First, I'm sorry you're disappointed, but you do have three excellent choices from the sound of it.
Of the three schools, I'd say that Beloit tends to attract a more quirky/free-spirited type of student. But all three schools have very friendly student bodies. It just is a matter of where you would feel you fit best. Academically, I'd put all three schools on the same plane, with maybe a SLIGHT edge towards Lawrence overall (I'm a sucker for freshman seminars that focus on common readings like Lawrence's, so that's why I'm giving it a slight edge).
I asked my daughter's friend, who is a bio/pre-med major, your first two questions. She also considered Lawrence (as well as Grinnell, Reed and Oberlin - picked Beloit for financial reasons) She says that in her opinion Beloit has a very strong bio department. She has been very pleased with how accessible the professors are, and feels that the pre-med advising has been excellent - she said that the faculty has given very good advice about mapping out her four-year plan, and helping her stay on track. One plus that she likes is that the bio major has a lot of different concentrations, and she also feels that there is a good range of courses in topics not always offered at a small school. One thing to be considered is that the bio major, especially if you're planning for pre-med, has the most requirements - 15 courses. She says that one plus for Beloit is that there are very minimal general distribution requirements compared to other colleges she considered (you need to take two courses from each of three divisions: math/science, social sciences, humanities), so that gives her more flexibility in terms of fitting all of the pre-med requirements in and still being able to take other courses that interest her. She has found the coursework "very challenging" and just to give you an idea of her background, she had combined math/reading test scores of 1450. She said another plus is Beloit's health studies minor, which looks at the larger issues of healthcare. She thinks that will be a plus when she's applying to medical school. Another thing she mentioned is that there is not much cut-throat competition within the bio department, so she can just worry about her own grades and performance. She has not had any trouble getting the classes she needs to stay on track, but says that the pre-med advisors make it clear that you need to start with the pre-med curriculum right in freshman year (By the way, no single major at Beloit has more than 10% of the student body.)
The new science building will be opening in the Spring of 2008, and it will be world-class. She is very excited about the new facilities, and says that Beloit's science programs will be even better once the new building is open. Overall, she's very happy with her decision to attend Beloit.
(As an aside, the sciences at Lawrence are also excellent. I haven't really looked closely at Coe's.)
Both my daughter and her friend laughed at your other two questions. They agreed that the food is "just OK" - it gets repetitious, but it is not awful. As for your last question my daughter said, "What life off campus?"
They both say that they are not bored - there's always a lot going on on campus - from parties (theme parties are big) to movies to guest speakers, to listening to bands in the C-haus, to just weird random stuff that makes Beloit what it is. But they both noted that one nice thing about Beloit is the accessibility of both Madison and Chicago. They have gone to Madison (great college town) for just the evening, and have gone to concerts in Chicago without much hassle. There's bus service to both, but it's also fairly easy to hook up with someone with a car.
Hope this helps. Beloit is the type of place that isn't be right for everyone, but of the three choices you have, I'd say the overall student culture is probably more like a Grinnell or Macalester.
![bbtitle]](/images/misc/cc_logo.gif){kind=logo}
