Alumni
Forester Parents and Families
FIRST-YEAR FAQS
1. What is the biggest challenge my student will face this semester?
The biggest challenge college students have is accepting responsibility for their educational experience, living arrangements, social life, and free time. College classrooms require initiative and independence, critical thinking and writing skills, and independent research. Life in the residence halls is similarly challenging as students with a diverse range of experiences and values work together to develop rhythms for studying and living together. All of these freedoms and responsibilities are intertwined with students’ explorations of old and new identities.
2. What happens during New Student Orientation?
The New Student Orientation Program is designed to assist students and their families in your successful transition and integration to Lake Forest College and its surrounding communities. The program will introduce you to faculty, staff, and students; provide you and your student with academic and co-curricular opportunities, inform you about the campus history and traditions as well as the College’s policies and procedures; identify student support services and resources; assist your student in developing reasonable academic and personal goals; and assist in the advisement and registration process. Students meet returning students and learn about clubs, organizations, and leadership opportunities at Lake Forest College.
3. What should my student do if he/she becomes homesick?
First year students face numerous challenges and some struggle at first. We advise them to give it a little time, get engaged with their academic work, eat the right foods, engage in regular exercise, get enough sleep, invest in their relationships with their roommates, join a club or organization, and establish a good working relationship with their advisor or another faculty or staff member.
4. Will the College advise me if my student is having difficulty?
Our educational and student-development philosophy, as well as the professional confidentiality codes observed by medical and counseling professionals, and Federal laws require us to honor a confidential relationship with students in nearly all matters affecting their lives at Lake Forest College. Consequently, we do not routinely report students’ occasional or ongoing academic, social, medical, or personal problems to their parents. We contact families only when, in our best judgment, the student’s well-being demands a family consultation. In such cases, we usually ask the student to make the first contact with his or her parents.
5. What should my student do if he/she is having academic problems?
In the case of academic problems, the student should work closely with his or her professors and faculty advisor, make use of the academic support services at Lake Forest College—and seek further advice from the Dean of the College Office if necessary. First year students are often reluctant to acknowledge their difficulties. Please encourage them to bring their academic concerns to their faculty advisors. We will help them assess their difficulties and develop a plan of action.
6. What should my student do if they are having social problems?
For social problems the student might work with the student residence-hall staff and with the administrative offices concerned with students’ aspirations and problems. This includes the Counseling Center and the Dean of Students Office.
7. What should parents do when their student is having difficulties?
We understand it is not easy for parents to cope with their student having academic or social problems far from home. However, please be assured we are available to help and in our experience the very large majority of students manage to work through and grow from the challenges they encounter. If your student is struggling, encourage them to ask for help. If you are uncertain about whom your student might call about a particular problem, the Office of the Dean of Students can counsel the student directly or make a referral.
8. Is the Lake Forest College campus safe?
The Lake Forest College campus and the Lake Forest community are exceptionally safe. However, students cannot take their safety for granted. Personal safety is the product of good judgment and sensible precautions.
9. Are drugs and alcohol a problem at Lake Forest College?
The abuse of alcohol and other drugs among college students is a serious concern on campuses across the country. Lake Forest College educates students about the risks inherent in alcohol and other drug use, and provides resources to students concerned about their own or others’ use of alcohol or other drugs.
While our efforts are educational whenever possible, we also respond forcefully to students who violate Lake Forest College or Illinois State regulations regarding drugs and alcohol.
10. How challenging is academic life at Lake Forest College?
Students should expect to face significantly more sophisticated expectations in the college classroom, and require work hours two or three times greater than in high school. College students are also expected to manage their own time effectively, do more reading, questioning, thinking, and writing on their own, and keep track of their academic progress in each class and as they complete degree requirements. That being said, Lake Forest College faculty want students to do their best and are eager to help students work through intellectual challenges and to improve their academic skills.