<p>You all must know that it will soon be time to make one of the hardest choices of your life: Choosing the right college. I know why I'm interested in Lehigh. It's a small school of approximately 5000 people. It has small classes where you're able to get to know your teachers. I believe Lehigh has excellent engineering and business programs, as well as a very strong science dept. As for social life, it has a big frat scene, and a very active close knit community. These are the reasons I'm interested in Lehigh. The only problem I have with Lehigh is that it's $40,000 per year..and I don't qualify for need based or merit based aid.<br>
My parents want me to go to TCNJ (The College of New Jersey), which is a small liberal arts college very similar to Lehigh academically. The one problem I have with TCNJ is the social life. It's 95% in state, and it is known for being a "suitcase college" aka a school in which many students pack up n go home for the weekend. I've talked to many students at TCNJ who say this is true..that a good amount of people go home on the weekends. This is not me..AT ALL. I'm not necessarily a "party animal" but I'm definately very social. I cannot see myself going home every weekend. I'm very into the whole college "community" thing. TCNJ would also cost me somewhere between $15-20,000..bc i think i'll be eligible for some merit aid. This is like half of the Lehigh tuition. This is making me sorta upset bc I don't wana ruin my college experience..and I don't wanna destroy my parents pockets. I dunno what to do..I'm going to visit Lehigh on the 16th.
I'm interested in all of your reasons for choosing Lehigh...and your opinions/suggestions about my situation...responses are deeply appreciated</p>
<p>2005-06 is $42,000+</p>
<p>wow, I am in a similar position. I would be going to tcnj for pretty much nothing, like $2000 per year. I am a Dean Scholar at Lehigh so I would be getting some money but it would still be expensive. I was also admitted to Johns Hopkins so I have three options now.</p>
<p>The suitcase school situation at TCNJ is consistent with everything I have heard. Right now I am leaning towars Lehigh. I am visiting Lehigh this friday. Hopefully, I will like it.</p>
<p>Well for me, it was the only college I got into (I was waitlisted at 7 schools). However, I am not dissapointed at all, and I think I will like Lehigh a lot. Although I am still hoping for some of the waitlists to work out, and I might decide to transfer after the first year.</p>
<p>My vote goes for JHU or Lehigh b/c you don't like the idea of a suitcase school, although TCNJ is a great school, it might not be for you. I know kids who go there who most surely do not come home every weekend. But probably a high percentage do. If you've never visited Lehigh, you may just fall in love with the campus, although we loved JHU's campus as well. As far as the money, it really depends on how much of an issue it is for your parents. if you know you won't be happy at one type of school, no amount of money is going to make up for that. Obviously, if it is out of the question, you have to make the best of your situation. But if parents can swing the cost, I'm sure they would opt for a happy college student whose school cost more than an unhappy one. Also, you might consider that you can pay for some of it, either now or later through loans.</p>
<p>Carrera, Lehigh has a lot to offer and I also think that you will like it a lot. There is a very strong sense of community, the campus is just beautiful, there are a lot of opportunities of every kind, academics are great. Try to visit if you haven't been there. Sorry about those wait lists, my son is on one and it alone is causing enough confusion. Good luck with those but don't sweat it with your Lehigh acceptance.</p>
<p>i dont want to sound negative or prejudiced or anything...</p>
<p>but is lehigh really the the all-white, constant party school that everyone says it is?</p>
<p>Here are the stats for the class of 2008 (freshman class)</p>
<p>Active frats, Decide for yourself.</p>
<p>not as bad as i've heard...about 20% non-white which is pretty much the same at most colleges...i'm guessing that just because its small, the "lack of diversity" stands out more</p>
<p>and yes there are "active frats" lol...but is it really drinking parties all day and all night...is there really NOTHING else to do there? how far is philly or any big city with a real nightlife?</p>
<p>also...are freshmen allowed to have cars? (or sophomores or juniors, etc) and finally, how is the walking situation? (is the campus huuuge and hilly?)</p>
<p>thanks laxmom and whoever answer all of these questions :)</p>
<p>I have a son who attends The College of New Jersey and a daughter who is currently deciding between Lehigh, Villanova and The College of New Jersey (TCNJ), so I have experience with all three schools.</p>
