Want to know if Lake Forest College is right for you?
College should prepare you for more than just graduation.
A question-led guide to the Lake Forest College experience, including academics, student life, career preparation, and graduate outcomes.
Choosing a college is about finding the right fit
Choosing a college is not simply about finding a good school. It is about finding a place that fits your goals, interests, and the person you want to become.
This guide answers common questions from prospective students and families considering Lake Forest College. It explains how Lake Forest can help you make it as a student and after graduation.
Whether Lake Forest is your first college to explore or one of your final choices, these questions can help you decide whether you can see yourself here.
What are you curious about?
Explore questions about choosing Lake Forest College
- Is Lake Forest College right for me?
- What makes Lake Forest different?
- What do Lake Forest career outcomes show?
- How does Lake Forest prepare students for careers or graduate school?
- How do Lake Forest students participate in internship or research experience?
- What is the academic experience like at Lake Forest?
- What is the everyday student life like at Lake Forest?
- What do Lake Forest students do outside the classroom on the weekends?
- What is it like to live in Lake Forest, IL?
- How close is the Chicago to Lake Forest?
- How can I decide if Lake Forest is right for me?
Is Lake Forest College right for me?
Lake Forest may be right for you if you are looking for an education rooted in the liberal arts with opportunities to participate in experiential learning such as internships, research, study abroad, and more.
We offer a pragmatic educational approach that allows students to broaden their horizons and explore what they are passionate and curious about. Students leave with a strong understanding of the world around them and are armed with the tools that are needed to enter whatever comes next for them, whether that be a career, graduate school, or something else.
Lake Forest may be a strong fit if you are looking for:
- A liberal arts education;
- Opportunities to gain real-life experiences through internships and/or research;
- Strong student life with over 80 student clubs and activities to get involved in;
- Faculty, staff, coaches, and classmates who know your name and care deeply about one another;
- Preparation for what comes next after graduation.
Why this matters
We know that college fit is determined on multiple factors, not just by one statistic or conversation. It depends on if your goals align with the setting, opportunities, and community you will live and learn in for the next four years.
What makes Lake Forest College different?
At Lake Forest our students are not just a number. Professors and staff know your name. Our class sizes are small, but our sense of community is large. We learn your unique goals and help you find ways to achieve them.
Our location in Lake Forest, Illinois, just 30 miles north of Chicago, gives students the best of both worlds: an exceptional liberal arts education in a close-knit, supportive community. Here, students are challenged to think critically about the world and discover what they can change about it.
What makes Lake Forest distinctive is not one major or program. It is the combination of our education, community, development, and practical experiences that reinforce one another.
What does that look like in practice?
A Lake Forest student might:
- Complete research alongside a professor after their first-year through our Richter Scholars Program;
- Spend a semester studying their major abroad at another college or university;
- Live in Chicago for a semester for our In the Loop program and complete an internship in the city;
- Lead a student organization (or found their own), athletic team, or project;
- Learn to communicate research findings through or annual research symposium;
- Work and live alongside students whose goals, backgrounds, and routines differ from their own.
What do Lake Forest career outcomes show?
Lake Forest’s annual survey provides a snapshot of what students report doing within six months of graduation.
For the Class of 2025, Lake Forest determined the status of 73% or 434 members of the graduating class. Among those respondents:
- 73.9 percent are employed
- 21.8 percent are attending graduate school
- 2.8 percent were seeking employment
- 0.6 percent were applying to graduate school
- 0.9 percent were pursuing other options such as traveling, focusing on family, etc.
This totals 97 percent of the class of 2025 to have jobs, enter graduate school, or pursue other avenues of success within six months of graduation.
Pursuing your passion works, and our graduates are proof of it. Lake Forest College students don't have to choose between practicality and passion, and it pays off. Explore our career outcomes.
How does Lake Forest prepare students for careers or graduate school?
Whatever you plan, whatever you dream, we’re here to help you make it happen. Our nationally recognized Gorter Career Advancement Center equips you with the skills and experience to take your next steps with confidence.
Our Gorter Career Advancement Center is here to support you and help you strategize everything career related.
- Individualized support from your career advisor
- Cutting-edge resume, interview, and job search training
- Access to Handshake, a platform with nearly 1 million employers
- Financial support for unpaid internships
- Structured “Career Milestones” program
We offer personalized mentoring and networking connections from the 400+ professionals who participate in our distinctive career events annually, such as our annual speed networking event.
And our Career Pathways Program places students in a network of fellow students, alumni, and other professionals who will provide you with industry insight and help you land meaningful jobs.
We offer five distinctive career pathway communities:
- Business, Finance, and Data Science
- Creative Arts and Communication
- Law and Public Service
- Science and Health Care
- Build Your Own
How do Lake Forest students participate in internship or research experience?
What internship opportunities are available?
Lake Forest College’s Academic Internship Program (for-credit) is at the center of our career preparation plan for students. Rising juniors and seniors can earn academic credit through their participation in our Academic Internship Course (for-credit) in place of a traditional class. Students can complete multiple for-credit internships while still graduating on time. Over 50% of students earn credit for internships.
