Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Lafayette

Lafayette College looks pretty good to us. Endub will be back for another look in the fall.

My background is Quaker, but Mrs. G. and I are both Presbyterian now. We both went to Swarthmore, a Quaker-founded school, and now live happily amidst Centre, a Presbyterian-founded school. Child #1 is now at Swarthmore.

What has been interesting to see in Endub's search is that, after sifting many fine colleges all around the country, she kept being drawn to the Presbyterian and Quaker institutions. It was that insight that led us to give a hard look at Lafayette in the first place. Lafayette has historically been connected with the Presbyterian Church, though the tie is very loose these days. She is somewhat liberal, but wants to have a diverse world to talk to. Lafayette is liberal the way most liberal arts colleges are. Our tour guide, though, a nice young woman named Amanda, said that the healthy dose of engineers kept the student body more balanced. This sounds like a good thing.

So the search continues. But Endub is minding her Ps and Qs.

3 comments:

Jon said...

I just wanted to put in a good word for Wooster, which is of a similar genre. I like that many of the Presbyterian colleges are intellectual but down-to-earth. They attract smart, interesting kids. Wooster prides itself on being a college that "changes lives," and this was certainly true of me. Required junior and senior theses mean that students know their professors well and are ready for grad school if they wish.

Wooster has an InterVarsity, and I was one of the few students who went back and forth between it and the more liberal Presbyterian groups. It was a great experience and I thought there was a fair amount of balance.

Anonymous said...

oh those Pints and Quarts...

Gruntled said...

I liked Wooster, too. I am particularly impressed with the Senior Project. I think in its curriculum Wooster is the closest thing to what Princeton was when it was a college.