<p>First, TCNJ has a reputation as a suitcase school but that no longer applies. At one time, TCNJ had been a teacher's college and was predominantly female. That has changed dramatically the past 10-15 years. TCNJ has spent $100M on infrastructure the past ten years, raised their admissions standards commensurately, and is now one of 75 colleges rated "Most Competitive" by Barrons. 95% of the 1200-student freshmen class reside on campus and are not allowed to keep vehicles on campus. The sophomore retention rate is 95% and the majority live on campus. As a result, most students remain on campus during the weekends.</p>
<p>Everything is relative. If you are an involved student, there is a plethora of activities on campus. My son plays a varsity sport, is a member of a fraternity, is a college ambassador, and does not have enough hours in the day to accomplish most of what he needs to do, let alone come home frequently. If he does come home for a night once out of every six weeks, it is out of exhaustion with a need to sleep 12 hours.</p>
<p>My daughter was initially enamored of Lehigh and it was not hard to see why, if you simply consider the beauty of the campus and the competitive admissions standards. In fact, even though Lehigh was her #1 choice, she never communicated that too loudly because she did not believe she would receive enough aid to make it feasible to attend. Interestingly, she received quite a generous package and it looked like this choice could become a reality. However, now that it is time to sort things out, my daughter has experienced an abrupt about-face. TCNJ has now become her leading candidate. Her brother's very positive experience at TCNJ has been instrumental in this turnaround but that is only one part of the equation.</p>
<p>As she investigated and dug deeper into Lehigh, she was turned off by the party school culture that was so ingrained. Now it is true that the new President is intent on changing the image and culture, but that is expected to take 10-20 years. Lehigh was a white, male, engineering institution in the hills of coal country and developed a culture for hard partying and serious alcohol abuse. There is a reason why Lehigh is one of a select group of universities who have accepted federal grants to reasearch and tackle the issue of alcohol abuse on campus. That is the good and bad. Lehigh acknowledges the problem and wants to do something about it. The bad is that it is still ingrained in the fabric of the student body and will take many years to eliminate.</p>
<p>If you are a non-drinker, studious-type, who doesn't want to feel pressured by Greeks, you may very well feel out of place at Lehigh. Check out some of the internet student review sites and Lehigh's own website where the editor of the student newspaper weighs in on this issue in January of 2005.</p>
<p>wow...great post jerzyjim</p>
<p>i guess college is what you make out of it...i'm sure that there are plenty of "non-drinking, studious types" for me to blend in with</p>
<p>i just hope theres a life outside of the campus so i dont feel overwhelmed by it (but from what i've read and heard, there really isn't)</p>
<p>thanks again jerzyjim...can anyone else answer my plethora of questions from above...THANKS! :)</p>
<p>I have the same concerns about drinking as you, collegefreak77. I'm more into having fun without alcohol, and as far as the parties go, I've heard that it's quite possible to attend without being pressured to drink. If we both end up at Lehigh, we can always hang out together.</p>
<p>I think your overstating the partying and alcohol use at Lehigh by a substantial margin. First, Lehigh acadamics are very demanding, and hard-core partiers simply won't be around for long. Second, most of what you hear occurs up "on the hill" at the frat houses.....which are removed from the main campus and residence halls. It is a simple matter to avoid them, if that is what you prefer. There is no pressure in that regard. It would be a big mistake to not attend Lehigh simply because you are concerned about a "party atmosphere"....it just isn't so.</p>
<p>There are many students at Lehigh who are the "non-drinking studious types." </p>
<p>They are the ones who:</p>
<p>run the student newspaper </p>
<p>join the college democrats club (or that other club)</p>
<p>get involved with sports <a href="http://www.lehighsports.com/sports/intramurals/club_sports.asp%5B/url%5D">http://www.lehighsports.com/sports/intramurals/club_sports.asp</a></p>
<p>get involved with the UN program <a href="http://www.lehigh.edu/%7Einunited/about_us.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.lehigh.edu/~inunited/about_us.htm</a></p>
<p>etc etc etc Visit the website and look deeper. While up to 40% join frats and sororities, that leaves the other 60% to pursue other options.</p>
<p>You can't go wrong with TCNJ or Lehigh. </p>
<p>As far as hills, yes many hills. Lots of walking.
