Help pick my college - WPI or Lehigh?

[Frankovich]

I've pushed the decision back to the last minute; I have about 18 hours to decide where to go to college.

I want to major in computer science and/or electrical/computer engineering.

I've narrowed it down to Lehigh University and Worcester Polytechnical Institute.

WPI is smaller, nerdier. Lehigh is larger, and a more diverse student body.

WPI is close to home, Lehigh is several hours away.

WPI has more these interesting interactive group projects, quite likely to be abroad, which looked interesting, and are required to get a major. For example, one group of students went to California to help Ebay develop some sort of system which better tracks users habits when they use the ebay site. Another went to work at NASA, something about putting together a satilite of some sort.

I could run on the track/cross country teams at WPI, but I'm not good enough to compete on Lehigh's teams.

I'm good friends with a professor at WPI.

I would be able to stay with my rather long term girlfriend, who will still be in high school, if I go to WPI. I'm thinking that going to WPI just because of this would be a bad idea. However, we're great for each other, and a long term committment is something we'd both be interested in (OK, we're just a naive high school couple).

Now, anonymous members of the internet, tell me what the hell to do. I've been over pros/cons a million times, and am no closer to a decision than I was a week ago.

[Eureka]

Go to WPI. Lehigh is evil, and it is on the side of a hill. I'm sure that is really obnoxious, especially in winter.


I must admit, I know absolutely nothing about WPI except what you wrote about it. But, Lehigh is evil.

(Obviously, to me at least, I'm a proud alum of Lafayette College)

[Sternvogel]

Since you said more about WPI, it seems as if it's actually your first choice. However, I'm an advocate of attending college far enough from your family residence that you can't just go home whenever the impulse hits you. Then again, I was an English major. Nevertheless, I know Lehigh has a solid reputation for engineering, so my vote is for you to "slouch towards Bethlehem" (Pennsylvania).

[Kiros]

WPI is a great school for that sort of stuff, as I'm sure you already know. Also, Worcester isn't really that bad - it's not a great place in and of itself, but it's an easy ride into Boston, and there is SOME stuff to do in and around Worcester. I'm also an advocate of going decently far away from home, though - I'd probably pick WPI if the location wasn't an issue, but Lehigh to get away is tempting.

It's all up to you though, unfortunately!

-K.

[Jurph]

My advice is to pick the larger school, or the one with the most favorable ratio of potential mates to your gender. Engineering degrees -- once you're in a "class" of schools -- are really shockingly similar, and you make a far larger difference in what you learn than the program does. That said, what I got out of college besides a degree was a group of lifelong friends that I'm going to hang out with this weekend, a beautiful fiancée, and memories and experiences I couldn't have had anywhere else. The degree was my number one concern there, and I made sure I got it and learned what I wanted to; but when classes were over, I desperately needed friends to help me deal with the stress.

Do not underestimate the impact that student body size and mix have on your ability to find "fun." Figure out how "Greek" the campuses are. If underage drinking and blurry hookups at frat parties are not your idea of a good time, then a 50%-Greek campus is going to be "half empty" on Saturday nights, and it's going to seem a lot smaller and less social. Contrariwise, if you want to choose from several fraternities, don't go to a campus with only two frats and a huge swath of a cappella groups and volunteer organizations.

If you're happy, you will learn more readily; however, if you learn readily, but spend four years unhappy, you may very well burn out before you graduate.

[jeevwoman]

Originally Posted by Jurph

My advice is to pick the larger [school].

I'm going to have to disagree with this. I went to an undergrad school that had fewer than 5000 total. I went to a grad school that had 20,000+. As a freshman coming from a small town, I would have DIED at the larger school. I liked that in undergrad I knew my teachers and they knew me. I never had more than 25 students in a class and I never had a t.a. I would not have had that as an undergrad at my grad school. So, that shouldn't be a factor.

Take tours of both campuses and then decide. Oh, wait, you don't have enough time to do that. Well, that was my advice so now I am out of suggestions. . . . damn.

Go with what your gut tells you. In the end, no one cares what school you've graduated from. It won't be a deal breaker in any job interview.

[Pandora]

Originally Posted by Eureka

I must admit, I know absolutely nothing about WPI except what you wrote about it. But, Lehigh is evil.

(Obviously, to me at least, I'm a proud alum of Lafayette College)

Do not listen to Eureka... (poor Lafayette slobs... they don't even realize that all of the air pollution is settling on them... )

I went to Lehigh, Fankovich, and although I was a Biochem major, I had good friends in both the comp. sci. and EE programs. I loved my time there, and I still live fairly close. If you have questions, or if there's anything I can help you with just let me know (e-mail's in my profile feel free to contact me).

