<p>I've narrowed it down to Lafayette, Lehigh, Bucknell, and Northeastern. I aim to major in mechanical engineering, potentially minoring in applied mathematics. I know that it's four different campus environments, but I really have no idea how the academics/post-college job placement stack up against each other. Help?</p>
<p>They’re all strong in placement for engineering students. Bucknell and Lafayette made a point of that during the campus tours. I know Northeastern has a co-op program but my sense is it’s the weakest of the four you listed. </p>
<p>You should try to visit while the schools are in-session to get a feel for them. We visited Bucknell after school was out and it was really deserted.</p>
<p>Agree with LakeClouds assessment of the PA schools. Don’t know as much about Northeastern, but I suspect it is strong for placment in New England. Here are links to Bucknell and Lafayette recent placement results:
[Bucknell</a> graduates thrive despite weak job market || Bucknell University](<a href=“http://www.bucknell.edu/x81419.xml?utm_source=TopStory&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=Homepage]Bucknell”>http://www.bucknell.edu/x81419.xml?utm_source=TopStory&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=Homepage)
[Graduate</a> Outcomes · Career Services · Lafayette College](<a href=“http://careerservices.lafayette.edu/about-us/graduate-outcomes/]Graduate”>http://careerservices.lafayette.edu/about-us/graduate-outcomes/)
However, these are not directly comparable, because Bucknell surveys alumni at 9 months after graduation, whereas Lafayette surveys at 6 months.</p>
<p>You are probably awared that Lafayette and Lehigh are located in the Lehigh Valley, a medium-sized metropolitan area, within 1-1.5 hours to Philly and NY. Bucknell is in a rural area in the center of PA. Lehigh and Bucknell are more dominated by fraternities than Lafayette.</p>
<p>Northeastern has over a 90% job/grad school placement rate. I know it is even higher for engineering students than the University as a whole. I also think outside of the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic all of these schools only carry so much weight. That especially rings true for the two LAC’s on your list Lafayette and Bucknell. Northeastern can set you up with co-ops anywhere in the country or world that you think you might want to work in. I also dont know about admissions stats to all these schools, but here is how the average SAT scores stack up. That should at least give you a sense of the students youd be in class with.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.northeastern.edu/accomplishments/[/url]”>http://www.northeastern.edu/accomplishments/</a></p>
<p>Lafayette:
SAT Critical Reading: 580 / 680
SAT Math: 610 / 710
SAT Writing: 580 / 680</p>
<p>Lehigh:
SAT Critical Reading: 570 / 670
SAT Math: 630 / 730
Did not include writing</p>
<p>Bucknell:
SAT Critical Reading: 590 / 690
SAT Math: 620 / 720
SAT Writing: 600 / 690 </p>
<p>Northeastern:
SAT Critical Reading: 630/720
SAT Math: 650/740
SAT Writing: 610/670</p>
<p>Academics and employment prospects for engineering students at these schools are all great. So you need to choose based on FIT. And these schools are all very different, so surely one or one type must appeal to you more?
Bucknell and Lafayette are the most similar (though Bucknell is more well-known), in that they are two of the few liberal arts colleges with engineering, so most of the students are not engineers. Lehigh and NEU are bigger universities with fewer liberal arts students and a higher percentage of professionally oriented students (engineering, business etc.). So campus atmosphere is very different. And the locations are very different. We have visited all of those and my son didn’t like Bucknell’s location since it was so remote.
If you like being in a city then choose NEU since it is the only one in a major city.</p>
<p>I would go with Lehigh for engineering</p>