Both are very good schools and both in Lehigh valley. According to stats Lehigh is comparatively difficult to get into than Lafayette (only slightly difficult). Both give generally similar kind of aids. When choosing between them, it all comes down to what kind of campus environment do you want? Lehigh campus environment is much more lively and vibrant. And Lafayette will be a great choice if you want a really small campus community and are not much into the school spirit thing.
And what’s your major? You can look at this link for more refrence regarding the comparison of both colleges: https://www.collegetuitioncompare.com/compare/rivalry/lehigh-university-vs-lafayette-college/
Hope it helps.
Not sure about that. On another thread, Fiske Guide to Colleges, 2020 Edition rates Lafayette #10 for social life. You might want to check that out.
My D20 researched and visited Bucknell, Lehigh, and Lafayette. She is only applying to Lafayette. Greek life dominates the social scenes at Bucknell and Lehigh. If you are interested in Greek life then you’ll fit right in, but after talking to several students on campus she felt it would be difficult to have a social life outside of the Greek system. In addition, both schools are also quite low on diversity. If you do not care about a diverse student population then it won’t be an issue, but they both rank remarkably low on this scale–even among similar LACs.
@ProfSD This is what I felt looking at those colleges. I, in no matter am saying that Lafayette is not good. I myself was considering applying to Lafayette for RD. I just read many student reviews on the several sites and that’s the picture of the campuses I got. But hey, everyone has a different perspective.
By school spirit, I didn’t mean that Lafayette has a dull social life. Most of the students say that the campus environment is really friendly. Its just that I studied in a residential high-school and there everyone was extremely patriotic towards their school (we still are) but I didn’t see that spirit in Lafayette, at least not on the same level. I might be wrong but I felt that.
And Greek life is extensive in Lehigh and Bucknell. But I am not opposed to the party reputation of the school. Sorry if I have offended you. Everyone has their own best-fit for colleges.
Your biggest challenge is going to be getting accepted as an international student with need. I suggest you look fir international clubs, forums, contacts at both schools and get some idea of what the climate is for international applicants with need.
This is big enough of a stumbling block that it should be the main reason to choose one school over the other. The other differences are not as significant