As much as I love Lehigh, in the long run, you have to pick the school that suits you best. It sounds like you are currently leaning strongly toward WPI. One question, you mentioned a girlfriend who will still be in high school... Does your girlfriend have any idea what her future plans might be? If she's planning on a school several hours away after she graduates, that might be a factor to consider as well.

-Pandora

(spelling errors in this post are not the fault of Lehigh University... they tried)

[Miabella]

I didn't go to WPI, I went to Clark which is also in Worcester. However, I did have a friend who was a computer science major at WPI at the same time, and he was a very sought-after commodity after graduation and had several very nice job offers.

WPI's campus is nice, and I met plenty of interesting (albeit nerdy, not that there's anything wrong with that) people when I visited there. Worcester is not nearly as terrible as people like to pretend it is. It's actually a very interesting place if you bother to go out and explore; it has its own unique gritty charm. I often found the people that complained the most about Worcester were the people who never bothered to step off campus. My friends and I were always able to find fun stuff to do, and Worcester holds a special place in my heart to this day.

[petelin]

I'm not sure if this is too late or not, but here's my $0.02:

I went to Lehigh, I majored in CheE. I liked it there. Had a lot of fun. The town's pretty sad though. Not really a 'college town', more like an 'abandoned steel mill' town. But in engineering, Lehigh still has a pretty good reputation, and I think I got a very good education. When I got there (in '93) the Male/Female ratio was close to 8:1 (poor due dilligence on my part), and about 50% of the campus was greek. When I left, I think the male/female split was closer to 4:1, and I'm not sure, but I'd wager the greek percentage was probably about the same if not slightly lower.

Overall, go where you want to. In retrospect, I wish I'd have chosen a larger school in more of a college town atmosphere, but things worked out well, and I have no real regrets. If the education you want is there, you should be able to find or create the social atmosphere you're looking for.

WHATEVER you do, just don't go to Lafayette.

[msmith537]

Originally Posted by Jurph

Figure out how "Greek" the campuses are. If underage drinking and blurry hookups at frat parties are not your idea of a good time, then a 50%-Greek campus is going to be "half empty" on Saturday nights, and it's going to seem a lot smaller and less social.

Lehigh might not be the school for you.

Originally Posted by Eureka

(Obviously, to me at least, I'm a proud alum of Lafayette College)

The only thing you need to know about Lehigh is that Lafayette Sucks.

[congodwarf]

I'd say WPI because everyone I know who went there loved it. They were very sought after once they graduated.

On a side note - what high school do you attend?

[Hello Again]

Not to be a downer, but on my freshman hall in college, every single couple from high school had broken up within 4 months. This includes both couples who were both were in college, at different schools, and also college+highschool relationships.

I would strongly advise against basing your descision on your girlfriend. It just seems to rarely work out -- lives go in different directions.

[Snickers]

Originally Posted by Hello Again

Not to be a downer, but on my freshman hall in college, every single couple from high school had broken up within 4 months. This includes both couples who were both were in college, at different schools, and also college+highschool relationships.

This is true. BUT....I married my high school sweetheart, even though a) I was a grade ahead of him, and so graduated and went off to college before he did and b) when he did go to off to college, he chose one that was still 5 hours away from me. However, none of his friends' relationships from high school lasted.

I'm saying this to point out that just because most generally do end, does not mean yours will. As a collary, however, it's also really important to realize that one anecdotal exception does not also mean that yours will "beat the odds" and last, either. You'll have to make that decision based on what you know about your own relationship.

[ErinPuff]

Bethlehem does kind of suck, but I love it anyway. I go to Moravian College, and for fun people go... over to Lehigh.

[msmith537]

The Lehigh/Laffayette thing is also fun [My freshman year I could not believe they were actually handing out awards to people who had attended 50 games or even more]

I can't believe that my freshmen year was the first year they didn't have wooden goalposts for everyone to tear down and beat each other with until they could drag them back to their fraternity houses. It's still a party school, but it's my understanding that the administration have made a great deal of effort to reduce the psycho drunken frat party Animal House atmosphere which I guess really hit it's peak in the late 80s (which is good or bad depending on your perspective.

It's also worth noting that Lehigh has one of the strongest alumni networks around. One of the greatest things about L/L is being able to connect with generations of alumni (especially true if you belong to a fraternity and have an automatic meeting place).