by our College Data Analytics TeamLake Forest College is a private not-for-profit institution in Lake Forest, Illinois enrolling 1,813 undergraduates. It accepts 57% of applicants and has an on-time graduation rate of 78%, above the national average of 33%. College Factual ranks it #479 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in its 2027 Best Colleges ranking (top 9%), and its Value for Your Money analysis rates it a Fair Price.
Source: IPEDS 2025; College Scorecard July 2026; College Factual rankings 2027. Data as of: July 2026.
Lake Forest College ranks #479 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in College Factual’s 2027 Best Colleges ranking, placing it in the top 9%.
In its yearly rankings, College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities to determine which ones are the best in a variety of categories, such as overall value, quality, diversity, which schools are the best for each major, and much more.
Lake Forest College was awarded 43 badges in the 2027 rankings.
According to College Factual’s 2027 analysis, Lake Forest is ranked #479 out of 5,159 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality. This puts it in the top 10% of all schools in the nation.
Within the state, Lake Forest holds the #23 spot on the Best Colleges in Illinois ranking.
See all of the rankings for Lake Forest College.
The acceptance rate at Lake Forest College is a competitive 57%, so make sure you take your application seriously when putting it together. Even leaving out a minor detail could be a reason to move you to the rejection pile.
About 16% of students accepted to Lake Forest submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 600 and 713. Math scores were between 590 and 680.
Lake Forest received ACT scores from 10% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 28 and 32.
Learn more about Lake Forest College admissions.
With a student to faculty ratio of 13 to 1, Lake Forest College is about average in this regard as the nationwide rate is 15 to 1. While this does not translate directly to class size, it’s a good indicator of how much time professors will have to spend with their students on a one-on-one basis.
When estimating how much access students will have to their teachers, some people like to look at what percentage of faculty members are full time. This is because part-time teachers may not have as much time to spend on campus as their full-time counterparts.
The full-time faculty percentage at Lake Forest College is 100%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.
The freshmen retention rate of 90% tells us that most first-year, full-time students like Lake Forest College enough to come back for another year. This is a fair bit higher than the national average of 68%. That’s certainly something to check off in the good column about the school.
Students are considered to have graduated on time if they finish their studies within four years. At Lake Forest the on-time graduation rate of first-time, full-time students is 78%. That is great when compared to the national average of 33.3%.
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Lake Forest College.
The current enrollment includes 1,813 undergraduates at Lake Forest.
Get more detailed information on the diversity at Lake Forest College.
The average net price of Lake Forest is $17,140. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.
| $0-30 K | $30K-48K | $48-75 | $75-110K | $110K + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $19,605 | $20,210 | $21,481 | $26,055 | $35,341 |
The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid. Note that the net price is typically less than the published price for a school. For more information on the sticker price of Lake Forest, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.
Almost 66% of college students who graduated with the class of 2018 took out student loans, but that percentage varies from school to school. At Lake Forest, approximately 67% of students took out student loans averaging $6,906 a year. That adds up to $27,624 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 2.1%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you’ll be able to pay back your student loans. Get more details about paying for Lake Forest College.
Yearly salaries vary depending on what you major in, but on average, bachelor’s degree recipients from Lake Forest College make around $61,825 per year during the early years of their employment. That’s great news for Lake Forest College students since it is 26% more than the average college graduate’s salary of $49,219 per year.
See which majors at Lake Forest College make the most money.
Lake Forest College is a private not-for-profit institution located in Lake Forest, Illinois. Lake Forest is a good match for students who enjoy the safety and convenience of the suburbs. Get more details about the location of Lake Forest College.
Contact information for Lake Forest College can be found below.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Address: | 555 N Sheridan Road, Lake Forest, IL 60045-2338 |
| Phone: | 8472343100 |
| Website: | www.lakeforest.edu |
| Wikipedia: | en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Forest_College |
| Facebook: | www.facebook.com/lakeforestcollege |
| Twitter: | www.twitter.com/LFCollege |
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 19 majors graduated from Lake Forest College. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.
| Most Popular Majors | Completions | Average Salary of Graduates |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-Disciplinary Studies | 585 | NA |
| Business & Commerce | 86 | $39,515 |
| Child Development & Psychology | 59 | NA |
| General Biology | 41 | NA |
| Economics | 35 | $58,782 |
| Finance & Financial Management | 32 | $51,498 |
| Computer Science | 28 | NA |
| Communication & Media Studies | 24 | $45,662 |
| History | 23 | NA |
| Neurobiology & Neurosciences | 22 | $35,544 |
148 students took at least one online class at Lake Forest College.
Online courses are a great option for busy, working students as well as for those who have scheduling conflicts and want to study on their own time. As time goes by, expect to see more and more online learning options become available.
Learn more about online learning at Lake Forest College.
Interested in comparing Lake Forest? Pit them head to head with College Combat, a free interactive tool for comparing colleges on the features you care about.
Footnotes
*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.
References