Tag: Survey

Survey Results # 25: Unique Traits (part two)

What makes someone unique? To quote noted philosopher Dr. Seuss; “Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than you.”

That being said, it can be assumed that just being yourself, with your interests and goals, can guarantee you a spot in the unique club. Nevertheless, we polled our incoming class of 2013 with the question, “What is the most unique thing about you”, and there were some common themes of uniqueness.

Most responses made reference to cultural, ethnic, and ancestral heritage.

Our incoming students are from all over the world and are proud of their heritage while at the same time wanting to experience diversity in all forms. The office of multicultural affairs is dedicated to provide the resources necessary for all students to express and explore culture and identity… so feel free to bring your cultural baggage to share!

In second place were references to physical characteristics… you know, red hair, birthmarks, monkey feet, etc.

“As we grow as unique persons, we learn to respect the uniqueness of others.” -Robert Schuller

Survey Results #24: Time For A Brewed Awakening!

According to our survey results, you’re more likely to hear someone ask for a Brewed Awakening once you get to campus than you are to hear someone ask for a Starbucks run. We asked our incoming students which they preferred out of the following three options: Starbucks, local coffee shops or Pepsi.

(The Pepsi was included to accommodate non-coffee drinkers, although one person later commented that she prefers milk. She’ll love Wisconsin!)

In this case, about 15% of you said Pepsi, 20% said Starbucks, and a whopping 65% said local coffee shops.

(For the record, 65% is how many of our classes have just one student…in case you missed that in any of our brochures talking about individualized learning.)

Fortunately, you’ll all find a happy medium in Appleton, Wisconsin. Just a couple blocks from campus, you’ll find local favorites like Harmony Café, Brewed Awakenings and Copper Rock, as well as a Starbucks, and several enterprises that serve non-coffee options.

In fact, you can find out about everything else we have in downtown Appleton by going to this city-sponsored site. or check out a blog by Jeff Lindsay, a local resident who seems to know and love more about Appleton than anyone.

He also collects information about the city of Appleton on another website.

Now that it’s under a month until you arrive on campus, we’re getting really excited. Whether it’s at Starbucks, Harmony, Brewed Awakenings, the Brat Cart or a soda-selling restaurant, we look forward to seeing you on and off campus!

Survey Results #22: Unique Traits

Dear Lawrence University Class of 2013,

We at the office of admissions have been pleasantly delighted and surprised by your responses to our fun survey. Thank you for your candid answers and honest reflection to the question,

“What is the most unique thing about you?”

While everyone is unique in their own way (it’s true), here are some responses worth highlighting:

– An alter-ego named Siouxsie Queball

– A minuscule sneeze

– Undetectable sarcasm

– Gut-rattling burps

– Implanted RFID microchip for the fun

– Playing piano with body facing opposite direction and hands wrapped about body

– Heightened sense of time

– Wearing socks that never, ever match

Whatever your idiosyncrasies be, Lawrence University is the perfect environment to cultivate such individualized interest.

Survey Results # 19: “Oh you are special, special, everyone is special…” (Part one)

The title is a quote from one of Barney’s smash hits, (Yes, Barney the friendly purple dinosaur), and it accurately portrays how we feel about each member of our incoming class. In a recent survey, we asked the class of 2013 “What is the most unique thing about you”, and the responses were, well, unique!

Here are some responses:

-“My Bald Head”

-“I throat sing”

-“I own a pink hairless dog that has brown spots. No, this is not a lie”

– “I have a donkey that is buried in our yard (it is dead)”

-“My majestic nose”

-“I have a birthmark located on the underbelly of my chin”

-“I have a drag queen alter-ego named Siouxsie Queball” (Fierce!)

-“I can put a string into one of my nostrils and pull it out of the other” (a little gross, but ok)

-“I’m a closet birdwatcher”

-“Our family owns a Christmas tree farm”

-“Siamese cat named Yo-yo Ma, and my standard poodle named Hadji”

-“Cogito Ergo Nom” (I think therefore I am)

-“Some people call me a ping pong master”

-“I can sing the Element song by Tom Lehrer” (a pretty impressive feat)

More uniqueness to come. Stay tuned…

Survey Results #18: Is this part of the freshman studies program?

We asked you, “if you could only do one thing for fifty hours, what would it be?”

The most popular answer was sleep…although one person added that it was only so that she could do many things in the next fifty hours. A good number of you responded with musical or athletic activities. Many of you expressed your interest to read several books, watch a marathon of movies, or even, according to one person, “watch one episode of America’s Next Top Model.” (One episode?! For 50 hours?)

One person wanted to jump on a trampoline. Another wanted to count dollar bills, with the ability to keep all the money he had counted after fifty hours. Yet another said, “over fifty hours? Get tired of whatever it is!” Someone, who is apparently very suspicious, said, “This question makes me nervous. Is this part of the freshman studies program?”

No – although you can get more information about freshman studies here.

Finally – one person seemed to catch on to what we were asking about, by responding “play a Midwest trivia contest.”

Trivia, as you will come to call it this January, is a non-stop 50-hour marathon of meaningless, useless trivia that will have you Googling the oddest phrases imaginable, calling people throughout the country, and running to the internet radio station to win points in the strangest “action question” you could imagine.

Once, teams were asked to produce a pound of human hair…and they did. (The winning team went to the dumpster of a hair salon.)

You can check out the student-maintained trivia site.

Or, read the “official” Lawrence University perspective of this tradition.

Despite what you may think now…there’s a strong chance you’ll find yourself drinking an energy drink at 4:00 am Saturday morning trying to figure out what Frank Zappa’s Fire Prevention Week poster said when he was in ninth grade.