Lehigh Vibes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The town is pretty sketchy but the campus itself is nice. When we toured the students seemed very happy and engaged. I’d certainly prefer to Lehigh to a more isolated campus line Bucknell or Colgate. Take a look at at Lafayette as wellZ

There is nothing “sketchy” about Bethlehem and Bucknell is not “isolated.” You need to leave your gated suburban McMansion once in awhile, pp

Colgate is definitely isolated. There is nothing notable for miles and miles around. Target or a Mall? Forget it. Bucknell is in a suburban area with standard strip malls. Lehigh is in Bethlehem, PA, which is a small town just outside of Allentown. It’s actually a cute town and there is a bus straight from there to NYC about an hour ride away. Lafayette is in Easton, PA which is just 20 minutes away from Lehigh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone heard any feedback from students about the dorms at Lehigh? I have heard (secondhand) that they are not that great.

Two of my classmates from the ‘80s endowed new dorms to the tune of @ $10M. $10M goes a long way in Bethlehem, PA. I am sure they are very nice, though I have not heard anything specific.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our friend hires from Lehigh regularly and recommends the school to everyone our network whose kids are applying to college.

This is the reason Lehigh should be ranked higher. These kids all come out with high paying jobs. My kid is a junior and almost every single person he knows has an internship in NYC next summer, some of which have been lined up for over a year now. The Lehigh alums come to campus to recruit and pull the Lehigh students right in. You can see a small subset of internships and job offers on the lehighuwest Instagram page, as they post some of the accomplishments of the students that have been involved in their programs.

True. Lehigh started falling in the rankings (from @ #30 to # 50) for two reasons.

1. In the mid to late ‘80s, Lehigh cracked down on fraternity partying and kicked some out. The fraternities owned somewhere between 49% to 51% of the houses. The administration was very ham handed in the way they went about this, and so many fraternity alumni stopped donating to Lehigh. How did this affect Lehigh’s ranking? Back at that time, the alumni giving participation rate was one of the highest in the nation; somewhere between 50% to 68 or 70%, if I am remembering correctly. I know the “top” alumni giving school often switched between Princeton and Lehigh. The alumni participation rate was a big determinant in how Lehigh ranked @ 30 in USNWR. The rate started dropping below 40% with the classes of the ‘80s and beyond, and now it is at only 24% with just 10% of young alumni donating. This contributed in a major way to Lehigh’s slide.

2. In about the early 2000s, USNWR began overweighting diversity figures in the rankings. Lehigh has always had a tough time appealing to AAs because basically, if you are smart enough to get into Lehigh and succeed, you can probably get into an Ivy League or similar school.

If you want to make bank, Lehigh is full of striving overachievers and enjoys a great reputation among employers, especially in NYC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The town is pretty sketchy but the campus itself is nice. When we toured the students seemed very happy and engaged. I’d certainly prefer to Lehigh to a more isolated campus line Bucknell or Colgate. Take a look at at Lafayette as wellZ

There is nothing “sketchy” about Bethlehem and Bucknell is not “isolated.” You need to leave your gated suburban McMansion once in awhile, pp

Completely disagree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone heard any feedback from students about the dorms at Lehigh? I have heard (secondhand) that they are not that great.

Two of my classmates from the ‘80s endowed new dorms to the tune of @ $10M. $10M goes a long way in Bethlehem, PA. I am sure they are very nice, though I have not heard anything specific.

Singleton, Hitch, and Maida. They’re amazing buildings with suite style rooms.

https://youtu.be/vzy5CQ3-hSM

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The town is pretty sketchy but the campus itself is nice. When we toured the students seemed very happy and engaged. I’d certainly prefer to Lehigh to a more isolated campus line Bucknell or Colgate. Take a look at at Lafayette as wellZ

There is nothing “sketchy” about Bethlehem and Bucknell is not “isolated.” You need to leave your gated suburban McMansion once in awhile, pp

What triggered you, sketchy Bethlehem or isolated Bucknell? Lol……both statements are objectively true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The town is pretty sketchy but the campus itself is nice. When we toured the students seemed very happy and engaged. I’d certainly prefer to Lehigh to a more isolated campus line Bucknell or Colgate. Take a look at at Lafayette as wellZ

There is nothing “sketchy” about Bethlehem and Bucknell is not “isolated.” You need to leave your gated suburban McMansion once in awhile, pp

What triggered you, sketchy Bethlehem or isolated Bucknell? Lol……both statements are objectively true.

