is much less diverse. So, which school better reflects its area?</p>
<p>Minny has become much more diverse than it was 20 years ago due in part to large influx of people from Southeast Asia, Mexico, and Africa-many refugees. It has caused some major battles locally as the schools change over to majority minority and crime problems have increased. Outside of a pocket of relatively poor minority population in Waukegan, you have to go pretty far to find any major poor areas around Lake Forest--pretty much all the way to the Chicago west side.</p>
<p>We are speaking here of the racial and socioeconomic diversity of the student body, not of the surrounding town or community. The statistics clearly show that Lafe Forest is much more diverse racially and socioeconomically than St. Olaf. Any comments out there on the relative strength of their respective art/studio art departments?</p>
<p>You asked about the locations. In many ways they are world's apart in that regard as noted in the posts.</p>
<p>The diversity of your undergraduate colleagues and peers has an obvious greater influence than the diversity of the surrounding community. Yes the surrounding community has an influence but Lake Forest, IL and Northfield, MN, "the town of cows, colleges and contentment", are both nice places to attend college.</p>
<p>I really don't know anything about the art/studio art departments, but in looking at their web sites it appears that St. Olaf has a significantly larger art department than Lake Forest based on resources devoted to faculty. Lake Forest has four full-time faculty members devoted to the teaching of art history and studio art vs. more than a dozen at St. Olaf. Lake Forest's program appears to depend more on instructors (how many are full-ime and how many p-t it is impossible to determine).</p>
<p>Thanks hudsonvalley51! Do better LAC choices exist in your opinion for art in the Midwest, ruling out Carleton and Grinnell: Knox, Beloit, Lawrence, Illinois Wesleyan or Earlham?</p>