Our close proximity to Chicago and a strong network of alumni and friends give students access to a range of internships few other colleges can offer. Lake Forest offers Internship Specialists as a resource to students looking to complete an internship for credit.
What research opportunities are available?
Lake Forest College offers a unique opportunity for undergraduate students to gain hands-on research experience across disciplines—sciences, arts, and the humanities—early in their academic careers.
In one of our most popular research programs, Richter Scholars work closely with a faculty member doing independent research in a wide variety of fields. Students spend four or eight weeks over the summer contributing to and publishing high-level research. Richter projects often grow into long-term research interests that carry throughout undergraduate studies and lead to grad school placements.
What is the academic experience like at Lake Forest?
At Lake Forest College all courses, regardless of academic area, are rooted in the liberal arts. This begins with the Forester Fundamental Curriculum (FFC), which all students must successfully complete for graduation. The FFC is intended to ensure that students will receive breadth, as well as depth, in their education while continuing to allow them considerable latitude in designing their individual programs of study. The FFC also includes requirements for cultural diversity, specific skills (writing, speaking, technology), and experiential learning.
Lake Forest College's FFC begins with the First-Year Studies (FIYS) Program, which is a new student’s first connection with the academic community on campus. It introduces first-year students to new friends, challenging and engaging professors, and learning opportunities and resources available in nearby Chicago.
All first-year students at Lake Forest take First-Year Studies as one of their four fall courses. The First-Year Studies Program offers a variety of sections that represent a wide range of topics from many different academic departments and programs. They represent the passionate interests of their instructors, who want to introduce students to a new topic in an intimate academic setting.
Who are student’s academic advisors?
The instructor of the student’s assigned FIYS course serves as the student’s academic advisor for at least their first semester at the College. After that a professor in a student’s declared major will serve as their advisor.
Do classes have TA’s (teaching assistants)?
No, all of our classes are taught by our distinguished professors. Ninety-eight percent of professors have PhDs from top universities.
What are the class sizes like?
Our average class size is 19—intentionally. We like to keep things small so you can learn more. And, we’re serious when we say that your professors will remember your name. Our student-to-faculty ratio is 12:1.
What do Lake Forest students do outside the classroom on the weekends?
Student life at Lake Forest includes athletics, club and intermural sports, student organizations, outdoor recreation, residence-hall activities, campus events, performances, traditions, informal time with friends, and trips beyond campus.
The balance differs by student. Athletes, student employees, and students in academically intensive periods may have very different schedules.
On the weekends students have the option to attend on campus events put on by the Student Programming Board, take the train to Chicago, hang out in downtown Lake Forest, or just hang out on campus. The options change from week to week when it comes to on-campus events, but some of our favorites are the spring concert, open mic nights at The Grove (our on campus outdoor stage), and movie nights.
What is it like to live in Lake Forest, IL?
The City of Lake Forest, population 20,000, is a safe, suburban community recognized for its natural beauty, sensitivity to open space and preservation of its historic structures and landscapes. A vibrant downtown business district, including historic Market Square and the Metra train station, is a ten minute walk from campus. The beautiful Lake Michigan beach is a five minute walk from campus.
Students may value:
- a campus-centered residential experience;
- access to nearby Lake Michigan for beach activities and water sports;
- seasonal changes and a distinct Northern Illinois setting;
- a smaller community where campus relationships play a major role in daily life;
- access to nearby communities and destinations when transportation is available.
Students should also consider:
- The opportunity to live in a small city with easy access to the country’s third largest city, Chicago;
- how often they expect to leave campus;
- whether they will have access to a car;
- Available College or local transportation;
- the number and variety of nearby restaurants, shops, and entertainment options;
- winter weather and travel.
How close is Chicago to Lake Forest?
Lake Forest College is 30 miles North of Chicago. From the College, Chicago is easily accessible by train via the Metra, and the Lake Forest Metra station is a ten-minute walk from campus.
In the city, students have access to multiple opportunities on their own or sponsored by the College, including:
- Our In the Loop Program, spend a semester living and interning in downtown Chicago;
- ACTIVATE summer programming, live and intern in downtown Chicago over the summer;
- travel to Chicago with a class, professors take classes to the city more than 200 times a year;
- Use your student ID to go to the Art Institute for free.
How can I decide if Lake Forest is right for me?
The best way to evaluate Lake Forest College is to compare what matters to you with what students actually experience.
As you explore, consider asking:
- Can I picture myself on campus at the College?
- Does Lake Forest offer the academic program and learning environment I need?
- What experiences are available in my intended field?
- How will I explore careers and prepare for life after graduation?
- What does an ordinary week look like for a student like me?
- How do students find friends and community?
- What will living in Lake Forest be like for me?
- What support will I use when college becomes difficult?
- What will Lake Forest expect from me?
- What questions remain unanswered?
Best way for you to really get a true glimpse into what your life at Lake Forest College couls look like? Visit campus when you can! While on campus chat with current students, ask your admissions counselor the hard questions, chat with financial aid, sit in on a class, eat in the dining hall, and do everything else that you are curious about.
Continuing to explore Lake Forest College
Ready to take the next step?
Once you have explored the undergraduate experience, take the next steps and apply to Lake Forest College.