I was asking about what is unique about Lehigh courses in Mechanical Engineering; also, what makes Leigh classes unique from other universities.
Interesting question! Okay, I am just a mom I want you to know I never attended Lehigh. But I did come for every parent’s weekend and I took my son, who was an engineering (not mechanical) major, and his friends out for lots of lunches and dinners and heard them talking. What struck my husband and I was how passionate the kids were about their engineering program. There use to be this commercial - “Be all you can be - Join the Marines!” Well, that is the kind of intensity these kids displayed. They would be bragging with glee on how hard a class was, or how long they had to spend on a homework assignment. They LOVED it. They loved how crazy hard their program was! It was a whole source of PRIDE! My son never worked very hard in high school, just enough to skate in with the A. But at Lehigh, he was transformed into this engineering warrior! He had so much fun working so hard! It instilled this fantastic work ethic in him. He has only been at his job a couple years and he is already managing a team.
I think he learned his leadership skills from his fraternity. Everyone from the outside just associates greek system’s with parties. Maybe at some schools but not Lehigh. They view their greek system as a leadership program. And my son found it to be a very supportive environment - his brothers helped him find jobs on campus, they helped him write his resume, they went together on job interviews. And of course, they were the only boys who showed up in a suit and tie for the interview. When applying for his internship one of the questions they asked hm was if he was interested in management. And, just so you know, I went into the whole Lehigh experience hoping his wouldn’t join a fraternity! How wrong I was! But of course, it isn’t the fit fit for everyone…
One of Lehigh’s missions is to create LEADERS. And as a mom, I see how Lehigh helped my son grow academically and personally into a team player, a leader and a hard working professional with very high standards.
In my opinion, it might be harder to get that kind of experience in a larger school.
Anyway, that’s my experience as a mom. Please go and talk to some of Lehigh’s mechanical engineering students on campus. You’ll get the real story from them!!!
@Ihab2222, your question makes me think you already have the analytical mind of a mechanical engineer! I bet you are going to do really well for yourself! Good luck and please keep us posted!
@kikkydee Wow! this is more than enough really thank you for your effort.
I really appreciate what you’ve written; you really made me more passionate about Lehigh.
I know several high ranking professionals who have children attending or who have attended Lehigh, and to a person they would echo the above poster. Literally, every one of them has told me their kid had an incredible experience at Lehigh and are now working on Wall St or at a major firm with a great job. My S chose a different school in the south (we feel it is the southern version of Lehigh) and are excited for his future.
That said, the school has to be a good fit for you. That’s a very personal set of variables.
@rickle1 - Interested to hear which school you consider the Lehigh of the South… My D18 like Lehigh but wants to go South, sick of NE cold.
S is attending Wake Forest. Similar size student body. Focus on undergrad experience. Great UG Buisness schools (that’s his program). Both have a math / CS/ Business track. Great accounting and finance programs. Huge school spirit. Lehigh requires students to live on campus for 2 yrs, Wake for 3. Creates a tremendous community feel. Small classes, lots of professor interaction. D1 sports, Big Greek life. Wake’s is likely more inclusive as they don’t have Greek residential housing so everyone lives in the dorms. They have Greek lounges on campus for parties and of course off campus Greek events. Similar type of student attends: hard working, very strong students that are also social and want to have a good time. Parties are always around if you want them. No one gives you a hard time if you don’t.
Both are quite rigorous. Quite doable if you are organized and have good planning skills (or get them fast) as there is lots of work while fitting in ECs like intramural sports and various student clubs.
I would agree that Wake Forest is a reasonable candidate for a “Lehigh of the South”, except for one thing. Lehigh has always had a reputation for strong engineering (in fact, the athletic teams were known as “the Engineers” for most of the school’s history), while WFU is only just starting up an engineering program. According to College Navigator, WFU granted 1 engineering degree and 33 computer science degrees in 2015-16; for comparison, the numbers for Lehigh were 398 and 93.
So if your daughter is interested in technology, the tech focus is much stronger at Lehigh than at WFU. If your daughter has other academic interests, then the schools might seem more similar.
Other warm-weather schools with resemblances to Lehigh might include Rice and Santa Clara. Like Lehigh, they are small private universities with D1 athletics and strong reputations in computer science and engineering. As a rough generalization, Rice is probably tougher to get into than Lehigh, WFU is probably similar, and SCU is probably easier.
Agree with @Corbett, regarding engineering. Lehigh is very strong and Wake is just getting started (although their CS is pretty strong- good placement at top firms). My comparison is based on my son’s intended area of study, the business school. In that area, both are very strong so it makes the comparison more real. FYI- Wake has a brand new downtown campus for engineering and sciences. Beautiful facility.
I would put admissions at both on the same level.
Thanks, make a lot of sense. D18 looking for Engineering and top choices right now are Clemson, Va Tech, Maryland, JMU. Briefly looked at WF but Engineering only getting started…
There is no one school in the South, and few really, that mimic Lehigh. But, in the South, I would say it’s one part Georgia Tech, 2 parts Emory (or 2 parts Wake).
I find SMU to be very similar to Lehigh academically and in a warm weather city. We visited both engineering schools with my son and he has applied to both (accepted to SMY and waiting on RD at Lehigh).