Wash U or Lehigh IBE?

flashmountain
Mon, 28 Mar 2011 23:56:57 +0000

I don’t know anything substantive about Lehigh, but you can do both Engineering at Business at Wash U without being in a special program. Wash U Engineering is generally regarded as being one of the more flexible engineering schools out there… while it is still going to be pretty structured as with any Engineering program, the general reputation is that it is easier to study something else in addition to Engineering here than at many other places. There are a lot of other interdisciplinary opportunities beyond just taking classes, too… you should contact a current student or admissions to ask for info, or maybe another Wash U student on here might have some info, on the various interdisciplinary Engineering/Business opportunities. Might be useful info since you clearly have an interest in more than one area.

Location/surrounding and quality of life/vibe/atmosphere should be the main things that play into your decision in terms of differentiating the two… in my opinion, these are biggest differentiating factors between any two colleges. Even though Lehigh isn’t traditionally viewed as a major peer school to Wash U (not that it isn’t, but you don’t see this comparison every day), Lehigh by all accounts seems to have a great reputation and clearly has opportunities for what you want to do, so I suspect that in your case non-academic considerations will come into play more. I actually think it’s cool that you aren’t getting caught up in overall university rankings or prestige.

Visit both and see which one you like better, and which one you can reasonably picture yourself being the happiest at for 4 years.