Bucknell is a mid level Patriot League School. By NESCAC comparisons between Colby and Trinity.

Bucknell! The Street!

I've always considered Bucknell along the lines of Lehigh and Lafayette, solid Patriot League universities.

Aim higher 4 years in middle of nowhere where. No way.

I went to Bucknell years ago. My friends all turned out to be fairly successful. A few doctors, lawyers and some with MBA's from top ten schools. I would imagine that it hasn't changed much. You will get out of it what you put into it. There is even a self-made billionaire from my class.

I have lots of college friends that send their kids to Bucknell. So, that says something.

As a science person, the most important things for an undergraduate degree is:
1) Strong undergraduate research program.
2) Graduate with as little debt as possible.

Having solid undergraduate research experience is much more important than the prestige of a school when applying to graduate schools. And being debt free going into grad school is great because you often need to take out some loans to make ends meet.

Anonymous wrote:I would check out F&M and Lafayette too.

Lafayette"s science lab facilities appear to be among the more impressive such facilities available:

Best Colleges for Science Lab Facilities | The Princeton Review https://share.google/ctraNNPJ0tJMc57Im

Bucknell is in the Patriot League comprised of some decent schools. Colgate and Holy Cross are the top dogs then Bucknell, Lehigh, and Lafayette. Colgate is very Greek life while HC has no Greek Life.

Bucknell is great for the right student. My DC is there and knows plenty of science majors going for med school and engineers. Great school with happy kids. Do not listen to the DCUM crazies. Do your HW. Greek life is heavy to be sure. A lot of kids are involved in numerous activities on campus. There are a lot of clubs (outdoors club, for instance) that are def. outside the Greek-life norm. Is it going to be a very different experience than a city school? Of course! But it is 4 years of college not a life-sentence. Good luck.

When questioned somewhat subjectively,
Bucknell students placed it second nationally in this survey-based result:

Colleges with Lots of Greek Life | The Princeton Review https://share.google/tGFSMVUtOrYs54YpO

OP here - appreciate all the insights, thank you!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These sites will help you compare Bucknell to other colleges by Greek participation:

2026 Colleges with the Most Students in Fraternities | US News Rankings https://share.google/htYZLeLEOw4NJYLcT

2026 Colleges with the Most Students in Sororities | US News Rankings https://share.google/0d16Hc4ZNTh7dBbTX

OP here - thanks! It’s interesting that 43% of women are in sororities vs 31% of men in fraternities.

I’m never quite sure about schools with percentages in the 30s and 40s. It’s still a minority of students, but it’s a sizable minority. A little hard to parse out how a non-Greek student would do socially.

Bucknell grad here, from 15+ years ago but still close to people on campus. Those numbers seem way low. The Greek component is very heavy.

I initially pledged a fraternity and then de-pledged because the fraternity would have taken too much of my time and I was involved in other clubs. Being non-Greek is doable but without question campus social life revolves around the Greek system.