<p>Congrats to your D cojett. Sounds like she had a nice experience at Bucknell and good luck to her. Now, I will return to the Lafayette boards ;-).</p>
<p>Aw shucks boomer...we don't want to be snobs. :p I think being highly recruited and able to select is a nice quandry to be in. Win-win.</p>
<p>I love it when people compare and contrast schools on this website. I think it gives me a better feel for what's best about each school. What I hate is when the kids start in with the "bragging rights" over which school is ranked higher or has more prestige. My son is looking at all three of the schools mentioned here - Rice, Lafayette, and Bucknell - so I am most interested in the similarities and differences. He had a great time on his visit to Rice and felt very comfortable there, but I'm not so sure about the economics dept at Rice or about whether he can get in, so we are checking out Lafayette and Bucknell. It will be interesting to see if he feels uncomfortable at either of them when we visit in April.</p>
<p>Ricegal - Bucknell is a lovely school - absolutely beautiful campus. Bucknell was number two on my son's list of schools. One of the major reasons he chose Lafayette over Bucknell was based on his feelings about the economics programs at each school. Bucknell seemed more oriented towards accounting and business, whereas Lafayette is completely geared towards economics. At Bucknell you need to apply to be in the business program (in the admissions process or within the first year - I think you need to check that exactly). My feeling is that Bucknell has a strong business department and Lafayette a strong economics department.</p>
<p>Steve Stamos- econ teacher back in late 70's at Bucknell and still there. In the meantime he collaborated on an Economics Textbook. </p>
<p>Quite a beloved teacher back in the late 70's and would imagine, he remains a major influence on the econ dept at Bucknell.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Bucknell seemed more oriented towards accounting and business, whereas Lafayette is completely geared towards economics.
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</p>
<p>i would argue the exact opposite. while bucknell has a business (management and accounting) department (which does indeed have competitive admissions) separate from its economics department, at lafayette the 'economics and business' program is combined (and a focus is declared). therefore im not sure how lafayettes 'economics and business' department is more focused on economics than bucknells economics department, which teaches no business courses.</p>
<p>of course, this says nothing to the quality of either schools economics program or the quality of bucknells business program which, i would agree, is very good.</p>
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<p>and yes, steve stamos is still an important figure at bucknell, though his influence on the economics department is probably not what it once was (he has taken on the role of strengthening our international relations department).</p>
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<p>last, ricegal, i would recommend that your son add rochester to his list. it is a highly underrated institution with a very strong economics department.</p>
<p>Erica,
You are quite right. Bucknell has a separate and very good economics department in which a major leads to a B.A. I wasn't clear at all (I have to stop posting during periods of insomnia). I was referring to the also very good business management program at Bucknell in which a major leads to a B.S. which is not geared towards economics but towards traditional business studies i.e. accounting, finance, management etc. Lafayette doesn't have a what I consider a "business" program. They have a handful of business classes within their economics department but otherwise it predominently economics despite the "Economics and Business" indication. I'm sorry if I confused anyone. For my son, he wanted an economics degree but with a business indication and Lafayette's program appealed to him. I would have been thrilled for him to attend either school.
FYI My son has a good friend who is a freshmen at Bucknell and she absolutely loves the school.</p>
<p>Eric</p>
<p>at</p>
<p>Bucknell</p>
<p>lol, we all think it's "Erica"</p>