<p>bucknell and johns hopkins are virtually identical in terms of socioeconomic diversity, with very similar percentages of students receiving pell grants and institutional aid. jhu is otherwise more diverse based on traditional metrics, however, including international enrollment where they lead at about 5% to about 3% for bucknell.</p>
<p>is greek life big at bucknell? sure. does it dominate? not at all. and thats with some somewhat non-stereotypical greek organizations jacking up the numbers. was bucknell one of the ‘best’ schools a lot of its students got into? sure. were there many who got into ‘better’ ones? yes. i got into an ivy among other ‘better’ schools. my freshman roommate got into great schools and had a guaranteed transfer offer from cornell. one of my best friends got into cornell. one of the girls down the hall got into johns hopkins. thats not a bad start to a list given that where people get into school wasnt something people really talked about (i can only think of five or so other peoples admissions outcomes, actually). </p>
<p>and while a more urban environment does provide students more absolute opportunities, it also means that there is less of a sense of campus community. theres obviously no answer as to what is ‘better’ here, but its certainly not a question of ‘constricting’ greek-dom versus the big, exciting city. as a non-greek i found tremendous value in the somewhat communal nature of a rural liberal arts college. it minimized socioeconomic differences, as well, as there simply werent that many places for the wealthier students to spend their money.</p>
<p>and youre correct on the relative advantages bucknells faculty possesses. thats not to say the johns hopkins faculty is somehow inferior. its anything but. but its general focus on research first, graduate students second and undergraduates third does mean that there are going to be faculty there who will make it pretty clear that youre wasting their time. frankly, you probably are. (make no mistake, there are wonderful teaching faculty at major research institutions as well. those people are worth their weight in gold.)</p>
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<p>on the general direction of this thread, the question of what others feel a bucknell education is ‘worth’ is inherently flawed. simply, the answer is going to be highly dependent on ones financial resources.</p>
<p>think of an expensive luxury car… say a $100,000 mercedes. what would you pay for such a car? if youre wealthy, $100,000 might seem like a bargain. (in fact, every person who actually buys $100,000 cars feels this way.) if youre not wealthy, $100,000 is prohibitively expensive regardless of how much you like the car. maybe youre pretty wealthy and could justify $50,000. maybe youre like me and could justify $20,000 for a really, really nice vehicle. or maybe the $100 payments on a $5,000 expenditure would mean you couldnt afford your food or rent, both of which are clearly more important than a stylish car, so you wouldnt even buy it at that price. </p>
<p>well, deciding between bucknell and ursinus or johns hopkins or any other school works the same way. what are you (or your parents) giving up to attend the more expensive school? does that exchange seem worth the perceived benefits of the more expensive option?</p>
<p>on bucknell, i can vouch for the strength of its mathematics department. bucknell is one of the relatively few schools in the country to finish in the top 10 of the prestigious putnam mathematics competition in the last decade and graduates regularly get into competitive graduate programs. the size of the engineering department is a strength here as it results in bucknells mathematics department being very large for the schools size. this means more diverse research interests and more research opportunities than one would otherwise expect (bucknell has more than three times more math and cs faculty than ursinus, for example.)</p>