<p>I am choosing between:
Penn State at the Eberly College of Sciences as a Schreyer Honors Scholar
University of Pittsburgh at the College of Arts and Sciences also under the Honors Program
Lehigh at the College of Arts and Sciences.</p>
<p>I am planning on majoring in Biology, but I'm not sure if I want to be a doctor, work with biomedical research etc. I'm just not sure yet, but I'm almost positive it will be biology related. I am strongly considering research in college.
I am not really fond of city environments in terms of college, yet I still have to visit these colleges and see how they feel.
Can anyone please give me some insight into the programs of these colleges, which would be the best in terms of quality of life, which is best overall etc.
Thank you all in advance.</p>
<p>Pitt has the best bio program of all of them, particularly for research. Pitt is top 5 in NIH funding, so your research opportunities as an undergrad will be vastly superior to either of the others. A big advantage for Pitt is that it is right next to it huge medical center, which is one of the top ones in the world, and makes it very convenient to do shadowing, volunteering and research. Lehigh has the best overall rep as a school, but is vastly more expensive, and certainly isn’t, IMO, worth the cost for premed over Pitt or PSU. See [this</a> thread](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1041074-best-honor-programs-public-universities-updated-12.html]this”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1041074-best-honor-programs-public-universities-updated-12.html) for a comparison of honors colleges.</p>
<p>As far as quality of life, Princeton Review’s student surveys on the subject rank Pitt #8 for Happiest Students and #11 for Best Quality of Life. You’ll have to decide for yourself on the urban vs rural issue.</p>
<p>I give the nod to Lehigh ranked 32nd versus Pitt 64th or Penn State 47th. Lehigh is dramatically smaller so you will have smaller classes and they are in the prestigious Patriot League.</p>