As you may know, Lafayette is a Division I school. As such, I would describe a considerable amount of the population to be athletic--so yes, at least a portion of the students might be called "jocks."
However, this is definitely not the case for the entire school. I am the most unathletic person you will ever meet, and I know several students who are not into sports at all. Many, such as myself, choose to get involved in different things (examples being student gov, various organizations, clubs, community service).
So to answer your question briefly, I would simply say that there are SOME jocks on campus---but that does not characterize the whole student body.
ReginaPhilange, I would definitely not agree that the student body is all jocks. My son graduated in 2011, neither he nor any of his circle of friends - male and female - was particularly athletic. One friend was on the ultimate frisbee team, but I think that was about it.
That said, Lafayette is the smallest college in the nation to be Division 1 in every sport it plays, and it offers a lot of sports, so a significant percentage of the population are athletes. It's also a school full of high-achievers, so a lot of kids there did play a varsity sport in high school - but many of them have not continued their sport in college (other than intramurals, which are pretty casual).
As far as I know, 23% of the student body are athletes. I agree that's a big number, but thats around 550 students. There's still around 2000 other students on campus. Only one of my friends is a varsity athlete.
Question about new student registration - why do new freshman only register for 4 classes? Isn't that only 12 credits? Shouldn't they be taking 5 classes? And I guess the first year seminar is a full 3 credit class? My older son at another school had a FYS that was only 1 credit...
NJfreshman: Full load at Lafayette is 4 courses. This is increasingly becoming the norm at many colleges. Fewer classes, but each one goes more in depth and requires more work than if a full load were 5 classes.
Lafayette's first year seminar is a full class, it comes with actual work - reading, writing and research, homework, tests, papers, etc. (My daughter attended a different college that had a first year seminar that didn't involve any homework and was more of an orientation than a class. Lafayette's first year seminar is an actual CLASS.)
At Lafayette, 1 class is 1 credit including FYS. For each semester, a full course load is 4 credits. One or two classes are 0.25 credit (beginners piano-the only one I know). Other than that, every class is 1 credit, including labs.
Unless you are an engineer, you take 4 classes normally as full course load. Engineers take 5 classes starting sophomore year. you can petition and take a 5th class starting second semester of freshman year, provided you meet some GPA requirements.
Hi everyone, my name is Matt and I am an incoming freshman to Lafayette. I have been ecstatic to go to Lafayette the second I was accepted and even before that it was a clear first choice. However recently I have been on some college review sites saying that the partying isn't really great and some kids were even saying it was terrible and boring, which made me question my decision and kinda put a damper on my feelings. But I have also read stuff about kids thinking it is a party school and are worried about having fun without drinking.
I am a kid that would like to go to a good party (with drinking, because thats what I would consider a college party) about once a week on a friday or saturday with some fun people who are loose but not out of control, and maybe once a month or once every 2 months going to a really great keg party or something that is a little more "crazy" for lack of a better word. Is that a lifestyle that I can have at Lafayette? Thanks and please could you give it to me straight, I've heard "the social scene is what you make of it." far too often and its not really helpful.
to add to that I feel like there is such a split of opinions. Some people think the campus is beautiful, others feel its small and isolated. some people think that you will have a hard time finding people who don't like to drink and party, some feel that there is not enough to do and that the social scene is terrible. The student review site has Lafayette ranked incredibly low and that people wouldn't do it again, but the freshman retention rate is really high. Its very confusing and concerning as well.
This is how it's for me:
I've never been to a single 'party' on campus and I haven't gotten drunk ever. slightly tipsy, but never drunk. But a couple of my close friends go out every weekend. They have no trouble finding that. Yes, Lafayette is a pretty small campus but a campus doesn't have to be big to have variations. Not sure what review site you're talking about but it is true that you can easily find hard core party-goers and quiet environment all at the same small campus.
I would like to echo what sixstringsrocker said. You can certainly find both the partier atmosphere....and the quiet nonpartying atmosphere. It depends on who you choose to hang out with. I very rarely drink and my group of friends have a lot more fun having small get togethers rather than going to big drinking parties. That explains why you find such a diversity of opinions on the social life of Lafayette. I've come to the realization that very few places have a 100% homogeneous population of people in terms of personality. Lafayette can't be completely generalized. Students determine their own college lives based on what and who they involve themselves with. If you are looking to have a specific lifestyle, I guarantee you that you will find it, whatever it may be.
Thanks a lot! It seems to me that the people that write those reports are probably people that would be better suited at a party school. I am certainly not the kind of person that feels the need to be drunk every weekend but I am glad to hear there is such a wide spectrum of social options.
beantowndude, be aware that as a freshman male you will not be allowed to attend frat parties. Once you're a sophomore that will change though. There are only 4 frats left at Lafayette so they clearly do not define the entire social scene. There are also plenty of other things happening and kids do drink in the dorms (although it's against the rules, obviously).
After the death of a freshman who had been drinking off-campus at the very end of last semester, the college is convening a committee to study the issue of alcohol. I don't think this necessarily means a big crack-down, as the current president has spoken previously in support of an organization that wants to re-examine the drinking age (with the thinking that enforcing a drinking age of 21 actually encourages binge drinking by 18-20 year olds, in an unground and dangerous way). It will be interesting to see the outcome.
BTW, the current president, Dan Weiss, is leaving at the end of the 2012-13 school year to become the president of Haverford, and Lafayette has formed a search committee to find his replacement.
So, this may have been answered in one f the 14 pages, but just going through 6 was a bit painful.
I have two questions:
1) upon talking with a friend who enrolled at Lafayette, she said there was a fairly large drinking culture and pressure, do you find this to be true?
2) I know Lafayette is affiliated with the PCUSA, how strong is religion on campus? As in, are a lot of people conservatively religious, or more liberal in their religious views, or does the fact that Lafayette is affiliated with the PCUSA not important in student life?
If by PCUSA you mean the Presbyterian Church, that link is historical and weak at best. I think the only influence it may have is that the on-campus chaplain may be Presbyterian. I'd say there is zero influence from that "affiliation" on student life. I doubt most students even know the college was once affiliated with the Presbyterian Church.
There are students who practice a variety of religions on campus - Catholic, Protestant and Jewish - and probably an even larger number of students who are not actively practicing any religion. Hillel (Jewish), Newman (Catholic) and Lafayette Christian Fellowship are all active if you are interested in them.
Like lafalum84 said, there are many students on campus who are not very religious at all. Before arriving at Lafayette, I had heard that its students are stereotypically conservative, but I have met both conservative and liberal people (with regards to religion) on campus.
I cannot speak for Newman or the Christian Fellowship, but as an active e-board member of Hillel, I can tell you that Hillel is VERY liberal and reformed. While we (obviously) celebrate Jewish religion and culture, there isn't a deeply religious undertone. Let me put it this way---one of the executive board members of Hillel isn't even Jewish.
I have met people of various religions, but I personally have not met anyone who is extremely conservative or orthodox. There are probably a few, but I imagine many of those people probably attend colleges with stronger religious affiliations (Catholic U, Yeshiva, etc).
So the short answer to your question is that religious views vary at Lafayette, and the connection to PCUSA means pretty much nothing at all.
