<p>Compare please?</p>
<p>I visited both these campuses two years ago. Bucknell really seemed superior (I may be a little biased though). I think that it depends on what major you are looking for, but I am assuming engineering with these choices.</p>
<p>Both engineer program are very impressive, however, Lehigh's campus is a little scary. It is on the side on a cliff in a run down area. It is open to crime and when I read the school newspaper, it seemed this was the case.</p>
<p>Bucknell, however, is much more relaxed and rural than Lehigh's campus. I think that the most important thing is that you visit the campuses.</p>
<p>I would say that you can't go wrong with either choice. I hope this helped...</p>
<p>BTW: I applied to Bucknell only, and was recently accepted!!!</p>
<p>I'd ditto mbgolf's observations. Only downside to Lewisburg is "you can't get there from here." But once you're there, stats suggest students never leave until their eligibility runs into their diploma.</p>
<p>Ours is accepted both places, but not interested in Lehigh, mostly because of its aesthetics and campus culture. Significantly different in both.</p>
<p>I am actually looking for a business major. I am not exactly sure in what, but I was admitted into the school of business at lehigh, but into the regular school at bucknell. My mom believes that a degree from bucknell, whatever it is, will look better than a degree from lehighs business program...</p>
<p>Your mom's a bright, insightful gal. Either is good, and hairs may be split in terms of trying to differentiate their worth, generally. LU has a much more bus/engineering culture than BU. Go where your heart leads. Which one feels right? IMO,they are very distinct and different types of places aside from being in the same state (actually a commonwealth) and athletic conference.</p>
<p>I agree that both are great schools, I may be biased though since I am going to Lehigh in the fall.
I have heard really good things about Lehigh's business school and it is ranked pretty high. I don't know much about Bucknell's business program but I know Lehigh's is pretty good. good luck!</p>
<p>The major diff between these 2, imo, is that Lehigh has nice buildings in a terrible location ... hill, town. Both are ugly and nothing to be done about either. BU is as they say, "the country club on the Susquehanna." Don't go to BU though if you don't like small town, amish buggies, beautiful mountains, and fresh air. So each is unique, good in its own ways, and very different from the other. This should be a no-brainer of a choice for those admitted to both. Ours were, and they chose ... neither. Go figure.</p>
<p>My daughter was in your same position of deciding between Bucknell and Lehigh just 2 years ago. It is a hard decision. We knew that Lehigh had a more extensive business college than Bucknell's 2 majors- managment and accounting. But she chose Bucknell primarily due to its community feel,and she is very happy with her decision.</p>
<p>What really helped her to decide was to go back to her 1st impression of each school, and when she really evaluated each school that way, she saw that one had a distinctly better fit for her. Good luck.</p>
<p>If you major is engineering - Lehigh Univ. is far superior to Bucknell.
Take a look at the companies that recruit for engineering graduates - Lehigh wins
hands down.
I do know of 2 recent Bucknell engineering graduates who had a hard time finding jobs.
