My son has been accepted to both Lehigh and Bucknell. Just curious if any parents have thoughts or insights into majoring in Economics at either school. Of course, thoughts about other aspects of campus life would also be appreciated! We’re from California, and don’t know anyone who attends either school. Thanks in advance!
I don’t know about the Economics major, but in general, they are fairly similar schools. I would focus on fit.
Here is why I would slightly lean toward Lehigh, but this is just me.
- Lehigh is a bit larger with 5,000 undergrads and 2,000 grads. Bucknell has about 3,600 undergrads and fewer than 100 grad students.
- Lehigh is in a city. Bucknell is rural.
- Lehigh is closer to Philly and NYC.
- Lehigh is more diverse.
In each case, someone else could have the opposite view. It really depends on the person.
Either school would be a good choice. Can’t speak to Lehigh but Bucknell doesn’t use teaching assistants and students have all the access they want to professors. Since the quality of the education is pretty equal, have you visited yet? I think that would go a long way in making a decision. If having some connection to home matters, I know Bucknell has increased the number of students from CA over the last few years.
As a CA native now living in NJ with a son at Bucknell and a daughter who graduated from Lafayette I’m biased toward Bucknell. You can PM me if you’d like.
Lehigh is 8 miles from the airport. Bucknell is really remote.
D got into both, she chose Lehigh. She later said she was happy not to be so far away from a city.
If the student wants to study in a business school go to Lehigh.
Bucknell’s economics major is not a part of its business program.
I am a Bucknell alum, so take what I say with a grain of salt, but for econ/business type undergrad studies, I think Bucknell would be the better choice. The school of management is stellar, and Bucknell has always been very strong in the econ/business field. There is a very strong alumni base in those areas as well, at least in the Northeast.
I don’t believe either school is terribly “diverse”. Bucknell is 80% white, Lehigh is 70%. Both schools consist of primarily upper middle class/lower upper class kids from the Northeast and to a lesser extent coastal California. There will be few kids from fly over country, but a fair few international students at each.
At the end of the day, both schools are really very similar. Both still have a pretty significant greek presence on campus. Neither school has good public transportation access to either NYC or Philly, so regular access to a big city, if that is important to you, will require a car. Bucknell is unquestionably rural, and you are 2.5 to 3 hours away from NYC or Philly by car. The Bucknell Bubble is a real thing, meaning that virtually all social life is centered on campus, at least for the first few years. Some think this is a good thing, others not so much. Lehigh is about an hour and a half from NYC and maybe an hour from Philly. And while Bethlehem, Pennsylvania is not by any stretch an urban hot spot, it is a far bigger city than Lewisburg.
I went to Lehigh and would not classify it as being “in a city” in the sense that a school like NYU is in a city. Lehigh has a gorgeous campus that borders the south side of Bethlehem PA. But the campus is in large separate and distinct from the city itself. Much of the social life is still centered on campus (or in the off-campus houses that upperclassmen rent).
I have not visited Bucknell (but will be visiting in a few weeks with my daughter). I echo others who comment on the ease of access for Lehigh and the proximity to NYC and Philly as being a plus. The Lehigh Valley International Airport would be a fairly quick Uber ride (20 minutes) to Lehigh. I don’t know where you would fly into to get to Bucknell. There is a bus station walking distance from campus (or at least there was many years ago).
The good news is that you really can’t make a bad decision here. Whichever one you choose, will provide an excellent education. Both schools have high quality alums, and the alumni of both usually recommend their school, which is a very good sign.
My student is at Lehigh and having a great experience. However, if she had chosen Bucknell, I would have supported that too, and I am confident that she would be having a great experience at Bucknell. Ideally, you may want to attend the admitted student days of both, and decide which one you think is a better fit for you.
Thanks to everyone who responded. We did visit both last summer, so are slightly familiar with the area for both schools. Since I last posted, my son has eliminated Bucknell for a variety of reasons (size and location mostly) but not insignificantly, a group chat experience on Facebook. It’s so crazy to me that social media can make such a huge impact on these kids. I agree with his reasons for choosing Lehigh of the 2, and he will do an accepted visit there next week. He has one other school that he’s considering at this point. We’re almost there!
I wish I had fully appreciated how beautiful Lehigh’s campus is while I was there. I sort of did, but looking at the pictures now I’m even more amazed.
Good luck @Leafyseadragon on his decision.
Let us know what he decides!
I visited all 3 with my son and felt they were pretty interchangeable…Lafayette, Bucknell, Lehigh…if that is the type of college looked for in small town PA you can’t go wrong with any of them. My son liked Bucknell the best but that was just because he could see himself there with the kids we encountered…also a car pulled up full of kids when we were sitting on a bench and the kids yelled out to my son “Come to this college!”