<p>Can a faithful follower of this thread summarize his/her thoughts? I'd guess there's significant overlap in applicants? No? Yes?</p>
<p>Which is stronger where? why?</p>
<p>Good question. My junior son plans to check out both schools over spring break.</p>
<p>I have heard that Lehigh's students are much more standoffish than Lafayette's but can't tell you if that is true or just some rumor started by the Lafayette crowd. </p>
<p>The adcom's responses to questions, and certainly Justin's fantastic help here, would tip my balance in Lafayette's favor. (Plus, Lehigh doesn't have a fencing team!)</p>
<p>Since I visited both colleges this past summer, I can say that they both have beautiful campuses (Lehigh probably wins in that category). But, after going on the tours and sitting in on the info. sessiosns, I came away with the impression that Lafayette is more interested in the "learning" aspect (as in a LAC). Lehigh seemed to be more job-focused - their whole emphasis was on recruiting grads, starting salary for grads, etc. Their assembly-line approach of turning out grads turned me off.</p>
<p>Also, Lafayette had a much more "personal" feel to it. The admin. folks had accidentally screwed up my interview day, but on the spot, they got one of the assistant admin. directors to speak with me anyway. And, she ended up sending me a hand-written post card saying how much she enjoyed talking to me. </p>
<p>In the end, I applied to both schools (still waiting to hear), but the only reason I actually applied to Lehigh was because they also give merit aid. </p>
<p>I was glad I took the time to visit both schools. For me, they both had a very different feel.</p>
<p>i visited & applied to both schools as well. personally my favorite is lehigh. although i like both, i like the size and campus much better at lehigh. lafayette is just a bit too small for me but i agree that they have the more personal approach. i also feel lehigh would have better research opportunities but i could be wrong.</p>
<p>I did not apply to lehigh. I had looked into both schools last year. Sent emails to both school asking a lot of questions before applying. And I liked Lafayette the best. Lafayette admissions were the most helpful. Answered all my questions positively. I don't regret it :). There are a lot of research stuff going at Lafayette, I was looking into neuroscience field though. I received an email from thm bout the "flashbulb memories" research just the other day involving an undergrad. (I nearly had an heart attack whn I saw the email tittled "News frm Lafayette" though. I thought here is my rejection letter!)</p>
<p>Both great liberal arts schools and both have great engineering programs, Lehigh is a bigger "party school."</p>