Also, if you maintain a high GPA (3.75 I think ) you get your Masters degree free!</p>
<p>We visited both schools with very little knowledge or bias, and a completely open mind. </p>
<p>Driving to Lehigh, we noticed alot of factories nearby, some seemed abandoned, but that didn’t offend us (probably because we look across at the concrete factory in our town from our house). The little college town nearby seemed fine, safe, not particularly picturesque, but not too run down. The campus was beautiful. Historic stone buildings, very impressive. Relatively confined, not huge. I’m not sure why people think it’s in a bad area, I must have missed that. Big hill on campus, which as a parent I am quite happy with because I know if my kid doesn’t do any exercise except for walking around campus, he’s not getting fat! Great hill to slide down in the winter. 1 1/2 hours from NYC, so nice weekend trips. I was really impressed hearing about job placement, salaries, the strength of the school. This is a serious school where people work hard, and are rewarded.</p>
<p>Bucknell seemed in the middle of nowhere, but actually it’s 50 miles from a major airport (Harrisburg), 3 hrs from NYC. Perfect, idyllic small college town, seems like it should be in a movie. Microbreweries galore (the one we went to must have had 100 beers on the menu, and as a parent I like that----for when we visit, of course). The campus was drop dead gorgeous. Hadn’t expected that. Probably the only prettier campuses I’d seen were Princeton and Cornell, it looked like an ivy league school. Very spread out. Wasn’t quite as impressed with the programs, job placement, but then again the tour guide and the admissions speaker can make all the difference…but it seemed like an amazing place to spend four years.</p>
<p>As far as, “This should be a no-brainer of a choice for those admitted to both,” I don’t know about that. Son was accepted to both (business, though he could change to comp sci or some other techy major), and the choice is not obvious at all. And hopefully he’ll get to choose from Carnegie Mellon too. I don’t know how they choose except for visit again with a different perspective, and see how they feel.</p>
<p>Interesting Post fairness4all</p>
<p>Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs Rankings
[Best</a> Undergraduate Engineering Programs | Rankings | US News](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-no-doctorate]Best”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-no-doctorate)</p>
<p>Rankings by Major
[Bucknell</a> University | Overall Rankings | Best College | US News](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/bucknell-university-211291/overall-rankings]Bucknell”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/bucknell-university-211291/overall-rankings)</p>
<p>Granted that Lehigh is on a different list, but</p>
<p>And finally, Bucknell’s placement information
<a href=“http://www.bucknell.edu/Documents/CDC/Post%20Grad%20Results/postgrad%20report%20full%202010.pdf[/url]”>http://www.bucknell.edu/Documents/CDC/Post%20Grad%20Results/postgrad%20report%20full%202010.pdf</a></p>
<p>Scroll down to page 52 of the pdf. 100% response rate from the engineers, and only 3 had yet to find placement. Yes, please do compare the companies, and you will see they are much of the same.</p>
<p>And Bucknell also offers a 5th year BS/MS, where the 5th year is free
[Engineering</a> Five-Year Dual-Degree Programs || Bucknell University](<a href=“http://www.bucknell.edu/x53523.xml]Engineering”>http://www.bucknell.edu/x53523.xml)</p>
<p>Everyone! Both schools are great schools! Visit and see which one is a better fit for you, and attend that school. You really can’t go wrong with either.</p>
<p>Agree that both schools have different strengths in different majors and you should check ranking lists. My stepdaughter never got off the Lehigh waitlist so she is at her 2nd choice Bucknell. It has pretty buildings but it is not the crimefree utopia some claim, just read online or local paper because the campus doesn’t list the goings-on. And nobody talks about visitors to the state prison from all over bringing trouble. PM me if you want to know more, one year I got a lot of heat for simply trying to answer a question honestly. Lehigh is in a different part of PA and the empty factories are being turned into stylish condos. A casino is opening and bringing revenue and jobs. Not bad for this economy. Great restaurants and community events. For business students they offer more business majors and higher ranking than Bucknell and much easier, closer access to major metropolitan areas for internships and job placement. Bucknell really in the middle of nowhere without these opportunities. I think the Lehigh paper that lists area crime is helping people realize they need to stay aware of their surroundings like you should anywhere. I hate to make Lehigh parents mad but when a student gets mugged, they are usually way far off that campus by themselves at 3 am drunk looking to score weed.</p>
<p>Wow. If your stepdaughter is unhappy, she should transfer. Or are you just unhappy?</p>
