<p>Hi! I'm struggling with choosing between Villanova, Fordham, and Lehigh for my freshman year in college next year. I currently am a senior at a Catholic college prep school in New Jersey and have found it to perfectly suit my needs for the past four years. Because of what I feel was a strong high school education, I'm looking to keep challenging myself in college! I've come to these three choices and plan on making deposits on all three today (aka the deadline!) just because I can't pick one. I know all three are awesome schools and I don't think I could make a bad choice but each one has major pros and cons that are hard to weigh. I guess I'll just type out my thoughts on each school and if anyone could lend some insight on any of them, I would be eternally grateful :) </p>
<p>Villanova: Overall, I think it would give me the most for my money. It seems to have really good facilities, innovative technology, good food, prestigious academics, its Catholic affiliation (service work and a campus ministry are super important to me), and its closeness to Philly. The turnoffs I found about it were: its campus isn't very appealing to me. I personally love big green lawns with old-fashioned, gothic buildings, and Villanova doesn't exactly have that. Aside from aesthetics (which I know aren't crazy important) I'm not sure about the fact that it only offers 3 years of guaranteed housing and the dorm rooms themselves are eh. Overall, Villanova has way more pros than cons, I just didn't feel as if it was homey/get one of those warm, fuzzy feelings. I'm sure if I decided to go here, I wouldn't regret it and I would learn to love it. </p>
<p>Lehigh: The only major worries I have about Lehigh are about its reputation as a huge party school and percentage on Greek Life. I'm really not looking to party all the time in college (throughout high school I didn't party but I'm definitely not opposed to it!) and I don't know if I would want to join a sorority. I've heard that you basically have to rush in order to have a social life at Lehigh and I don't want to feel any pressure to have to do that. I just don't want to feel like the only person not going out every weekend to party or the only person not rushing to join a sorority. Other than that, I like the school a lot and think it would be the most challenging for me (hopefully not too challenging though!).</p>
<p>Fordham: My biggest concerns with Fordham are the reviews I read about its food (and the small variety of food it has) and its surrounding area. I love Fordham's campus and feel completely safe, but I am not a fan of the Bronx area. I'm also not much of a city person and I know Fordham integrates their school with NYC pretty often. I just don't want to feel stuck on campus if its surrounding area doesn't completely appeal to me. Fordham is the closest to home (45 mins) which is a huge plus (I'm a homebody :) ). It also seems to strongly adhere to its Jesuit mission, which I love. However, I think the other two schools are better schools in what they offer as far as academics and preparation for a career. I've read millions of reviews online and Lehigh and Villanova get mostly A's or B's while Fordham gets B's and C's with a few A's. </p>
<p>Hopefully I made sense with these frazzled thoughts, but I'd really appreciate any help anyone is able to offer! Its just hard for me to predict what I will like since I really have no clue whats in store for me! Thank you so much for taking your time to read my rants ! :)</p>