- AcademicsA-
- ValueA
- DiversityA
- CampusC
- AthleticsB-
- Party SceneC+
- ProfessorsB
- LocationC-
- DormsB-
- Campus FoodC+
- Student LifeC+
- SafetyB-
Lake Forest College is ...
Private not-for-profit
Athletic Division
NCAA Division III (with football)
Athletic Conference
Midwest Conference
Address
555 N Sheridan Road
Lake Forest, IL 60045
Website
Lake Forest College Rankings
Niche rankings are based on rigorous analysis of key statistics from the U.S. Department of Education and millions of reviews.
Admissions
Acceptance Rate
55%
SAT Range
1020-1240
ACT Range
—
Application Fee
$0
SAT/ACT
Recommended
High School GPA
Required
Application Website
Will You Get In?
Test Scores and GPA for Lake Forest College
Cost
Net Price
$24,500/ year
National
$15,431Average cost after financial aid for students receiving grant or scholarship aid, as reported by the college.
Academics
Professors
B
Based on faculty accomplishments, salary, student reviews, and additional factors.
Student Faculty Ratio
12:1
Evening Degree Programs
No
- 91%
- of students agree that professors put a lot of effort into teaching their classes.22 responses
- 70%
- of students agree that it is easy to get the classes they want.23 responses
- 43%
- of students agree that the workload is easy to manage.23 responses
Majors
Most Popular Majors
Students
Full-Time Enrollment
1,589Undergrads
Undergrads Over 25
2%
Pell Grant
34%
Varsity Athletes
24%
Campus Life
Freshmen Live On-Campus
88%
Poll
- 50%
- of students say that Greek life is average, and no one will treat you differently if you don't join.34 responses
Poll
- 50%
- of students say varsity sports are a big part of campus life.34 responses
After Lake Forest College
Median Earnings 6 Years After Graduation
$48,100/ year
National
$33,028Graduation Rate
73%
National
47%Employed 2 Years After Graduation
93%
National
83%- 87%
- of students feel confident they will find a job in their field after graduation.15 responses
Lake Forest College Reviews
404 reviews
All Categories
I currently transferred colleges, before I came to Lake Forest College I attended Ripon college. The two colleges are completely different and deciding to transfer was the best decision I could have ever made. The atmosphere here at Lake Forest is staggering. I do not say this about a lot of things, so saying this is a lot. I believe what makes this school so unique is the fact that although it is a small school it is very diverse. So far I have met students from places all over the world such as Botswana, Cairo, and even the Netherlands! Not only am I able to connect with the all different types of students but my professors as well. I have not met professors that were so willing to help you succeed until coming here! What makes Lake Forest college so special is the ambiance and the friendliness in everyone here. Whether it be athletes, professors, or international students, the Lake Forest community is one.
Lake Forest College suffers from problem inherent to any small school. In effect, this school is the second part of high school, but with more drinking. The academics are needlessly difficult, and students have little else to do besides studying out of limitations of on-and-off campus. The administration is restrictive and does not fully let the students gain the necessary experience as adults for a fulfilling college experience.
Starting with campus life, students are required to live on campus until their senior year. Due to this, most of the student population find themselves partying in cramped dormitories. When not partying, which is often, the students are complaining of nothing to do whilst drinking to pass the time. There are not accommodations similar to living in an apartment on campus, and Greek housing was cut in the 1980s, relegating the fraternities and sororities to meet in leaky basements. My fraternity has faced the unique problem of having a wheelchair-bound person, and we risk injury carrying him down the stairs every time we have chapter because the building does not have an elevator. Only three of the seven buildings do.
Socially, the school is essentially split to athlete and non-athlete, and these cliques are formed strongly before the regular school year begins. Even Greek-life is affected by this, where the fraternities are either wholly a sports team, or disjointed by the athletes and non-athletes, diminishing the internal culture of the chapters.
While I agree college should be a challenge, there are times when it can be taken too far for little reason. The intro to Psychology course requires a rigorous experiment to be conducted, difficult enough to turn plenty of curious students off the major. A friend of mine said that Penn state had to weigh their prospective transfers' GPAs from Lake Forest College due to the difficulty of the classes compared to the acceptance rate, as well as the recognition by employers about the college.
Starting with campus life, students are required to live on campus until their senior year. Due to this, most of the student population find themselves partying in cramped dormitories. When not partying, which is often, the students are complaining of nothing to do whilst drinking to pass the time. There are not accommodations similar to living in an apartment on campus, and Greek housing was cut in the 1980s, relegating the fraternities and sororities to meet in leaky basements. My fraternity has faced the unique problem of having a wheelchair-bound person, and we risk injury carrying him down the stairs every time we have chapter because the building does not have an elevator. Only three of the seven buildings do.
Socially, the school is essentially split to athlete and non-athlete, and these cliques are formed strongly before the regular school year begins. Even Greek-life is affected by this, where the fraternities are either wholly a sports team, or disjointed by the athletes and non-athletes, diminishing the internal culture of the chapters.
While I agree college should be a challenge, there are times when it can be taken too far for little reason. The intro to Psychology course requires a rigorous experiment to be conducted, difficult enough to turn plenty of curious students off the major. A friend of mine said that Penn state had to weigh their prospective transfers' GPAs from Lake Forest College due to the difficulty of the classes compared to the acceptance rate, as well as the recognition by employers about the college.
For a school that totes around a 50% acceptance rate, the school's academics seem in tune with a school that has about half the percentage of it. Introductory courses seem to weed out students by requiring seemingly unnecessary work. Let me put it this way: A friend of mine applied to Penn State, and his GPA was bumped from 3.5 to 3.7 for their application pool given that he went to Lake Forest College. It becomes unnecessarily difficult very quickly. The limited number of professors makes things more difficult both schedule-wise and academically, if you have been paired with a professor that does not try to sympathize with his/her students. I can count at lease 3 professors that my academic adviser has advised against, only after I had taken the course with the undesirable professor. One of them was one of two professors available for the semester for a required low-level course for a popular major. Overall, the curriculum is unnecessarily challenging and very limited in options. Workload is difficult to manage, and students will find themselves in the library most days of the week for several hours. Registering for classes is a gamble of time, since it is a first-come, first-serve basis to which seats are given, and the largest courses only have thirty seats. The school does come with many academic resources, which is helpful for those that feel they are struggling to keep up with their classes.