<p>My D is a senior ay BU and I have never heard of a single issue involving the federal penitentiary. She has been an RA for 3 years and hears more than most students. And of course BU is not crime free. No school in the country is. But it certainly does not have more because there is a federal penitentiary. Bucknell and the prison have coexisted since the 1930’s.</p>
<p>BU’s business major is so popular, it is restricted. BU has a very respectable presence on Wall street. And look at the placement info linked on thread #11. </p>
<p>Both are good schools. Both have some pros and cons. It is a matter of choice.</p>
<p>One major downside to Lehigh that you’ll never hear from an admissions counselor. Crime. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, Allentown and Bethlehem have become a virtual haven for NYC drug peddlers. Being a smaller, less “sophisticated,” easier-pickings city with a fast fading tax base (that pays police and law enforcement) and relatively easily access to NYC and other centers of drug trafficking via the interstates and RR that go thru there, this is a major problem for Lehigh. Bad luck for Asa Packer’s place, as there is nothing that anyone can do about it either.</p>
<p>In this vein, Bucknell and Lewisburg’s lonely claim to infamy is that it is where PA’s Centre County DA’s Mini-Cooper and laptop (in the rio) were found following his mysterious, so-far unsolved disappearance 5 or 6 years ago. Oh, and there is a rather bleak-looking SCI there too, where BU puts bad boys who break their no-free speech code. </p>
<p>BU’s athletic facilities, thanks to the founder of Home Depot, are nothing short of spectacular. A far more attractive setting than Lehigh’s hill unless one needs a quick fix or has a clunker vehicle none’d bother with anyway … And what’s with that ugly BROWN LU colors? And the Nighthawks??? Whatever happened to the “Engineers?” Packer’d be POed.</p>
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<p>This statement makes me profoundly uneasy. Call me a bleeding heart liberal, but this just pushes all sorts of wrong buttons in my head. Not only are you afraid of “locked up” criminals, you are also afraid of helpless visitors like the inmates’ mothers, children, and wives? Do you actually have solidly documented statistics of all the “dangerous” people who are visiting inmates? What troubles are they bringing other than the unfortunate state of their affairs. Or, do you believe that the inmates’ criminal associates are regularly visiting the penitentiary and polluting the picture perfect setting of Lewisburg? Are they wearing hoodies, by any chance? If you actually have solid crime statistics committed by the VISITORS of the penitentiary and their harmful effect on the students at BU, share it here, and I will apologize sincerely for my statement above. </p>
<p>I am sorry for this knee jerk reaction, but I can’t help it. </p>
<p>Now, regarding BU vs. Lehigh. My son got a four year ROTC scholarship to both schools (BU and Lehigh), and had to decide which school to commit to in the ED1 round (long story: Army required him to pick one by mid Dec). My son and I visited both places. He liked BU better for the ROTC reason. I liked BU better because I really felt that they take education darn seriously. At Lehigh, they talked about dorm, social life, career perspective, etc. At BU, the admission director spent her entire allocated time mostly talking about what being educated means in the BU community. That did it for me. My son is not going to a PH.D.program upon graduation - he will be an officer instead. All the more reason that his undergraduate education should be as thorough as it should be because he may not get that kind of opportunity again any time soon. </p>
<p>Another thing that steered me in favor of BU was that though both schools have predominant Greek culture, BU seems to be a bit more muted. The fact that they don’t let you join a frat or sorority the first year allows the students to form friendships and bonds before they get all cliquey according to their greek membership status. </p>
<p>Of course, the ultimate decision was my son’s, but my impression did have an effect on his choice also.</p>
<p>Regarding a major: my advice is, youare 17 years old (may 18). A lot can change. Kids change their mind. They change their major. I would say, go to a place where you will fit in well, where there is an ample opportunity to get good education no matter what. If you were my child, I would say, do not solely base your school selection on your CURRENT thinking about a major.</p>
<p>Fast forward: my son is thriving. His classes are so small that he feels he has to read everything assigned and be very well prepared since there is no way you can hide the fact that you are not prepared in small classes. He has no problem getting hours worth of air time with his professors. Plenty of detailed feedback on his work from them. He was invited to take advanced level course (mostly for seniors) by one of his professors who liked his work. He is actually working harder and getting better grades in Bu than he ever did in his high school. </p>
<p>That said, BU and Lehigh are comparable schools in terms of academic and professional opportunities. I think you will not regret your choice either way. You are in an enviable position. Good luck.</p>
