St. Lawrence University

[Anonymous]

It's a nice school, a good safety school for Hamilton prospects.

[Anonymous]

Among its associations, St. Lawrence is a New York Six school, along with Colgate, Hamilton, HWS, Skidmore and Union.

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[Anonymous]

OP: I'm getting the sense that St. Lawrence is a great school and also probably not a great fit for my dc. He loves the outdoors, like hiking, but he doesn't ski, doesn't drink, and doesn't play sports. Seems like it could be hard for him to fit in there, even if everyone is friendly.

[Anonymous]

It’s hard to find an outdoorsy kid college in a rural setting where drinking isn’t part of the culture. My suggestion is for your DS to be comfortable that there’s drinking going on but to know no one is judging him if he doesn’t partake.

And if he has a car and is happy being the designated driver, he’s the most well liked person in the room.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP: I'm getting the sense that St. Lawrence is a great school and also probably not a great fit for my dc. He loves the outdoors, like hiking, but he doesn't ski, doesn't drink, and doesn't play sports. Seems like it could be hard for him to fit in there, even if everyone is friendly.

Just fyi, it’s way more of a hiking school than a skiing school. Hiking abounds very close but to find a good ski hill, you’re gonna have to go to the Lake Placid which they do but it’s not really a place where kids are skiing every weekend. I also don’t know how accurate it is to say it’s a big sports population, they are not a very competitive sports school lol other than hockey and that has fallen quite a bit over the years. The “doesn’t drink” is likely to be a problem at most colleges unless he’s fine with holding a beer and dealing with drunk people. If he is very much against drinking in general, even for others, that will be a tough fit.

[Anonymous]

I'd say St. Lawrence sounds like a potentially good fit for your son based on what you wrote above — I'm surprised you inferred otherwise from what has been written here. Regarding drinking, Posters simply were being honest about its relative prevalence at the school. However, a single aspect such as this does not define the ethos of St. Lawrence.

[Anonymous]

My DS is definitely more artsy than sporty, and not fratty at all. While we have some of the same concerns you do, we are going to visit as it seems based on our research to be less fratty than some of the other NE SLACS.

I always find it interesting to check out the “theme” housing that schools have to get a sense of the types of groups on campus. It seems to be more useful info at SLACs than what clubs schools have as there isn’t always a great way to know how active clubs are, while theme housing indicates at least enough interested kids to fill the housing. SLU has some cool ones - a music house where kids living there book the student run venue on campus, a habitat for humanity house where kids build houses in the community, an outdoors house, and two arts houses: https://www.stlawu.edu/student-life/housing

My impression is that it’s in the middle of the spectrum between artsy and fratty, so worth a visit to see if it could be a fit.

[Anonymous]

So are there lots of Saint Lawrence University Transfers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP: I'm getting the sense that St. Lawrence is a great school and also probably not a great fit for my dc. He loves the outdoors, like hiking, but he doesn't ski, doesn't drink, and doesn't play sports. Seems like it could be hard for him to fit in there, even if everyone is friendly.

Why not? Your kid sounds like mine and he liked the school a lot. He just got into his ED so he withdrew the application but it seemed like a great fit for this type of kid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd say St. Lawrence sounds like a potentially good fit for your son based on what you wrote above — I'm surprised you inferred otherwise from what has been written here. Regarding drinking, Posters simply were being honest about its relative prevalence at the school. However, a single aspect such as this does not define the ethos of St. Lawrence.

OP here: Point taken, and you're right. My son is not anti-drinking, he's just not a big drinker himself and doesn't enjoy parties where that is the dominant activity. I shouldn't overemphasize this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd say St. Lawrence sounds like a potentially good fit for your son based on what you wrote above — I'm surprised you inferred otherwise from what has been written here. Regarding drinking, Posters simply were being honest about its relative prevalence at the school. However, a single aspect such as this does not define the ethos of St. Lawrence.

OP here: Point taken, and you're right. My son is not anti-drinking, he's just not a big drinker himself and doesn't enjoy parties where that is the dominant activity. I shouldn't overemphasize this.

My kid is not a drinker either. He doesn't go to drinking type parties in high school. He and his friends go to a climbing gym or they go hiking or camping. STL is on his list.

FWIW, we haven't found a rural SLAC without drinking or drugs on campus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS is definitely more artsy than sporty, and not fratty at all. While we have some of the same concerns you do, we are going to visit as it seems based on our research to be less fratty than some of the other NE SLACS.

I always find it interesting to check out the “theme” housing that schools have to get a sense of the types of groups on campus. It seems to be more useful info at SLACs than what clubs schools have as there isn’t always a great way to know how active clubs are, while theme housing indicates at least enough interested kids to fill the housing. SLU has some cool ones - a music house where kids living there book the student run venue on campus, a habitat for humanity house where kids build houses in the community, an outdoors house, and two arts houses: https://www.stlawu.edu/student-life/housing

My impression is that it’s in the middle of the spectrum between artsy and fratty, so worth a visit to see if it could be a fit.

It's not in New England.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Way up north, but a friend of ours who used to be a private college counselor recommended it for my dc and he would like to visit. I'd never heard of this school before, and I don't know anything about it beyond their website. Can anyone share experience or insight? I'm concerned it might be a bit too fratty for my kid (who is not fratty at all), but it's hard to tell. What kind of students are there?

I understand why your "friend" used to be a private college counselor.

Why did this "friend" recommend this school for your child ? Specifics really matter in this case because the school is fairly small (just above 2,000 students), isolated despite the presence of other schools in the area as they do not intermingle, subjects one to unusually cold weather, cliquish, heavy usage of intoxicating substances (primarily alcohol), with a heavy emphasis on sports.

Good school for an athlete--especially those who want to play more than one sport during college (ice hockey is D-1). Good school for a solid, but not outstanding, student who seeks or needs a substantial tuition discount (merit scholarship). Beautiful campus. Lots of study abroad options.

Alumni group is & has always been strong as the isolation and the harsh winter weather lead to a form of incestuous camaraderie.

Hard to get to this school so one really needs a compelling reason to expend the time and energy to visit.

You sound fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS is definitely more artsy than sporty, and not fratty at all. While we have some of the same concerns you do, we are going to visit as it seems based on our research to be less fratty than some of the other NE SLACS.

I always find it interesting to check out the “theme” housing that schools have to get a sense of the types of groups on campus. It seems to be more useful info at SLACs than what clubs schools have as there isn’t always a great way to know how active clubs are, while theme housing indicates at least enough interested kids to fill the housing. SLU has some cool ones - a music house where kids living there book the student run venue on campus, a habitat for humanity house where kids build houses in the community, an outdoors house, and two arts houses: https://www.stlawu.edu/student-life/housing

My impression is that it’s in the middle of the spectrum between artsy and fratty, so worth a visit to see if it could be a fit.

It's not in New England.

Close enough

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS is definitely more artsy than sporty, and not fratty at all. While we have some of the same concerns you do, we are going to visit as it seems based on our research to be less fratty than some of the other NE SLACS.

I always find it interesting to check out the “theme” housing that schools have to get a sense of the types of groups on campus. It seems to be more useful info at SLACs than what clubs schools have as there isn’t always a great way to know how active clubs are, while theme housing indicates at least enough interested kids to fill the housing. SLU has some cool ones - a music house where kids living there book the student run venue on campus, a habitat for humanity house where kids build houses in the community, an outdoors house, and two arts houses: https://www.stlawu.edu/student-life/housing

My impression is that it’s in the middle of the spectrum between artsy and fratty, so worth a visit to see if it could be a fit.

It's not in New England.

NE can be used to refer to the Northeastern United States.