Not pp, but I can tell you that Lehigh students adore Bethlehem. And I wouldn’t consider Bucknell any more isolated than I would consider Woodbridge or Manassas to be isolated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The town is pretty sketchy but the campus itself is nice. When we toured the students seemed very happy and engaged. I’d certainly prefer to Lehigh to a more isolated campus line Bucknell or Colgate. Take a look at at Lafayette as wellZ

There is nothing “sketchy” about Bethlehem and Bucknell is not “isolated.” You need to leave your gated suburban McMansion once in awhile, pp

What triggered you, sketchy Bethlehem or isolated Bucknell? Lol……both statements are objectively true.

LOL no. I was just there on Thursday of this past week. Sorry, but anyone who considers Bethlehem "sketchy" or Bucknell "isolated" is speaking from a privileged Bethesda bubble. I realize that you need a cupcake store and a Pottery Barn within walking distance, but not everyone does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP. On paper and in photos it looked perfect for my DD. We visited this summer and she was a little turned off by what she called all the “white business bros.” I told her she was being too judgmental but out of the many school tours we took this was the only one where there was a competitive, kind of “I’m too cool to ask questions on the tour,” sort of chop on my shoulder vibe. Since then, she’s read about the intensity of Greek life and is probably not going to apply.

So your DD was upset that white men were attending the school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our friend hires from Lehigh regularly and recommends the school to everyone our network whose kids are applying to college.

This is the reason Lehigh should be ranked higher. These kids all come out with high paying jobs. My kid is a junior and almost every single person he knows has an internship in NYC next summer, some of which have been lined up for over a year now. The Lehigh alums come to campus to recruit and pull the Lehigh students right in. You can see a small subset of internships and job offers on the lehighuwest Instagram page, as they post some of the accomplishments of the students that have been involved in their programs.

True. Lehigh started falling in the rankings (from @ #30 to # 50) for two reasons.

1. In the mid to late ‘80s, Lehigh cracked down on fraternity partying and kicked some out. The fraternities owned somewhere between 49% to 51% of the houses. The administration was very ham handed in the way they went about this, and so many fraternity alumni stopped donating to Lehigh. How did this affect Lehigh’s ranking? Back at that time, the alumni giving participation rate was one of the highest in the nation; somewhere between 50% to 68 or 70%, if I am remembering correctly. I know the “top” alumni giving school often switched between Princeton and Lehigh. The alumni participation rate was a big determinant in how Lehigh ranked @ 30 in USNWR. The rate started dropping below 40% with the classes of the ‘80s and beyond, and now it is at only 24% with just 10% of young alumni donating. This contributed in a major way to Lehigh’s slide.

2. In about the early 2000s, USNWR began overweighting diversity figures in the rankings. Lehigh has always had a tough time appealing to AAs because basically, if you are smart enough to get into Lehigh and succeed, you can probably get into an Ivy League or similar school.

If you want to make bank, Lehigh is full of striving overachievers and enjoys a great reputation among employers, especially in NYC.

Lehigh is a good school but alums throwing tantrums over Greek life doesn’t reflect well on Lehigh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP. On paper and in photos it looked perfect for my DD. We visited this summer and she was a little turned off by what she called all the “white business bros.” I told her she was being too judgmental but out of the many school tours we took this was the only one where there was a competitive, kind of “I’m too cool to ask questions on the tour,” sort of chop on my shoulder vibe. Since then, she’s read about the intensity of Greek life and is probably not going to apply.

So your DD was upset that white men were attending the school?

There are different flavors of white people.

The whites as Wesleyan or grinnell are not the same as Lehigh/bucjnell

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP. On paper and in photos it looked perfect for my DD. We visited this summer and she was a little turned off by what she called all the “white business bros.” I told her she was being too judgmental but out of the many school tours we took this was the only one where there was a competitive, kind of “I’m too cool to ask questions on the tour,” sort of chop on my shoulder vibe. Since then, she’s read about the intensity of Greek life and is probably not going to apply.

So your DD was upset that white men were attending the school?

There are different flavors of white people.

The whites as Wesleyan or grinnell are not the same as Lehigh/bucjnell

Tell us you're a judgmental, elitist liberal without telling us you're a judgmental elitist liberal.

[Anonymous]

I think a kid who liked Cornell would also like Lehigh. There's a lot of natural beauty in that area. It can be academically intense, but definitely a bit of a party culture, too. Go check it out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think a kid who liked Cornell would also like Lehigh. There's a lot of natural beauty in that area. It can be academically intense, but definitely a bit of a party culture, too. Go check it out.

My Cornellian took Lehigh off the list because of the frat football focus. Cornell has both too but it is a smaller part of campus life. I think Ithaca has a lot more natural beauty..though Lehighs campus is very nice.

[Anonymous]

DS is a potential CS major. Is the mountain top part of campus an inconvenience to get to from "main"?