<p>Lehigh is an all-around better institution, but when it comes to CS I can't clearly answer this question. </p>
<p>Purdue has one of the best CS departments in the nation, although is lacking in the liberal arts department. </p>
<p>I like Lehigh and its commitment to having stellar academic programs across the board, and I want to surround myself with a motivated student body which Lehigh has. I just don't want to be stuck after four years having a subpar CS experience and not being able to get a job because its name doesn't carry as much weight.</p>
<p>Do you know what you want to do after undergrad? If you think grad school is in your future, Lehigh is the more logical choice as it is far more of an undergraduate-focused school. There are also a lot of opportunities outside of the classroom to get involved in CS related research. It is also depends on where you want to work. Naturally, Lehigh is the obvious choice if you see yourself working in the north, and Purdue if you want to work in the midwest. If you see yourself out west, your best bet is to visit each school and decide for yourself at which university you better see yourself at, seeing as both schools are very well known among employers and more important factors than just the name of the school will come into play when reviewing your job application. Keep in mind that CS rankings, and rankings in general, use a lot of criteria that are based on aspects of a school that stem from the graduate division rather than the undergraduate division; remember, Lehigh is far more undergraduate focused than Purdue is, by a long shot. So don’t get caught up in the rankings…you are considering two very good universities. For now, I would concern yourself more with figuring out which school you feel more comfortable at as well as submitting solid applications. Good luck!!</p>
<p>Thanks for you reply! It’s the most straightforward, succinct and accurate post I’ve ever read–kudos to you!</p>
<p>You raise a great point: don’t look at graduate rankings (Purdue 20th vs Lehigh 99th) because Lehigh is more focussed on the undergrad. It would make perfect sense that Lehigh is 99 in that regard (there are like 5 PhD candidates in CS at Lehigh I believe) and Purdue 20th (a large graduate research institution). </p>
<p>I really appreciate your response. I definitely want to go on to grad school–I just hope a successful transcript and research opportunities would suffice for some of the top schools (MIT, Stanford, etc.). I read where Lehigh students matriculated, and a few big names were on there, so I think it’s solid in that respect.</p>
<p>Haha thanks. From both a biased and unbiased perspective (if that’s even possible), I think lehigh is the better choice. I forgot to mention that I applied and was accepted to both schools, and am currently doing computer science at Lehigh. If you have any questions, feel free to private message me</p>
<p>Two of my top/favorite schools were Purdue and Lehigh. Ultimately I chose Lehigh because I felt it would open up more doors for me. Although Purdue is bigger and has better research opportunities (maybe?), I felt that getting to know professors and being in a smaller school setting was better. Also, I know that I want to live in the northeast when I “settle down” and Lehigh has AMAZING alumni connections around here. That was a big plus to me.</p>
<p>It’s great to read your insights. My d is interested in both Lehigh and Purdue for engineering. Can anyone please compare the positives and negatives of the social atmosphere of the two schools? </p>
<p>I just graduated from Aero engineering at Purdue. I’ll try to give the most unbiased description of the social atmosphere I can.</p>
<p>The Pros:
Purdue has great school spirit. Being a large school, there’s a club for pretty much anything that your daughter might be interested in. Midwestern folks are generally very polite and nice. You get all types at Purdue, so yes, there’s the stereotypical engineering student that could quote episodes of star trek:TOS and has excel spreadsheets for everything, but there’s also engineering students that are interested in sports, cars, writing, music, you name it. At least in aero, there’s a great collaborative atmosphere. The coursework can be humbling at times, so I wouldn’t describe people at Purdue as cut-throat or overly competitive. It’s more of a “we’ll all get through this together” attitude. In general people tend to be pretty laid back.</p>
<p>The Cons:
It’s in a cornfield. Everything to do in West Lafayette pretty much is a campus event. It’s also very cold in winter, so all social activities effectively die from about late November to February. Since it’s a larger school, you do need to make an effort to go out and be social. There’s plenty of meet-and-greet type of events to help with this, but you still need to actually show up. Most people are some type of STEM major, so socially awkward people are probably a little more prevalent (not a problem for me, since I’m awkward myself ).</p>
<p>Purdue has a lot of great research opportunities, but again, you need to actually make an effort to talk to professors and ask if they are taking assistants. The classes can be large, so it’s a little extra effort to get to know your professors, though certainly not impossible. I think that by and large, professors here really appreciate students who come to office hours or talk after class. Taking graduate level classes really helped me get to know my profs, since the grad courses typically are much smaller. Purdue really helps you get internships and helps you to find jobs after you graduate, so there’s lots of opportunities, it’s just a matter of taking them.</p>
<p>I’d be happy to answer any other questions about Purdue :)</p>
<p>@Sijit: Thanks for your insightful answers. My d will be visit Purdue in mid April after visiting Lehigh for spring break. She is aware of the fact that engineering is a hard curriculum every place. Can you speak to the “weeding out” that some of large schools are known for? She does not mind the cold or the “STEM kind of personality” But she also is not interested in a cut throat atmosphere. Coming from a smaller high school class, the large universities seem really intriguing but slightly intimidating (maybe more of a parent concern;)).</p>
<p>And while she is unsure which engineering discipline to pursue (likely not Biomedical or Chemical), she is in the process of choosing her classes for senior year (of high school). AP Physics is a definite along with BC Calculus. Our AP Chemistry is on the weaker side so she’s thinking she will not take that (she took Honors Chemistry as a sophomore). And she will probably take AP Computer Science. Any comments about class selection? She’s taken 3 years of Spanish but will likely not include Spanish 4 in her schedule.</p>
<p>AP Physics is much more difficult than Chem. Perhaps you should reevaluate. I’ve seen many overzealous parents and students jumping on AP Physics for that shining name, but when students fail at it you can really wave goodbye to some selective colleges where 85% of the applicants have As in that course. </p>
).</p>
But she also is not interested in a cut throat atmosphere. Coming from a smaller high school class, the large universities seem really intriguing but slightly intimidating (maybe more of a parent concern;)).</p>