Weekends

<p>We are excited about visiting Lafayette with my D in the near future. Just curious about social life at the school. Is it all frat driven? For someone who isn't much of a drinker, are there other options for the weekend? Do people go into Easton for things (dinner/movie etc.) or mostly stay on campus? Thanks.</p>

<p>Hi, Happy. My daughter is a first year student at Lafayette. She is pretty much a non-drinker and has still had something to do every weekend. Tonight she is going to a small party and was told to bring $5 if she was going to drink, nothing if she wasn’t. She has felt comfortable in all of the social situations she has been in. She also loves her academics and professors. Just this afternoon when she called, she said “I love my college.”
Good luck with your daughter’s college search.</p>

<p>My son is a junior and lived in substance-free housing his first year (an option available to all). He is now 21 but so far as I know not a drinker. (We served him alcohol at this birthday dinner and he did not seem to take to it). </p>

<p>He has a great group of friends with similar styles. He is in Pep Band which keeps him busy in fall. Few of his friends are in frats and I believe most students are not in frats or sororities.</p>

<p>He and his friends bike in the area, see movies on campus or in each others’ rooms, attend concerts or other scheduled events, go to a campus production if someone they know is in it, have participated in a school-organized scavenger hunt, etc. He enjoys hitting the Easton Farmers’ Market on Saturday mornings to pick up a loaf of apple bread. When his girlfriend visits they will do dinner in Easton. </p>

<p>He knows there are those who drink, of course, but it is no problem for him to find alternatives or to be present at a party and not drink. (Full disclosure: The annual Lehigh/Lafayette football game is one day where drinking on campus* is* an issue, from what I understand, but that is the only time when campus drinking seems to have affected his experience.) </p>

<p>He likes Lafayette so much he decided against doing a semester abroad, to my disappointment – did not want to leave campus for that long. (But we did get him to agree to a January abroad program, and he will be doing one this year in Egypt.)</p>

<p>Thanks for the input - very helpful. Can’t wait to visit the school with D.</p>

<p>My S is a senior. He didn’t drink at all in hs and isn’t a huge partier now. He’s never been bored at Lafayette, even as a frosh with no car. The happiest I have ever seen him in his life was the day we dropped him off at the beginning of his soph year.</p>

<p>He surprised himself by pledging a frat 2nd semester soph year (didn’t have any intention of pledging until a frat gave him a bid and he decided to give it a chance, turns out he really liked the guys and the house). He would tell you that Greek life is an option, but far from the only option. </p>

<p>He did a semester abroad his junior year, and his only hesitation about doing it was that it meant he would miss a semester at Laf. He could NOT WAIT to get back there this fall, and is not looking forward to graduation.</p>