Lawrence University

Date: Mar 15 2010
Major: English (This Major's Salary over time)
This school was very disappointing to me. I went to Lawrence expecting to be challenged and motivated and ended up feeling incredibly bored in my classes, as well as completely appalled by the social scene at the school. Another expectation I had when I went to Lawrence is that students would be serious, mature, and hardworking. What I ended up experiencing was a social situation identical to that at my high school, except that we couldn't go home to a friendly place every night. The partying scene at Lawrence is completely out of control. The frat houses are at the center of campus and are the main source of social activity. Partying happens at the dorms (especially Hiett, Sage, and Ormsby) throughout the week - don't live in these dorms if you want to accomplish anything! I party too but I was expecting it to be way more optional and off the radar as it is at larger universities with a greater proportion of mature students. Students are incredibly cliquey, and it is hard to move into certain groups of students after the hierarchy has been established at the beginning of the year. The incoming classes allegedly get worse every year. The school is looking increasingly to wealthy students that do not need scholarship money - this is very evident from the stunning new campus center (which many older students dislike) and the overblown "green" campaign (it's amazing how far Hollywood's green trend has spread). However, THE MUSIC PERFORMANCE FACULTY AND ENSEMBLES ARE INCREDIBLE. If you are a musician looking for a non-competitive environment with stellar faculty and good scholarships, this is a good place to go! You will also like this school if you are looking for very small classes and an intimate environment. It is easy to make friends but impossible to get away from social drama. The parties are great and have a very constant presence, so you don't have to have an in just to go, and the campus security never really does their job so it's very chill in that respect. The mall is really good even thought it takes a while to get there, and the food is the best of probably any school in the country. In my case, these positive aspects did not counterbalance the negative aspects of the school.