Philly is less than an hour away.
No cars for freshman so far as I know.</p>
<p>Demanding academics and heavy drinking are by no means mutually exclusive. Remember - - Dartmouth was Animal House(Ivy academics and DivI sports, notwithstanding)!! There were certainly Dartmouth students involved in the newspaper and service projects, but the dominant culture was that of drinking/partying.</p>
<p>I am concerned about a similar party/drink culture at Lehigh - - and the absence of diversity (fyi 5000 is not really "small"), particularly the absence of black (African American)students, since I believe that 20% is mostly foreign students (3% black students at Lehing, 5% at Lafayette, 8% at Dartmouth). Also, I worry about the Greek system, which, I believe is still quite segregated. I can't think of one frat or sor that isn't "White" or 'Black." </p>
<p>If I'm incorrect, please enlighten me. I'm not anxious to say "no way" to my daughter's interest in Lehigh.</p>
<p>The best thing to do is try to visit and spend some time on campus. IMO, there is no more partying/drinking than there is at any other school.....but it's been a while since I attended :) There <em>is</em> a strong greek system, however, with all the good and bad that that implies. But....that is really a non-factor for students that are not interested in that kind of thing. There are plenty of residence halls, apartments, and off-campus housing options that are really unaffected by the frats. It would be a pity to reject Lehigh for this reason.</p>
<p><a href="http://bw.lehigh.edu/story.asp?ID=18281%5B/url%5D">http://bw.lehigh.edu/story.asp?ID=18281</a></p>
<p>I was not embellishing when speaking of a drinking culture at Lehigh. The aforementioned links corroborate that fact. The dissent in the first forum appears too ardent and too frequent for there not to be something to it. </p>
<p>The second link is an astute critique of the student "culture", and required courage on the part of the student author to publicize his/her position. The following extracted paragraph speaks volumes, "Students who are interested in college for the purpose of drinking are more likely to apply to Lehigh because Lehigh has successfully obtained a drinking reputation. Similarly, students who are searching for a school focused on learning and academia are going to be repulsed."</p>
<p>That being said, kudos are in order for the new administration. They recognize that this culture is not conducive to the long-term success of the university. In order to be considered a superior university, the "behavioral environment" must match the world class infrastructure at Lehigh. The student body must buy into this concept as the adminstration has done. </p>
<p>Maybe my daughter needs to be here to affect change, such as the author suggests.</p>
<p>Lehigh sounds too much like Dartmouth in the mid-late 70's. And while it might be fun to drop by for the occasional party, it's hard to imagine my sheltered, black daughter being comfortable socially at such a school.</p>
<p>I would be careful about drawing serious conclusions from a random sampling of an Internet bulletin board. It is well known that such boards will draw responses from people with criticism at a far higher rate than from people with positive comments. You should file those criticisms away as a note of caution...and go visit the school, talk to students, talk to the faculty, and make your own decisions. It may well be that the student would be better off at TCNJ....but my own opinion is the concern over Greek life intruding into the academic experience of a serious student is <em>vastly</em> overblown. I graduated from Lehigh....never joined a frat....enjoyed "The Hill" on my own terms....and went on to MIT for grad school. IMO, the frat/alcohol scene at MIT was actually pretty similar to Lehigh.....it was there if you wanted it, but easy to avoid if you didn't. Actually, I could draw a lot of parallels between Lehigh and MIT. Anyway....</p>
<p>You need to make up your own mind, of course. But I'm concerned over what I perceive as an unfair portrait being painted regarding Lehigh in this regard.</p>
<p>I don't doubt that there is a considerabe amout of drinking on most college campuses, but Lehigh's rep for heavy drinking goes beyond a random sampling of internet postings. </p>
<p>I truly appreciate that these bulletin boards draw more crit than praise, but you can read about the good stuff on the college's site or in the view book. And it's the bad stuff that worries me.</p>