<p>Pros and cons of each for student with good GPA but not-so-good SATs and undecided major. ECs, essays and recommendations are excellent. Also, ED? And if so, to which? Know this is nebulous and without specifics, but student is doing the same thing with indecision. Thanks.</p>
<p>I don't know enough about each of these schools to comment on pros/cons, but I think Colgate is the most selective of this group by a pretty significant margin.</p>
<p>What is the student's intended major? For engineering, Lehigh would be the best choice.</p>
<p>what are you looking for in a school, and what are your interests. I have seen Lafayette. It is a very nice school with the majority of the students playing a sport, and very athletic. It is academically challenging. The student body seemed very friendly on our visits but we were not very impressed by the dorms. They did stress the SAT on our visit saying the average needed was a1250-1280 to get in.</p>
<p>only 1 will win</p>
<p>But you gotta chose 1 first -- that's the dilemma.</p>
<p>I would recommend Trinity College as the most balanced of those schools, although each college has their strong points.</p>
<p>Consider that:
*Trinity & Holy Cross are in small cities, while the others are in smaller towns.
*Lehigh, Lafayette, Holy Cross, & Colgate are larger than Trinity by a few hundred to a few thousand students.
*Trinity has the largest endowment, which by itself does not mean much except that it spends more per student than the others.
*Trinity is in the capitol city of Hartford, so internship opportunities are easier to arrange during a typical semester without having to do a study-away term.
*Trinity, Colgate & Holy Cross gurentee to meet financial need.
*Trinity is more ethnically diverse than the other schools.
*Trinity, Lafayette, & Lehigh are the only ones with computer science and engineering programs at the undergraduate level.
*Trinity & Holy Cross do not have a greek system, as do Colgate, Lafayette, & Lehigh.
*Trinity & Colgate have an even male/female ratio, while the others are a bit more skewed.
*Trinity and Colgate have better reputations than the others (though Colgate's is slightly better than Trinity's).</p>
<p>These are just a few things, but I believe they are telling. If I were to choose two of the schools out of the five, Trinity, then Colgate would be my choices.</p>
<p>Hope this helps a little. :)</p>
<p>Good observations posted by Blaineko. If engineering or CS is a possible major, eliminate Colgate and Holy Cross. Trinity or Lehigh are the least selective of the group (though only Colgate is significantly more selective) and if the SATs are weak ED at the least selective is a reasonable strategy. </p>
<p>Because all but Colgate cluster in the same relative selectivity area, it is possible that in an RD situation, the student would either be accepted to all or to none, depending on their specific academic and EC profile, so they should have schools like Union, Dickinson, Drew and Allegheny on the radar, too.</p>
<p>Dont know bout Holy Cross and Trinity, but Lehigh is definitely NOT better for technical majors than Colgate and Lafayete. Also, Lehigh does not give much scholarship. Lehigh's strength is business IMHO.</p>
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<p>BlaineKo, I must respectfully disagree with some of what you said. Trinity college does have a Greek system.
Also, I disagree that Trinity and Colgate have the best reputations.</p>
<p>"Dont know bout Holy Cross and Trinity, but Lehigh is definitely NOT better for technical majors than Colgate and Lafayete. Also, Lehigh does not give much scholarship. Lehigh's strength is business IMHO."</p>
<p>I'm not sure where you get your information, but Lehigh is more known for their engineering than business. They have better 'technical' majors than Colgate and arguably Lafayette.</p>
<p>Hmm,
I saw some ranking of engineering and of business
in business lehigh was 34th in the US
in engineering: it was 38th, but harvard was like 20th and Darthnouth was like 42nd, so i dont know whether to trust it.</p>
<p>thekev:</p>
<p>Actually, according to the last college plan....they did away with the fraternity system, although they have co-ed social houses.</p>
<p>Any further comment? Consensus seems to be that Colgate, then Trinity for the undecided major -- if engineering, definitely Lehigh then Lafayette.</p>
<p>What about for big school spirit? Colgate vs. Lehigh?</p>
<p>Colgate for spirit, although Lehigh gets rowdy when playing Lafayette.</p>
<p>Might want to check out Union and Swarthmore for a LAC with engineering.</p>
<p>Like Trinity and Colgate equally.</p>
<p>Of the five Colgate has the best reputation in the south.....and most people around here have heard of none of them. It is quite difficult locally to get info on places like these.</p>
<p>Lehigh has one of the best...if not the best...alumni giving rate in the nation. So that tells you something about how the students feel about their school.</p>
<p>Holy Cross has the strongest alumni giving rate-50% ,Colgate would probably be 2nd. As for school spirit HC has the most due to its storied athletic program-NCAA CHAMPS in basketball,and baseball. Holy Cross is the only one close to a major city-1 hour from Boston.</p>
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<blockquote> <p>NCAA CHAMPS in basketball (1947) and baseball (1952) << sis boom bah</p> </blockquote>
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<p>Colgate alumni giving is 55%.
(Giving rates top 60% for liberal arts colleges - Davidson, Williams and Amherst are all at 61%.)</p>