I’ve narrowed my choices down to Lafayette and Stevens Institute of Technology for engineering (probably mechanical or computer engineering). I love the location, hands-on learning, and job placement at Stevens, but they unfortunately lack guaranteed on-campus housing for four years. At Lafayette, I love the college town/campus feel and the more traditional college experience. Both are great schools, but I am having trouble deciding. I would really appreciate any inputs you have to help me decide, thanks!
Definitely Stevens! I’m from the NJ area and live pretty close to Stevens and know that the area cannot be beaten. Such close proximity to NYC and the city of Hoboken is incredible in itself for a college student. Great prestige and if you are doing engineering I don’t think you could find a better school that truly offers it all.
Price difference and how much does it matter?
I’d vote for Lafayette. Lafayette will give you an excellent engineering education as will Stevens. Where Lafayette will help you most versus Stevens, will be developing the ‘softer skills’ such as critical thinking, writing, and creativity. Even if you pursue engineering as a career, these other skills will be very helpful in in situations such as when you manage other engineers or work on projects with other teams outside the engineering department. If you change your mind and become fascinated by another subject while in college, Lafayette wins hands down as it is quite common to move from engineering to liberal arts and is equally strong in either.
You have two great but somewhat different choices to select from so congratulations on doing so well in the admission process. For full disclosure my D graduated from Lafayette and loved it. IMO both schools will give you a strong education and good job placement . Assuming finances are manageable at both I think your decision should come down to what type of environment you want to be in for the next four years. Stevens is more of a technical school in a more urban area while Lafayette is a LAC with a strong engineering department. My D was not an engineer but had many friends who were and they all did well in terms of job placement and/or grad school (whichever they preferred). Lafayette will offer a more traditional college experience with things like a more even M/F ratio, on-campus housing, Greek Life if you want it, a sports rivalry with neighboring Lehigh, etc. Easton has evolved into a good little college town (with restaurants, movies etc) but cannot offer the ease of access to NYC that Stevens does if that is what you want.
IMO two reasonable people can make two different choices based on personal preference. If you haven’t done so yet, I’d suggest you re-visit the two schools before making a decision. There is no right or wrong answer here. Good luck.
@happy1 - Stevens is a research university which offers engineering up to and including the doctorate. It is not just a “technical school”. Lafayette is a decent undergraduate LAC but has little or no research. You will have far better opporunities to do undergraduate research and co-op/internships - one of the largest and most outstanding co-op and internship placements/program in the US- at Stevens than at a college whose primary focus isn’t science and engineering. Stevens graduates are in the top dozen or so highest paid in the nation as a result of its broad-based and highly in depth curriculum. As far as “traditional college experience”, what does that mean? Stevens is a residential university with 85% of the student body residing on campus, in fraternities/sororities, and nearby in the city. It has the full compliment of sports, extracurriculars, and wide variety of student interests, backgrounds, and diversity not to mention the outstanding advantage location across the river from NYC, 10 minute train ride away. To my view, there is little comparison.
@Engineer80 I understand the strengths of Stevens. I did not mean “technical school” as any type of insult – it is in the school’s name after all and the focus of the school is on engineering/STEM/business. I also know that Lafayette does off engineers the opportunity to do research directly with professors, that the school has an excellent record of placing engineers (including externships, internships and after graduation), and of having students get into top grad programs.
I know you are a full out supporter of Stevens and virtually all of your posts (sometimes many many posts on a thread) tout Stevens as being superior most every other school. You often quote the fact that Stevens graduates are among the highest paid but don’t mentions that the statistic reflects the fact that most Stevens graduates go directly into engineering and business which are high paying fields relative to what many liberal arts majors go into. The fact is that Stevens and Laf are two excellent schools which have different attributes and the OP needs to decide what he/she wants in a college experience.
I don’t plan to post here again as I’ve said what I want to the OP. (No need to tag me again)
Also now that I look the OP hasn’t been back since this was posted.
Source for salaries: Bloomberg Business Week/Payscale, ”What’s Your College Degree Worth, 2017”, survey of the graduates of 1130 colleges and universities nationwide. Princeton Review, “Best Colleges, 2017”, fifth best co-op in the US.
BTW, when I speak of “research” I mean the opportunity for undergrads to participate in research externally funded by industry and government, not just a professor’s school-funded project. Lafayette being a LAC without significant externally sponsored research programs (few, if any, LACs have them) and research graduate/doctoral programs isn’t going to be able to offer the same opportunities in this regard as an actual research university.
@acceptmeplease99 Thanks for the input! I ended up picking Stevens!
@Red87 I appreciate the input!
@Engineer80 @happy1 I appreciate both of your inputs. Both are great schools that have focuses in different areas. No need to argue as I am thankful for your thoughtful responses. I ended up picking Stevens, by the way.
Congrats! Have a great four years there!
@happy1 - Congratulations to you and best to you in all your academic endeavors. You couldn’t have made a better choice!
@Engineer80 No idea what you were compelled to tag me. CC is not a contest but rather a place where people can share information and opinions. I am happy the OP made the right choice for him/her and said as much in the post directly above yours. Please do not tag me again.
@happy1 bloggers tag each other when they want to converse or get the other blogger to comment. Its a compliment not an insult!
@Coloradomama I understand that – but that poster absolutely did not mean it as a compliment – trust me on this .
Mr./Ms. Happy - Apologies for “tagging” you. I misread the post and meant to tag the original poster. I neglected to scroll all the way back to the beginning to identify his or her ID. Once again, apologies. You don’t need to get upset, however. This is supposed to be a collegial blog you know.
@Engineer80 I agree about having a collegial blog – just felt quite disrespected by the tag. Apology accepted.