<p>DS is deciding between Rose Hulman and Lehigh. We would be very interested in your thoughts!</p>
<p>Great question, ADad, and one that I get every day this time of year: why is RHIT better than ________? I’ll give you the same answer I give everyone else.</p>
<p>I don’t know.</p>
<p>I have never been to Lehigh’s campus…never spoken to one of their students…never met with a faculty member…never seen a class in session…never talked to a Lehigh alumnus about her/his experience. As such, I have nothing to base a comparison upon.</p>
<p>All that I and the students on this forum can do is tell you exactly what you will find and receive at Rose-Hulman, hope that you will receive the same message from Lehigh, and allow you to make a decision based on sound information. If there are any specific questions about Rose-Hulman that you would like answered, please let me know and I will happily answer them.</p>
<p>Jared Goulding
Assistant Director of Admissions
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology</p>
Wow. RHIT admissions, that is the best advertisement for Lehigh. Imagine if you were on a job interview and someone asked you why they should hire you over someone else. And you answered with an arrogant monologue about how you don’t know any of the other applicants, never met them, etc. So therefore, in a job interview you can only hear about me and the other candidates will tell you about themselves.
No, you would not get that job or any other job.
As an admissions director, this is the time to sell your college. Not belittle the person who is asking the question.
I am not seeing any problem with the clarification from RHIT admission. Each school is unique and it is up to the student to research and find out the best one that caters his requirement. I also faced similar issues last year. I was preferring Purdue, but my father suggesting Rose Hulman and my uncle suggesting Northeastern. Finally, I decided to go with my mind and joined Purdue. As far as I know and heard RHIT is a small school but with lot of studying opportunities with small class…But large schools have own benefits …make us more independent and offers vast options, opportunities and the like. So no easy conclusion possible…
This post is 6 years old (but I agree, it is kind of snotty). The admissions people should only post when they can answer a question, and should stay out of the way the rest of the time. I personally think their presence is a bit of a double edged sword. They can stifle discussion sometimes – people are reluctant to reveal info or make frank comments on forums where they are active.
Well, my impression is that Jared isn’t active anymore, so that solves that problem @intparent … 
Personally, I didn’t take his answer as snotty - but I guess I know that his tone has typically been super-nice and polite.
I think what he was trying to say is “No one besides you can answer the question of which is better, X or Y. But if you have any specific questions about RHIT, I’ll be happy to answer them.”
Yes, I assume that is what he means. But some people MIGHT know quite a bit about both colleges. His post (intentionally or not) could stifle that discussion. And just because he doesn’t know doesn’t mean no one else has helpful info.
I really just came here to find out if anyone has received merit info, but why not jump in!
I think it’s a perfectly legitimate question. In the CU-Boulder and CSU threads, students frequently ask the “versus” question. I have a D at CU and HS senior D who has visited CSU several times and been accepted. Both colleges are also local to me, so I know kids and parents of kids at both. I feel I’d be qualified to answer such a question depending on what specifics they wanted to know.
Having said that, an adcom reply that might be perceived as snotty or stifling on a single internet thread will have no influence on my D’s decision to attend Rose or not. The merit info on the other hand…
As far as Rose vs Lehigh I’m not qualified as I know zilch about Lehigh and haven’t visited Rose yet. I guess that doesn’t matter too much for a 2010 question!