We visited. It was disappointing. Very cute town. The tour focused too much on the conservatory. School seemed bland compared to other midwestern SLACs like Carleton and Grinnell or Macalester.

We also toured St Olaf and preferred it to Lawrence as an easier admit school compared to the SLACs I identified above.

I'm late to the discussion, but I'll throw in my two cents. We didn't visit, but I wish we had. My son attended a school in the Midwest Conference and competed against Lawrence. He loved going there. Said the students were the nicest, most respectful group he played against. Always welcoming. In sports, the opposition is sometimes hostile, but that was never the case at LU. He also said Lawrence is unusually pretty.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone know why Lawrence gets a worse financial rating than many of its similar SLAC peers? Their endowment seems reasonably high but they have a "B" credit rating. (One thing I'm looking at for DC who is interested in SLACS). I wonder if it's just because their operations cost more because of the conservatory and thus can't be compared as easily or if there's any other underlying financial strain to be worried about.

If you're going to cite a bond rating, then cite it correctly and take the time to read the report. Moody's gives it Baa1 and stable. That's pretty typical for good SLACs. Lots of well known ones get the same rating or one notch higher but negative instead of stable. The report is full of praise for its high endowment, management, loyal giving alumni, and nationalizing its student body. Negatives are lower revenue per student, which comes from merit aid, and adjustments to the decision to meet full financial need. All seems pretty good.

Nearly all of the other SLACs we are looking at have somewhere in the A ratings--and have varied between negative and stable over the past few years--moving negative to stable to negative to stable etc. That Lawrence was in a B rating despite having a large endowment. The reports all sound generic--they all have the same issues--so I wondered why it was in the "B" tier and what that meant.

Anonymous wrote:Anyone know why Lawrence gets a worse financial rating than many of its similar SLAC peers? Their endowment seems reasonably high but they have a "B" credit rating. (One thing I'm looking at for DC who is interested in SLACS). I wonder if it's just because their operations cost more because of the conservatory and thus can't be compared as easily or if there's any other underlying financial strain to be worried about.

If you're going to cite a bond rating, then cite it correctly and take the time to read the report. Moody's gives it Baa1 and stable. That's pretty typical for good SLACs. Lots of well known ones get the same rating or one notch higher but negative instead of stable. The report is full of praise for its high endowment, management, loyal giving alumni, and nationalizing its student body. Negatives are lower revenue per student, which comes from merit aid, and adjustments to the decision to meet full financial need. All seems pretty good.

Anyone know why Lawrence gets a worse financial rating than many of its similar SLAC peers? Their endowment seems reasonably high but they have a "B" credit rating. (One thing I'm looking at for DC who is interested in SLACS). I wonder if it's just because their operations cost more because of the conservatory and thus can't be compared as easily or if there's any other underlying financial strain to be worried about.

It’s 2 hours from Madison, 1 hr 45 from Milwaukee, 4 1/2 to Minneapolis, and 3 to Chicago. We toured after DD was accepted, and there is an airport in Appleton that you can easily connect to from Chicago, Denver, Detroit, MSP or ATL. She ended up at St. Olaf due to a better merit aid package, but the two are pretty similar and St. Olaf would be another option to consider for a musically-inclined kid interested in other academic subjects.

My kid seriously considered Lawrence before choosing another college. I can't believe it isn't more popular. Though Lawrence is very small, there is an amazing amount going on in terms of sports, performing arts, and visual arts. Students seem spirited, friendly and (usually) smart. The academics seem more intense than expected given how easy it is to get in. Appleton is much more cosmopolitan than anticipated--it's a real city, not a quaint college town. The campus is attractive and a short walk to downtown Appleton.

People interested in Vassar, Macalester or Oberlin also should consider Lawrence, in my opinion. Appleton is far more interesting than Poughkeepsie. While Appleton is far less interesting than the Twin Cities, the neighborhood around Lawrence is more interesting than the neighborhood around Macalester. Lawrence also seems to have stronger performing arts. Lawrence seems less extremely progressive than Oberlin and the Lawrence conservatory faculty seem more available to regular Lawrence college students than the Oberlin conservatory faculty is to Oberlin college students. Note: these impressions are derived from short 1-2 day visits.

The downsides are (1) cold weather, and (2) Lawrence is something like 2 hours away from Madison and even farther away from Milwaukee, Chicago and Minneapolis.

Nicest people in the country in WI and not at all surprised they’ve been helpful. Love this school. Hoping my A’s and a few too many B’s son can get in.

I should add that their admissions office is by far the most responsive of any school we visited. The staffer assigned to DC is very available to talk and got back to DS with some very specific questions and concerns he had. You or your DD should definitely set up a time to talk, and ideally visit.

Cool, thanks PP! One of the things that appealed to DD from preliminary research is the plentiful opportunities for kids to get involved in music even if they are not majoring in it.

Still waiting to hear on decision. Is DS's top choice. Wonderful, wonderful school. Very warm and welcoming student body. Music conservatory brings a great vibe to the school. Has great music and arts, but for whatever reason is stellar in some of the sciences, particularly physics. Fairly big endowment for its size.

The college also has an extremely impressive president, who was VP of Princeton. It seems to be a school that is setting itself up for long term success. It has a big following in the Midwest, but over the past five years, it has focused on building out a national student body and much more diverse. And Appleton is a great small city with a lot going on. Definitely would be nice for visiting parents. And basically everyone gets at least some merit aid. Only downside is it's really cold, but DS doesn't seem to care. We should know soon.

But definitely check it out.

Appleton is a nice town.

Yes in Wisconsin

To clarify, you mean Lawrence University, not St. Lawrence University?

Anyone whose kid goes/went there? Academically, for a prospective biology and psychology major looking to go onto med school with an interest in music...a good choice?