HACLTD

My S has been accepted to Lehigh and Bucknell, both College of Arts and Science, undecided. He loves both schools. But he can only pick one. So it is time to compare and decide.

Can anyone give us your assessment of both schools in the areas of?

1. Academic experience
2. Academic program
3. Flexibility of transferring between colleges
4. Living "conditions"
5. Student life
6. Location

Any comments you could possibly add?

Thanks in advance!

ilmor

Lehigh and Bucknell are fairly similar institutions, which explains why they have so much admissions overlap. Both have similar student bodies. Both schools have a work hard play hard attitude. Both have solid programs in the sciences/engineering. So really I guess it comes down to how much financial aid you have received from each school and which school your son can picture himself at for 4 years. I suggest attending Bucknell's admitted students day since you'll be able to talk to students and faculty. I don't know if Lehigh has a similar event.

ericatbucknell

first, a few comments on the responses to this question on the lehigh thread:

1) yes, lehigh has a larger endowment than bucknell. lehigh is also quite a bit larger than bucknell, particularly when its graduate programs (which endowment funds also support) are also included in the calculation. on a per capita basis bucknell and lehigh have nearly identical endowments. (and per capita makes a lot of sense when it comes to looking at endowments since the vast majority of what they support, namely financial aid and faculty, are per capita expenditures.)

2) you can find endowment information on the nacubo website. google 'nacubo endowment survey' and look for the public tables page.

3) downtown lewisburg (not what you see from route 15) actually has a nice selection of restaurants, but the shopping opportunities arent great. a link to the lewisburg business directory: Business Directory / Directory Home - Lewisburg, PA Downtown Partnership.

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a brief comment on intra-college transfers. getting INTO the business programs has traditionally been somewhat competitive (there was a two page application but my understanding was that most decisions were made based on gpa). with the expansion of those programs into a 'school' in what will eventually be a 'college' i do not know the degree to which that will be continue to be true over the next several years. any of the other transfer combinations are very easy, though transferring INTO an engineering would pose some challenges related to the heavy sequencing of courses in those majors.

if you have any other specific questions about bucknell, feel free to ask (i dont do well in keeping answers to open-ended questions concise). in the mean time, ill recommend that you look through the older 'question and answer' threads on this board, where i have likely addressed many of the questions you have.

morrismm

As far as shopping, (I have a D at Bucknell. But she often shops w/ male friends. So I am not trying to be sexist) there are regular buses from Bucknell to Selinsgrove to the Susquehanna Valley mall. Near by the mall there is a shopping center w/ Target, Kohl's, etc. My D has called me on several occasions when she has been at the mall to shop, go to a movie and eat out w/ friends. It is about a 15-20 min. bus ride. Actually closer than many folks hometown mall.

morrismm

BTW, she also loves Bucknell. She has been excitedly challenged in the classroom and found professors to be readily accessible. She has easily gotten involved w/ ec's. As a first year she was able to go w/ a Bucknell group to New Orleans to help w/ Katrina relief. This was a tremendous experience for her.

I do not know about Lehigh, but Bucknell is a great school and my D loves it.

TLNewton

Both D & S have looked at Lehigh, D is freshman at Bucknell. Neither liked the feel of the campus at Lehigh, particularly the hillside and all the stairs, so never pursued past the campus tour. Both loved the Bucknell campus on first sight. D loves being at Bucknell, enjoys the classes, has found a lot of extra activities and is finding her niche. She had to choose between 4 and we revisited each one. The final decision was made on 4/30 and was a surprise to me. We left her initial 1st choice after 1 hour of the 4 hour revisit program.

Her courses are all taught by professors; lots of contact with professors; 20-30 students/class; they are challenging and she enjoys the challenge. Getting the schedule/classes she wants is a little tricky only because of time conflicts.

I think both Bethlehem and Lewisburg are comparable, but the town size doesn't bother, as we come from a 1 stoplight town w/ shopping a 40 minute drive away. She has not felt a need to leave campus except to get a case of water, and the center of town w/ a CVS is only a 5 minute walk from her dorm. She professes that many weekends she has too many overlapping choices of thing to do/attend, and none of which involve a sporting or greek event.

My opinion is both Bucknell and Lehigh have great academic programs and lots of options to explore for an undecided student. The best advise I received about revisits (unfortunately at the last revisit) is to go on a non-revisit day and arrange for overnight and/or classroom attendance.

HACLTD

TLNewton, Thank you for your great opinion and suggestion. My S will go back to visit both schools again. Is your D in for undecided? Is there a support system at Bucknell to help her explore and select classes?

Pickwick

Your son can't really go wrong with either choice. Since my D hasn't started yet, this may not help you much, but she chose Bucknell over Lehigh. Although she basically just liked the "feel" of Bucknell better, in addition she is interested in performing arts and really felt there was nothing for her at Lehigh -- when she asked about a major in performing arts on our visit to Lehigh she was told, "I won't lie to you, the program is extremely small," but was encouraged to do performing arts and major in other things, "like engineering." Small is not all bad - she has purposely chosen NOT to do a big theatre school -- but right or wrong she came away with the impression that Lehigh was mostly about engineering, which was not for her. We did however think it beautiful (albeit hilly). The sourrounding environment is up to your s's preference. Lewburg is cute, but tiny, tiny in the middle of totally nowhere. Bethlehem is definitely city, and closer to Philadephia, but not very pretty, in fact it is a bit of a dead hulk.