My son likes Lafayette and Villanova for engineering. Both are close to home and seem like solid schools. Any recent grads or attendees willing to weigh in on their personal experiences. Thank you!
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Your son is interested in schools in Pennsylvania. Lafayette College & Villanova University are two different types of schools. What about schools like Penn State & U Penn, any interest?
Two fantastic options and I know people who had great experiences at both.
My D graduated from Laf a few years ago and loved it (STEM major but not an engineer). She did have friends who were engineers and they seemed happy with the program and had good post-graduation outcomes from what I heard.
I’m sure you know that here are notable differences between the schools in terms of location and size. Another difference is Catholic v secular school. I imagine (but please research and confirm) that Villanova has a larger and more structured core curriculum as compared to Lafayette’s general ed distribution requirements. Many students at Laf could double major or have a minor in an area of interest not related to their major (if your student cares about this).
You may also consider (if you haven’t already) Bucknell, Lehigh, and Union (NY).
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This is absolutely true about Villanova having a substantial core curriculum. It’s a lot. And yet somehow most students in the college of arts and sciences double major. Not true in the business or nursing school. I’m not sure how common double major is in the Engineering school, but my daughters engineering major friend is completing two minors in addition to her engineering major.
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Lafayette is a tough school to beat for mechanical engineering and offers excellent science lab facilities.
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Penn state he does not like and U Penn too selective.
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Both are solid schools for engineering.
Personally, I love Villanova’s mainline location which can be contrasted with Lafayette’s location in Easton.
Although the student demographics might appear to be similar at first glance (both have about 60% from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, & New York), Villanova, at least in the past, attracted lots of students from Catholic high schools. This resulted in established friend groups once one walks onto campus. Might be a concern or could be a positive.
I’d take this with a big grain of salt. First, students generally have one perspective, their own school. Second, no matter how you slice it and dice it, and I’ve been there, Lafayette is a small school. Small schools have limited labs. If labs/facilities are the metric that matters, big schools will generally have larger and more advanced spaces. Whereas Lafayette will measure theirs in tens of thousands of square feet, Penn State will be in the hundreds of thousands.
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Nonetheless, survey respondents may evaluate lab facilities in relation to aspects such as their access to them and the presence and appeal of spaces for interdisciplinary collaboration.
However, astute students may have chosen their schools based partly on observations of science facilities made during their college search.
Hi! Not sure how I stumbled on my mom’s post (hi mom) but here’s some stuff I should add for some context, I’ve seen bucknell, Lehigh and union (all great schools) but at least for me, bucknell is extremely isolated for my taste and the student body really reflects that, Union while nice is quite small and in a sketchy neighborhood, and Lehigh lastly just isn’t showing me the numbers I’m looking for in the npc as well as very party oriented. As for UPenn and PSU the first one is simply too selective for my application and the second one is wildly unaffordable, we get good numbers at places like union, laf, nova. Nova really brings me in with its campus, decent but not perfect student body, location in regards to internships research opportunities near Philly, and its seemingly newfound interest in its stem students (I.e the engineering building had a expansion and revamp), However on the other hand Lafayette’s tiny but mighty engineering building I have confidence in having seen it first hand, but I can’t shake that going to a smaller school may bite me in some way, after all most top tier engineering schools are not itsy bitsy (I.e Umich, but their out of state cost would actually kill me so no application going their way from us) The other school I’m applying to that we haven’t mentioned is CWRU which albeit is the closest to a Umich style engineering environment as I think we could get for what we can pay, but for them the problem is mainly their rigor and class sizes, while I appreciate being challenged I do not strive under pressure, which is why I think environments like laf or nova might suit me better where you can get more personal attention and less weed out classes from your teachers and curriculum. But maybe I should throw myself off the deep end and ED to case, curious what you guys think, thanks so much for the comments!
Non-binding EA admission is offered at both Case Western & Villanova but not at Lafayette. I wouldn’t apply ED to any of the three schools unless there is some financial/merit scholarship advantage.
I don’t understand your post.
You will get as much personal attention as you want at ANY engineering program- but you need to be proactive about it. Weed out is something of a misnomer- engineering is hard, many courses are graded to a curve (and nobody is getting participation trophies or adding to their GPA’s with some bogus “extra credit” project) but I don’t consider any of the schools on your list to be particularly “weed out” oriented. If they admit you, they want you to graduate and succeed academically.
What’s the actual concern- not having a 3.8 GPA? That’s life as an engineering student. If Case is affordable it should definitely be on your list btw…
Help us help you… what are you really looking for in terms of academic intensity, and how convinced are you that engineering is the right path???
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Mechanical engineering majors from Lafayette earn more four years out from graduation than those from, for example, Villanova and Case Western Reserve. This doesn’t seem like a bad thing.
I’ve lost track, have you looked into the University of Rochester?
We almost begged our DD to apply to Lafayette and CWRU. But she had a warm weather criteria and the schools you mentioned just didn’t fit.
I honestly think you will get a fine engineering education at Case, Lafayette or Villanova. We know engineering grads from all three, and they all liked their schools and are gainfully employed in their fields.
DH has hired grads from Lafayette and Villanova and says they were all well prepared to be practicing engineers.
I think just apply and as your senior year winds down, you might have a better sense of where you really want to be.
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All of these schools can provide a wonderful four year experience and an excellent education. Your post-graduation opportunities will be determined by what YOU accomplish during college rather than which one of these fine schools you choose to attend.
I’d focus on affordability and fit.
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