Lehigh VS GWU vs Villanova

<p>Hi all
my major will be business management/finance
i got into their business programs/schools</p>

<p>I'm incredibly divided on what to attend, i received nearly the same aid from all 3.
I would just like to hear opinions on the three, on what YOU would prefer, and why etc
which schools do you have bad stories about, etc.
Iknow its about my preference...
but im looking for your opinion
Best dorm?
Best academics?
Best overall social life?</p>

<p>Thanks all!!</p>

<p>We aren’t concerned with aid but with what each will cost including loans since they will be part of your cost. Can you tell us that?</p>

<p>thanks for replying jkeil!
lets just say that the loans/aid (everything financial) is about the same
in total, from merit&needbased, i will be receiving ABOUT a full ride from almost all of them
I will be taking 10k from loans from lehigh and villanova
and 10-11k (cant remember the exact number) from GWU</p>

<p>so in regards of financials,
its pretty even (shrugs)…</p>

<p>ive visited nova and lehigh
visiting GWU soon
hearing good stories about all 3…
thought the campuses were all nice&prettyfair…</p>

<p>Lehigh and Nova have a better party scene. The former is situated on a hillside in a small city. It is a pretty campus with more men than women. GWU is sprawled over many city blocks in a major city and metropolitan area. Villanova is a small pretty campus in a long-established suburb of a major city, surrounded by pretty expensive homes from which many of the students come. I have no horse in this race and don’t know about their engmanagement programs.</p>

<p>thanks,
any other imputs???
looking for more opinions!!</p>

<p>I would choose Lehigh — strong academics, nice campus, etc. </p>

<p>GW for sure. Solid business school, you’re getting it for a crazy good price compared to most people, and it’s in the heart of DC with TONS of stuff to do. </p>

<p>still somewhat divided!</p>

<p>but slowly moving away from Villanova due to catholic influence…</p>

<p>Very few people will have been to all three, so probably none of us can accurately comment on all of them, especially concerning “best residence hall,” “best social life.” I would guess that Lehigh is probably the most academically rigorous of the three. Social life is probably subjective - GW is in DC and students can thus participate in the social life on campus as well as in the city, but it doesn’t have that stereotypical college feel that so many students seem to want to get after being brainwashed by college movies. Villanova and Lehigh probably have more of that. Villanova has kind of the best of both words, being located in a leafy suburb with a traditional campus but also not far from Philadelphia. Lehigh, I think, is an hour from Philly and 2 hours form NYC.</p>

<p>I don’t know why my opinion would matter, but when I was 18 I was looking for the more stereotypical/“traditional” experience - leafy campus, quad, parties, beautiful old-school architecture. Lehigh has a better reputation overall; the student bodies are VERY similar (similar SAT/ACT scores and high school grades and class ranks) so perhaps it’s the quality of education or something else? I dunno. Both of the campuses look positively beautiful, from the pictures. In the end, 18-year-old me probably would’ve selected Villanova from sheer name recognition (college sports); its proximity to Philadelphia; and its proximity to Swarthmore and Bryn Mawr, with the possibility of taking classes there. It also just sounds like the place that would have more of a party lifestyle.</p>

<p>One last thing - a lot of people have claimed that Villanova is largely a local school and that most people come from in-state. In fact, the proportion of Villanova students who come from PA is actually smaller than the proportion of Lehigh students that come from PA. And both are pretty small - 23% vs. 26%. I’m actually quite baffled that Lehigh is rated so much higher than Villanova, both here and on U.S. News, because the schools seem very very similar to me.</p>

<p>Thanks for the insightful post!!!
would anyone like to comment on the villanova party scene?
Ive heard both ends of the spectrum regarding it…
But, How is it today?</p>

<p>input on gwu and lehigh party scenes would also be greatly appreciated</p>

<p>thankssss!!!</p>

<p>for what it’s worth, juillet, I have partied at lehigh and villanova and spent a lot of time on the GWU campus. The parties at Lehigh were frat based and the parties at VU were bars and clubs. I haven’t partied at GWU nor would I look forward to doing so. I’ve shopped Lehigh to two children and GWU to a niece. I studied at Villanova’s library long ago, but I intensely dislike the school for my own reasons and wouldn’t let my kids near it.</p>

<p>Can you share why do you intensely hate the school if you would not mind??
Every opinions matters!!</p>

<p>but thank you all for the posts,
I will be visiting soon and I will take a long hard month (or so) to think about it!
Any other opinions greatly appreciated!!!</p>

<p>My daughter also was accepted to Villanova and GWU and is considering them along with Case Western and Boston University. I have been to all 3 of the ones you are considering. Don’t discount Villanova because it has a Catholic tradition. We are not Catholic and there is no mandatory focus on this religion. the business school is very solid. The social life is pretty good from what I know, but Lehigh is probably a little better. Lehigh, IMHO, is the best looking campus. Villanova does have lots of similar architecture. </p>

<p>All 3 schools have a Greek System and it is very active at GWU. All depends if you want to be in the heart of DC. Villanova has a great alum network, especially in Northeast. Thing you may have to go back and visit again. That is what we are doing!</p>

<p>^Oh, I wasn’t talking about you, @jkeil911. More folks who really did have little to no experience with the schools in question. Including myself, as I’ve never been on the campus of any of these schools and am simply talking about them from the perspective of their published stats.</p>

<p>no, juillet, I didn’t think you were. I was just getting my bona fides out there for the OP. These are three schools I do know from walking their campuses and partying there.</p>

<p>OP, I don’t like Villanova for a lot of reasons, but they’re mostly personal. I don’t much care for rich kids, having gone to school with a lot of kids who went to school at VU, who wouldn’t know hard work if they walked into it. I don’t like preppies, in general, or people who wear docksiders and penny loafers with no socks. I don’t like green pants or peach shirts. I don’t like tans before April 1. Just me and my petty narrow-mindedness. You can find these kinds of people at any school. I just had a belly full of them in high school.</p>

<p>My understanding is that Villanova’s business school is ranked higher than GWU and Lehigh. </p>