<p>Wow yourself Morris, yes, the dorms at both schools and most in this calibre are safe; I was referring to the surrounding area like a previous poster of the comparison school was. May I suggest that prospective students visit the local PD? Without releasing TMI I give the example of a student who was traumatized when victimized and chased by someone within walking distance of campus. Ultimately the perp was corned by law enforcement when they could not escape by the backroads because they were unfamiliar with the area as they were in town visiting a convict. Victims are not always students and certainly not the first time this happens and of course it is not publicized like this.<br>
OP and others wanting to compare Bucknell and other schools might post this same question on the other schools’ boards here at CollegeComnfidential.com for more perspective.</p>
<p>While I don’t doubt the veracity of your story, that is surely an isolated incident. I’m sure there are instances of crime in even the poshest enclaves, but this does not make them unsafe. During my four years at Bucknell, I never got the impression that Lewisburg had even the slightest problem with crime (but this doesn’t imply that it’s crime free). I lived off campus my senior year, and my significant other was also born and raised in Lewisburg, so I think I have a pretty good idea of what the town is like. </p>
<p>The most remarkable incidents were being harrassed by some inebriated folks on a Friday night at the Tavern, but that’s about it. I had to call the police once when I lived across from the Lewisburg Hotel, but that was because of a loud argument at 2am outside my window, and, hey, I needed to get some sleep! To their credit, the police response time was about 1.5 minutes. Moreover, the police station is within spitting distance of pretty much any place on the Bucknell side of Market Street. </p>
<p>Come to think of it, most of the major incidents during my time at BU were the result of downtown parties gone awry, but those were always unruly fellow students, not townies or prison relatives…</p>
<p>(Pardon the grammar - this is iPad’d.)</p>
<p>D1 dilemas,</p>
<p>if the best (or should I say worst) example you could give was an isolated incident of a student being chased by an unknown individual in town and it featured so vividly in your mind as a safety issue, you have been living in a bubble that does not exist in most places.</p>
<p>Care to discuss the safety issues of all the elite urban schools? Columbia, University of Chicago, Yale, Harvard, MIT, etc?</p>
<p>I am still waiting for your solid stat that documents the kind of <strong><em>criminal activities</em></strong> committed by the visitors to the penitentiary that affected BU students. Loitering around the town and not knowing where to turn because of unfamiliarity is not an official crime. Last time I checked, the entire town of Lewisburg is not a gated private property that bars strangers from wondering around in and out.</p>
<p>another really “cute” thing about BU is the fact that there seems to be a lot of hand holding for the students. Here is one example - a hilarious one, but very touching.</p>
<p>Every time there is some kind of “mini crisis” in/around Lewisburg, they send email out to parents. When there was an earth quake near DC last August, we immediate got email from BU telling us that every thing is fine in BU and “your student” is absolutely safe.</p>
<p>Then, last fall there was a flood in Lewisburg. My son called and told us that they are evacuating students from his dorm as a precautionary measure, and they will be spending over night in the sports hall (whatever, I forget). He thought of it as a giant PJ party and was looking forward to it.</p>
<p>Lo and behold. We get a flurry of email from BU telling us what’s going on. The whole thing was like a disaster preparedness manifesto. They talked about the sleeping arrangement. they talked about the availability of food, medicine, and clothes. They talked about deploying university staff and security personnel for extra security. I was smiling the whole time when I reading this, and then I finally got to the next paragraph and was rolling on the floor laughing - I was in stitches. They said “In order to lessen the trauma of being displaced from their dorms, we have deployed a team of psychologists and mental health specialists to help the student cope with this event” (Don’t remember exact wording - something to this effect).</p>
<p>All in all though, I was touched how they were taking the students welfare seriously. If you believe kids must learn to deal with a harsh reality by actually living without any safety net, BU is not the kind of place where they will get ample practice ;)</p>
<p>hyeonjlee - Bucknell is really good about those personal touches. As an alumnus, this is the e-mail I received after Hurricane Irene:</p>
<p>"Dear [antikantian], </p>
<p>We are checking in from Bucknell and wanted you to know we are thinking of you in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene. We are not sure how this might be directly affecting you or your family, but please know we are hoping you are OK. If you need anything, please let us know."</p>
<p>Indeed, harsh reality and Bucknell are rarely uttered in the same breath.</p>