My son is looking to study Mechanical Engineering. He has been accepted into each of these schools.
Lafayette COA no merit but after aid is $9k
Lehigh COA no merit but after aid is $19k
Syracuse admitted to Honors College, full tuition scholarship and some aid COA $19k
Although different in their own ways, he did like the campuses of each. I think Lehigh has the best engineering program, followed by Lafayette and Syracuse…but the Syracuse alumni network is great.
My main concern with Lafayette is the size of the school, 2700 students in total. Having gone to a small college myself, that can sometimes be a big negative.
Having said that…are either Lehigh or Syracuse, superior in such a way to merit the extra $10k per year?
Also, his scholarship at Syracuse is guaranteed for 4-5 years and is adjusted to any rising costs.
You can always get career outcome data. Ask the schools, especially Lafayette (if it’s under consideration). These schools should all be able to provide you the how many, how much, job titles and where for MechE.
Here is some for all three schools. I’m presenting like this because a link wouldn’t work. It’d be hard to find. It’s not broken out by major but you can ask the school specific to MechE - % hired, salary, actual jobs and locations.
SU.
Results reflect information on 222 of 268 undergraduate degree recipients, representing a 83% knowledge rate.
Outcomes Breakdown
58% employed
32% continuing education
7% still seeking employment
3% enlisted in military service
1% not seeking employment
Featured Employers
Accenture
Amazon
Applied Materials
Carrier
Constellation
Deloitte
Department of Defense
Epic
Ferreira Construction
FrieslandCampina Ingredients North America, Inc.
General Dynamics, Electric Boat
General Electric (GE)
HII – Newport News Shipbuilding division
Intertek
L3Harris Technologies
Lockheed Martin
LOTTE BIOLOGICS
Northrup Grumman
PepsiCo
Pratt & Whitney, a Raytheon Technologies Company (RTX)
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
SRC, Inc
Structure Tone
Tesla
Whiting-Turner Contracting Company
Average Starting Salary: $79,727
Lehigh
Average Starting Salaries
Discipline
Average Starting Salary
Bioengineering
$70,852
Chemical Engineering
$79,342
Civil Engineering
$64,479
Computer Engineering
$93,000
Computer Science
$80,154
Electrical Engineering
$79,343
Environmental Engineering
$74,500
Industrial & Systems Engineering
$81,524
Materials Science & Engineering*
N/A
Mechanical Engineering
$75,338
Inter-college Interdisciplinary Program:
Computer Science & Business (CSB)
$94,545
Inter-college Interdisciplinary Program:
Integrated Business & Engineering (IBE)
$83,381
Inter-college Interdisciplinary Program:
Integrated Degree in Engineering, Arts & Sciences (IDEAS)
$74,472
*Less than three salary data points reported.
Lafayette
Placement
99% of Lafayette engineering graduates are employed, continuing their education, in internships, or in volunteer work six months after graduation.
20% to 25% of graduates seek advanced degrees at top schools, typically with full funding. Students go on to schools such as MIT, Stanford, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, and Johns Hopkins, among many others.
Lafayette is ranked sixth by Standard and Poor’s for placing graduates in CEO through director positions in companies with more than $1 million in revenue.
The Office of Career Services has been ranked as one of the top 20 higher education career services offices for the past three years by the Princeton Review. Employers include ExxonMobil, IBM, PSE&G, Proctor and Gamble, Picattiny Arsenal, Johnson & Johnson, Stryker, and many others.
Engineering graduates pursue careers such as technical engineering, law, medicine, entrepreneurship, management, and finance.
Thank you. Great advice. I will look those up. I had seen something online that showed the overall salaries on average was higher for Lehigh than Syracuse, but figured it was also due to the larger number of majors at Syracuse but I will try and get the apples to apples comparisons.
You need to find out about MechE specifically - including hire rates.
I surmise - they will be very similar - no different than any other flagship.
Companies pay by location - not school.
Lehigh will not likely command a premium over name your flagship - even low rated ones - or SU or Lafayette.
