<p>My d. has been accepted to both Lehigh and Cornell for Engineering (tentative major Civil and Environmental). Will she have as many employment opportunities and as broad of an educational experience @ Lehigh as at Cornell? Cornell is ranked higher in national media, but she likes the feel of Lehigh.</p>
<p>Lehigh is known for Engineering; the recruiting is ample.</p>
<p>Career services at Lehigh is very active. Lehigh has a very high job placement percentage.</p>
<p>spud, ask and you shall receive:</p>
<p>[Best</a> Engineering Colleges By Salary Potential](<a href=“http://www.payscale.com/best-colleges/best-engineering-colleges.asp]Best”>http://www.payscale.com/best-colleges/best-engineering-colleges.asp)</p>
<p>Re #4, if you read the methodology, only people with terminal bachelors degrees are included in that survey.</p>
<p>Nominal income is affected by geography.The cost of living is higher is some parts of the country than others, so employers must compensate with higher salary.</p>
<p>Taken together, a school where a greater proportion of grads stay in the Northeast (or CA), and a smaller proportion of grads go for advanced degrees, will tend to show higher on this survey for those reasons.</p>
<p>monydad, yes and since both Lehigh and Cornell, the two universities being discussed in this thread are in the Northeastern part of the U.S., what can you conclude?</p>
<p>Lehigh and Cornell are in very different parts of the Northeast. Cornell is in upstate NY, basically in the middle of nowhere. Lehigh is near the NJ border, only 90 minutes or so from NYC and Philadelphia. But that’s not the real issue. </p>
<p>I don’t believe that anyone should choose a college based on projected salary. First, it takes only a few exceptional cases to skew the results, and second, you should examine the quality of the education. Each person is an individual case. I happen to know that two Lehigh seniors were just offered positions in the Boston area, with starting salaries above the norm (the cost of living in Boston is outrageous), and one Lehigh senior who doesn’t have any job prospects. Some will get jobs with $30,000 salaries, while others might get $70,000. Some will remain unemployed or under-employed for a year. You simply cannot predict what will happen. You can say that the odds are in your favor if you attend University X since the stats show an average starting salary of $Z, but getting a job is not a lottery. It’s about people. If you have the educational background and work experience, and if you interview well, you’ll probably get a good job. It doesn’t matter whether you attend Cornell or Lehigh or Bucknell or . . . anywhere else.</p>
<p>Choose the college where you feel the most comfortable. If you are happy, you’re more likely to excel. There are a lot of cross-admits between Lehigh and Cornell. I’ve known people to choose Lehigh over Cornell, and vice versa. It’s a matter of personal preference.</p>
<p>"monydad, yes and since both Lehigh and Cornell, the two universities being discussed in this thread are in the Northeastern part of the U.S., what can you conclude? "</p>
<p>I suspect that one or all of the following are true:</p>
<p>1) Cornell’s recruiting pull is broader, less regional. Because it is a highly ranked engineering program with a large number of engineering grads, it is more heavily recruited by national recruiters for out-of-region jobs. Consequently, though it is located in the northeast, relatively more of its engineering grads have and take opportunities that are out of region, so wind up elsewhere.</p>
<p>2) More Cornell engineers wind up getting advanced degrees. Holders of advanced degrees are excluded from that survey.</p>
<p>3) Cornell’s pull is broader, less regional at entry as well. A smaller proportion of Cornell engineers are from the Northeast in the first place, consequently may be less inclined to want to wind up there.</p>
<p>That’s what I think. If you want to think that, though its students are less academically qualified overall, Lehigh somehow magically transforms them so they become actually better than others hence earn more money you can go ahead and think that.</p>
<p>monydad, really? That’s what you think? Based on what? Just because a school is bigger and more known doesn’t mean its graduates earn more.</p>
<p>At this point I think we can agree that both Lehigh and Cornell engineers are highly regarded…</p>
<p>it now depends on how the OP’s daughter feels about going to a school with 4,800 undergraduates (Lehigh) or 13,900 undergraduates (Cornell) and what “vibes” she gets while visiting each campus…</p>
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<p>Regarding the first portion of this sentence: Cornell University’s College of Engineering contains only 2,800 (+/- 25) undergrads – it is a distinct and very prestigious college within Cornell’s broader university support system. It is clearly the number one undergraduate engineering program of all the Ivy League schools.</p>
<p>As to your second contention that the two schools “vibe” should be a key factor-- agreed. The OP would be well served to visit both campuses.</p>
<p>Colm, thanks for the info on Cornell.</p>
<p>and are those 2,800 undergraduate engineering students completely separated from the other 11,000 undergraduates in terms of campus, dorms and classes?</p>
<p>where do the engineering students take their required english, math, chemistry and physics classes?</p>
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<p>Most engineering students take the lion’s share of their curriculum in and around the stupendous engineering quad at Cornell. That they potentially have at their disposal physics classes in a top notch arts and sciences college, or structures at the number 1 architectural school in the country, or in first-class chemistry courses in the life sciences college-- well these only add to the depth and breadth of their opportunities, as well as to their social and educational experience.</p>
<p>No, beg to differ, these people are quite right, the experience as an engineering student at Cornell feels functionally bigger than its engineering school alone, and bigger than Lehigh. This can be good as you say, with respect to opportunities offered at its other colleges,but it can be less good if someone prefers an intimate environment. Though Lehigh is not exactly Swarthmore in this regard.</p>
<p>Well, then you are differing with someone who agrees with you, Monydad. Maybe your interpretation of my words above is a bit at variance with my intent, which was to argue that for many being in a more diverse and depthy environment is a big plus, though not for all of them. Moreover, that the vast majority of engineering students at Cornell develop much more of a camaraderie than would be suggested by thinking they are simply in a sea of disparate classmates-- as some of the posts above seemed to imply.</p>
<p>We visited Cornell one day and Lehigh the next. Something that was said at Lehigh stuck with me. At Cornell, it was made clear that a student who double majors in subjects that fall under two different colleges should expect to spend an extra year because of the requirements. At Lehigh, the information session leader said that they encourage students to try different things and combine majors. This really doesn’t answer the OP questions, but it may be an important difference for consideration.</p>
<p>MD Mom- it is not an extra year for pursuing double-majors at Cornell, but for dual-degrees which are made up of different and more extensive curricula than double majors.</p>
<p>^^Thanks–it’s going on two years ago that we did the tour. Dual degree is a new term for me; I have heard my daughter use that term as well.</p>
<p>Colm ok, thanks…</p>
<p>then the engineering students are part of the other 11,000 students in classes, dorms and campus, including the taking of the required english, math, chemistry and physics classes.</p>
<p>so its not just these 2,800 undergraduate students…its is 2,800 PLUS another 11,000 undergraduate students…</p>
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<p>MD Mom, can you tell us a litlte about the student atmosphere, evironment and campus of Cornell and Lehigh that you observed while visiting each recently?</p>
<p>any substantial differences?</p>
<p>thanks</p>