<p>Wow, Lafayette just called me and told me they have an open spot. I was on the waitlist. I just visited Gettysburg over the weekend and liked it, and visited Lafayette in the fall. I'm going to try to skip school and visit during the week to refresh my memory. I'm interested in history, and Lafayette has the major with history, government and law in one. Gettysburg, however, is giving me $8,500 a year. Also, I'm calling Bucknell tomorrow to figure out my chances of getting off the wait list. </p>
<p>Any suggestions, comments, insights? Is Lafayette's reputation better? Are there better opportunities?</p>
<p>I visited all three of those schools and I have to say that lafayette was the best by far (and thats only my opinion, Ive visited 5 times and got in ED) -at</p>
<p>MacTruck, no matter which of the three schools you choose, you will get an excellent education and have a wealth of opportunities open to you. Anyone's comments on the reputation of one of these schools versus another is really very subjective. Rankings won't tell you which school best suits you. If you're concerned about job prospects call the career counseling departments at each school. Ask them which employers recruit their students in your anticipated major and what kind of internships are available. </p>
<p>We only visited Gettysburg once and S was just not excited about the school although I really liked it. Bucknell was his number one choice after his first visit there. Then he visited Lafayette which moved firmly into the number one spot. Frankly, I was surprised that he felt so strongly. At that point all the schools that had made his short list (which included Bucknell and Gettysburg) were looking very similar to me. It just shows how deciding on the right school is a very personal decision. He followed up with all day visits to three schools including Lafayette and Bucknell. Lafayette remained his number one and he applied ED. Lafayette was the one campus where he felt instantly comfortable. The students seemed very friendly, open and unpretentious (his word was "real"). He liked the programs for the "Business & Economics" and "Government and Law" majors and the very real possibility of being able to double major. He loved the classes he attended. He liked that Lafayette was close enough to Philly and NYC to make it easy to go on day trips for theatre, music and sporting events. As you can see it really is a very personal decision. He felt that all of the schools on his short list had very good reputations so their relative reputations did not factor into his decision.</p>