Thoughts on Lake Forest College

cag60093
Sun, 17 Mar 2024 20:40:37 +0000

@Anon3lab @Novice1 @Sappire_G

I don’t know if you are still considering LFC, but I will share what I know about Lake Forest. I live in a suburb near Lake Forest, but don’t know a lot about Lake Forest College’s academics and student life, etc. I have been on campus numerous times for my children’s hockey games. Many local hockey clubs use LFC’s hockey rink. LFC’s athletic building is new and modern.

I don’t know any HS peers of my children who attended LFC. Most likely it’s because most of our town’s HS students prefer to go to schools farther away from their homes - many prefer OOS colleges and big 10s like UIUC, UW-Madison, UM-Ann Arbor, UT-Austin, OSU, etc. The only person I know who attended LFC is one of the teachers at our local HS. I think he came from Canada and met his wife at LFC and decided to stay in the area. He is a good teacher; our local and nearby suburban HS teachers are respected and are paid well.

LFC campus is small, but beautiful. Its location is in East LF area and close to Lake Michigan, as mentioned in one of the previous posts. For folks not familiar with the Great Lakes, Lake Michigan is huge and beautiful. Lake Forest beach is well kept, like many of the public beaches along Lake Michigan in the northern suburbs. Given that many of these public beaches have parking restrictions for non LF citizens, it’s mostly locals that use the beach.

I really don’t know much about the LFC’s rankings, academics, etc. I was surprised by the diverse student population data though, which was nice to learn. I presume most students live on campus all 4 years? Nearby housing is not geared towards apartments, if I recall. They are mostly very well appointed homes along a picturesque winding road, that does not have sidewalks.

It’s understandable that students who receive larger merit aids have to weigh pros and cons of going to LFC vs other options that may not off aid. It’s not a stem oriented school, but I am sure many will receive a fine liberal arts education. Two of my children chose their respective schools because of the larger merit aids and opportunities for their specific majors. No one college is perfect.

Here are things I do know about Lake Forest, the community:

1. It is an incredibly safe bedroom community - a very wealthy northern suburb of Chicago.

2. It has a cute downtown, walking distance from LFC, but it’s small. Students can find a Starbucks, Walgreens, Einstein bagel shop, but not any national chains like Chipotle, McD’s, Potbellies, etc.

3. There is a very posh Target further north of town, There are more national food chains on the west and north side of LF. To get there, students will need a car or friends who have cars.

4. The LF general population is not very diverse - economically or ethnically - but highly educated and generally friendly and nice.

5. There is a very good hospital, one of the Northwestern U Medical satellites, in the western side of LF. There is another good option in Highland Park, which is just south of LF and is accessible via Metro train station.

6. Chicago is easily accessible on the Metra train; the station is walking distance from LFC. The ride is about 1 hour to Chicago; it’s a safe and much cleaner train ride than the CTA. There are many suburbs along the way to Chicago with its own train stations and each has its unique character, shops, and restaurants. Evanston, home of Northwestern U, is one of the larger suburbs along the line and is more vibrant and energetic than LF. Once in Chicago, students can easily access the CTA train or bus to explore the various neighborhoods of Chicago. There’s just so much to do in Chicago!

7. For students who have to fly into Chicago, O’Hare is more convenient than Midway, in my opinion. Once there, students will have to travel via taxi or uber, or friends with cars to get to LFC. The drive without traffic is about 30 minutes or can much take longer during rush hour. Generally traffic heading north (towards LF) is better than heading east towards Chicago or south towards other suburbs.

8. For internship opportunities, based on my children’s experience at their respective schools, most college students tend to land one, esp their first internship, in their locale or region. Therefore, LFC students may find opportunities in Chicago, given its size and the variety of industries. Larger companies like Abbott Labs and Abbvie are in LF and Walgreens’ headquarter is in Deerfield, just SW of LF. I recommend asking LFC’s admissions about opportunities.

Good luck with your decisions.