<p>Opinions on any of the programs would be great! We are going back to visit all three but time is ticking away! We realize how different all the schools are. Also money about the same everywhere. Thanks!</p>
<p>Congratulations on your child’s three great choices! What helped my son make his final decision, was visiting and getting the feel of the campus community, looking into research opportunities - how plentiful are opportunities early on for undergrads and is the research going on meaningful, job placement reputation. Take look at ROI stats for all schools, weighing the total cost against what you child will be making at graduation, mid and end of career. Good luck and I hope you choose Lehigh, their ChemE is tops!</p>
<p>Hi pamom3,</p>
<p>I had to reply to your posting because my oldest daughter made the choice (also ChemE) between UDEL and Lehigh two years ago and chose Lehigh. She was actually all UDEL until she visited Lehigh for the last time on decision day. She was able to sit in on a class and interact with other students. We still visited UDEL for decision day but left early to come home to put her deposit down for Lehigh (better housing the earlier you put in your deposit). Lehigh was also cheaper for us, plus her aid could go up each year and GPA doesnt matter (just need to keep 2.0). UDEL scholarship would not go up with increasing costs and she had to keep a pretty high GPA in the honors program to keep her scholarship.</p>
<p>Now my 2nd daughter is choosing between Lehigh, UDEL and Villanova (also PharmD at Rutgers but she really doesnt want to go there). We all fell in love with Villanova, it is so perfect for her but the problem is the aid is not nearly as good as Lehigh. UDEL and Villanova would both cost $15000 more than Lehigh for us. Plus she wants Bio or Biomedical Engineering and Villanova only has that as a minor.
Lehigh told her how their aid works two years ago and I didnt believe it until her package came, they make sending the second child there so easy, almost a 2 for 1 deal. But we do not want to choose it for her, so we are still going to UDEL decision day.</p>
<p>The schools are all so different but all great. If the cost is the same for you then you need to visit all three. I do believe Lehighs engineering program cannot be beat. They are the smallest of the schools and more diverse then Villanova but not nearly as diverse as UDEL. And it is just my opinion but the campus at Lehigh is the prettiest although many dont like the hills. The housing at UDEL is the nicest (Lehigh is the worst of the three).<br>
Hope I didnt give you too much but I found it funny that you are choosing between the same schools. We will be at decision day at Lehigh on April 9th, hoping my daughter will love it although she has been there dozens of times to see her sister, then off to UDEL on the 14th and hopefully a decision that day.</p>
<p>Good Luck, any of three with be a great experience an education.</p>
<p>Hey pamom3,</p>
<p>I was in almost the exact same situation as you when I was decided a couple years ago.</p>
<p>My uncle went to Villanova and I thought the campus was beautiful. However, they didn’t give me as much aid/scholarships as I was hoping, and frankly I was unimpressed when I went to visit. Their freshmen dorms are detached from campus - I recall going under an overpass and crossing a busy road to go from campus to the freshman buildings. I didn’t like the idea of having to take religion courses and I don’t like how crazy Villanova is about diversity. Their student tour guides / welcomers seemed overexcited and almost phony. Frankly, Villanova is not as good for ChemE as Delaware or Lehigh, their facilities seemed old to me.</p>
<p>I liked Delaware much more than Villanova. Initially when we toured, me and my family liked Delaware as a first choice and we were impressed with our tour guide. Delaware is highly regarded for ChemE. But for me, I didn’t like the idea of going to such a large school - it took us a long time to walk all around campus - and I was never able to see their ChemE faculty or facilities.</p>
<p>Lehigh was different when I visited. The campus was fantastic, the students were genuine and honest, and was actually able to talk to ChemE faculty during my visits. I think Lehigh is the perfect mix of the resources and fame from a big school and the one-on-one attention from a small school. Lehigh costed slightly more than Delaware at the end, but I picked Lehigh because I felt it was a perfect fit.</p>
<p>Good luck as you make a decision. I hope you pick Lehigh!</p>
<p>Best,</p>
<ul>
<li>Mike</li>
</ul>