Lake Forest College was ranked #17 on the list of happiest students in the 25th annual Princeton Review ranking of schools and universities this fall. The Princeton Review ranks schools on a number of demographics, and Lake Forest College has ranked high on many of the lists, but the most surprising is the strength of the student body’s happiness. This ranking led to many students posing the question, are we really that happy?
The Princeton Review determines all of the rankings from a survey given to 143,000 students at 381 different schools. The “happiest students” result was based on the response to the survey question, “Overall how happy are you?” Schools are given a cumulative grade based on the responses to the questions that pertain to various demographic rankings. Then the schools are ranked overall.
Lake Forest College is not unfamiliar with being ranked by the Princeton Review, as it was also slated #18 with the “Best Athletic Facilities,” as one of the “Best Midwestern Colleges,” and as one of the “Colleges That Pay You Back” in the 25th book of 381 Colleges. The link to this ranking spread like wildfire through students’ social media timelines and left many students wondering if happiness is quantifiable.
Lake Forest College, with its sprawling lush acres and quiet ravines, clearly has a beautiful campus, and many students interviewed said that the student body is positive and inclusive. The College’s diverse student body also allows for everyone to have a place. The fact that Lake Forest is so small also seems to enable people to demonstrate their strengths in an environment that can showcase those strengths.
“I could definitely see people being really grateful [at Lake Forest College],” said this year’s Homecoming King Virgil Thomas ‘17. That gratefulness is definitely shown in the student body with its ability to accept others and the percentage of students that volunteer and works for others.
“The students and their positive attitudes are one of the reasons that LFC is such a happy place,” Arly Hernandez ‘20 said.
Most students interviewed reported that they were involved in at least two on-campus organizations. High involvement leads to students truly feeling connected, making it a “tight-knit community,” said Hamid Masood ‘19.
Beyond it being so tight-knight, the student body of Lake Forest College is high achieving. While oftentimes a high-achieving student body leads to negative college experiences, as it often creates a stressed student body, this atmosphere does the opposite at Lake Forest College. The academic rigor is there, but students are striving to achieve a positive community and to positively influence each other’s life.
“I think the majority of the student body is accepting and friendly, and you walk down the hallway and people smile at people, and are willing to learn about each other,” Virgil Thomas ‘17 said. “It kind of creates an environment that is, really, genuinely inviting.”
After careful observation of Lake Forest College, its student body, its resources, its climate economically and its overall vibe, it’s really not hard to see why Lake Forest is ranked as the “17th Happiest.” It’s a happy place, and more so it’s made up of people who want to be happy. It is not to say that people are happy all the time, nor that they should be. College is about opportunity, and it is apparent that the opportunity to be happy and make others happy is remarkably clear at Lake Forest College.
