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There are lots of good reasons to go to Lafayette, but what struck James Conrad was this: No whiners.
Oh, there are probably a few. But when Conrad, of Atholton, Md., was touring campuses a year ago, he noticed that students at other schools seemed to gripe first.
“Some complained about the weather or the baseball coach or the awful food or the inconvenient cafeteria,” he recalls. “And some complained about how their professors didn’t seem to want to be teaching.”
Believing that every school has good qualities, Conrad was creeped out by the complaints. “When people focus on bad things, I figure it’s time to reconsider the school,” he says.
Lafayette was a contrast. Conrad spent two overnights on campus and found his hosts and other students overwhelmingly positive. “Everybody had wonderful things to say,” he explains. “They all had different reasons for why I should come, so it didn?t feel like they’d memorized their lines.”
Conrad admits to having ‘no clue’ about his ultimate major. He knows that engineering and mathematics come to him most easily so he will pursue those first. “The thing about the engineering program is that it’s tough to come in late,” he says, “I figure that, if I don’t like it, I can switch to something else.”
Baseball coach Joe Kinney introduced Conrad to Lafayette. And Kinney (a “great guy,” says Conrad) was tipped off by Matt Revelle ’06, who played with Conrad on their state champion high school team.
“I’ve always heard ‘Don’t pick a school for one thing, just try to find one that will make you happy,’ ” he says. “What I thought would make my college experience happier was a school I could play baseball for.”