<p>Lafayette wasn't originally one of my top choices but I recently visited and I'm starting to consider applying ED. My other top choices are Colorado school of Mines and WPI. I think I have a decent shot at getting into WPI but I'm on the cusp at Lafayette. I think applying ED will get me in but I can't decide if I like it enough. My dad doesn't want me to but the more I research lafayette the more I like it.</p>
<p>Female
unweighted GPA: 92/100
ACT: 32
school doesn't rank
from NY
intended major: Civil Engineering</p>
<p>Anyone's opinions/ thoughts would be awesome. I have to decide pretty quick if I'm going to apply ED. </p>
<p>I am a parent of a recent graduate of Lafayette. He was not in engineering so I cant say anything first or even second hand about engineering but I can tell you some of the positives that I saw in the college over the four years that he was there.</p>
<p>I liked the location. Being within an hour and a half from NYC and Philadelphia was a big plus. Although he only did it once, the school had a trip to NYC in December that sounded like a lot of fun. He also had classes that took advantage of the larger cities with trips or internship possibilities. The city of Easton seemed to add a number of restaurants over the four years that we visited. </p>
<p>His friends, including several in engineering, seemed to have no trouble finding research or internship positions during the school year or summer.</p>
<p>Study abroad was an important part of my son’s college experience and Laf makes that possible for engineering majors. </p>
<p>I know that there is a large amount of partying but there are also a lot of non-party activities advertised. I obviously don’t know how the activities are first hand but there seemed to be a lot avail able. </p>
<p>That is just a start. The friends that he made over the four years at Laf were definitely the best part of his experience.</p>
<p>For full disclosure my D is a junior at Lafayette. She is in the sciences but is not an engineer (she has a number of friends who are engineers). She is super happy at the school in every respect – academically with small classes and close relationships with teachers, socially with a great and ever growing group of friends, extracurricular activity-wise she is very busy doing things she loves and she has found it pretty easy to get leadership positions, and she stayed on campus last summer to do research with a professor for which she was paid and got a nice title (as did a number of her friends in engineering). Friends who graduated have found jobs or started grad school. </p>
<p>To me it looks like the biggest difference is that Lafayette is a LAC which has a strong engineering department and the other two schools are primarily engineering driven schools. Which environment do you prefer? Also it seems like before you apply early you and your dad need to sort it out and he has to be on board. </p>
<p>ED does give a boost to an application, but IMO it is only worth doing if you are 100% sure that one particular school is your top choice school. If you are not certain, don’t apply ED because you don’t want to end up having any regrets or wonder where else you could have or should have gone. If you live nearby maybe there is still time to arrange to visit the school again and shadow a student for a day (go to classes, eat in the cafeteria etc.) before the ED application is due. </p>
<p>I’ve written a long response on Lafayette engineering (that I don’t really feel like copying/pasting here) in this thread, that might give you some idea about Lafayette’s engineering program.</p>
<p>Don’t apply to Lafayette ED if you are not 100% certain it is your top choice, but if you have time for another visit with your dad, I would do it because it might win you and your dad over. Lafayette has everything you could want from a big school at a small school and has humanities, science, and engineering programs. If you come here, you will find your niche and be able to do whatever you want academically and socially and set yourself up well for either grad school or a job after graduation. Plus the environment here is so friendly and supportive, which helps through the stressful moments of college.</p>