Lake Forest College Lake Forest College is a leading liberal arts college in the United States, founded in 1857, located in Lake Forest, Illinois, with a student-to-faculty ratio of 1:9. The college has been rated as the "top college in the Midwest" for its outstanding financial aid program; it has also been rated as The college was also named a "National College of Liberal Arts and Sciences" and was ranked 120th in the magazine's 2015 ranking of U.S. liberal arts colleges.