Many jobs today are found by kids, online, etc - as my Bama kid with 19 interviews and 5 offers by xmas did - every single one.
So I’d go totally with fit - and fit includes budget.
But if I had to knock one and all things were equal (but they’re not as you’ll save $40K), I’d knock Lafayette - but only because engineering and LACs are not a typical combo.
But that’s $40K you may not have and he’ll get a great education and do well there.
If you look at MechE jobs, they often have two requirements:
ABET certification
Minimum GPA - usually a 3.0
Short of a couple schools, I’m not sure pedigree matters at all in the major. At least that’s my opinion and my experience.
Best of luck whatever you decide - but you’ve got three fine schools.
I’m a fan of their engineering program, love the ability to minor in entrepreneurship, it’s a stunning campus, Bethlehem is a great town, and they have strong outcomes for their engineers.
I think Lehigh’s facilities and breath/depth of course offerings trump Lafayette’s.
IMO, Syracuse just doesn’t have the same reputation for engineering.
My D graduated from Lafayette and had a fantastic experience in every regard. My sense (as a parent) is that Lafayette seemed to have found that secret formula where students are academically challenged but still have time for ECs, having a social life. doing research with professors, etc. (I’m sure that is the case at many other schools as well.) My D specifically wanted a LAC undergrad experience – she thrives in a smaller, close-knit community. For her the size of Laf was a positive, not a negative but of course that is a very individual thing.
For full disclosure, D was not an engineer – her friends who were seem to have done well. I recall there was a study abroad program geared specifically for engineering students (you can check if it is still available) so there is a possibility to get off campus for a semester and not lose ground in the program.
It really comes down to personal preference as all are ABET accredited. All great choices so congrats!
As well, so much can change between now and then (he could change majors, transfer schools, you name it) and starting salaries out of college may or may not set trajectories for future income. Students these days have been changing jobs frequently, and while today’s economic and work environment is in flux, recent history has shown job changes can provide large salary changes, signing bonuses, etc.
As some have said elsewhere, students can end up in highly desired IB jobs, though they may not get their prized offer right out of college if they don’t attend certain target schools. Speaking more directly to your kid’s planned engineering major, both of my s’s are engineers, and both have been working at one of the FAANG tech companies. But neither started there right out of college. There can be lots of routes to those opportunities.
I would pick Lehigh or Lafayette.
Good luck to you and your kiddo in their decision!!
We begged our kid to apply to Lafayette (she was an engineering major). My husband, the engineer, felt their program was very solid. The town is a great small college town, and there is much to like about this college. DD didn’t apply there…
If this student wants a much larger college, then Syracuse could be considered. But it really is a lot bigger than Lehigh and Lafayette.
Lehigh is a terrific school, but it’s a huge party school also with a large Greek culture. Students need to decide if that is for them.
Thank you very much. NOW you gave me more stuff to look at. He also got accepted to U of Rochester COA $15k and Case Western COA $17k, both great engineering schools, but because of the added costs of travel incurred, we had eliminated them. I guess we will have to revisit those looking at the ROI of graduates
You are scratching Case?? That is a fabulous school!! I’d pick that over the others! If you are in NY (guessing from your SN) the travel costs will be a minor concern.
Thank you for your response. We live in NYC, but he did like the campus and the area, unlike when we visited RPI in Troy, NY.
They still offer an engineering centered study abroad program to Germany or Spain. That was one of the things that initially drew him towards applying to Lafayette.
I hope your student will look a little more carefully at CWRU. It’s a fabulous engineering program there. Cleveland has much to offer. Yes, probably would need to fly, but I’m sure from greater NYC there are lots of flights to Hopkins.
Thank you for your response. At present, he is not into parties or Greek life, obviously that can change while in college, but not something at the moment that is a requisite.
Curious why your daughter did not apply and where did she end up going?
He loved Case and their maker space. Cleveland was so-so to him but still liked being near a city. He had Lehigh ranked close by. After much debate, we figured a 2hr car ride home was better than a 1hr flight when he wanted to come home.