Philadelphia Colleges - Part 2

Lafayette College -

Lafayette is another small - yet elite - liberal arts school located just 90 minutes west of New York City and an hour north of Philadelphia is set on over 340 acres, close to the Delaware river.

Lafayette is known for engineering, STEM, and interdisciplinary studies. Interdisciplinary academic programs encourage students to integrate knowledge and develop critical-thinking skills that transcend fields of study and strong programs are offered in engineering, natural and social sciences, and the humanities, Engineering is very popular and mechanical engineering the most sought after engineering major.

2700 students call Lafayette home and they come from 44 states and from 60 countries around the world. Study abroad programs are offered to all students and most take advantage of this opportunity in their sophomore year.

Lafayette is highly residential. 93% of students live on campus and 7% live nearby. 7% of the student body comes from outside of the US. 20% to 25% are athletes (this is a DIV I school even though it's on the smaller side).

Admissions - Lafayette offers ED and last year they accepted over 42% of the 833 ED applications they received. They are test optional for the next two years (at least). Approximately 33% applied with SAT scores.

Overall they had approximately 10,100 applications for around 700 freshmen seats. (They admitted approximately 3200, making their admit rate around 32%)

The last freshman class' GPA was 3.50.

Calculus is not required for engineering but the majority of students who are admitted have finished Calculus in high school.

They don't admit to the major. Students can decide and declare their major in their second year. All students have a dedicated advisor all four years to help them plan their courses.

Lafayette meets 100% financial need but the FAFSA and/or CSS profile is required. The two main scholarships are - The Marquis Fellowship, which is a full-tuition scholarship. Only 10 to 15 students are offered this fellowship. A 3.80 grade point average is required to maintain this merit-based scholarship.

And the Marquis Scholarship is a half-tuition award offered to approximately 30 to 40 students.  A 3.0 grade point average is required to maintain this merit-based scholarship but it's usually a GPA around 3.70 which qualifies.

Fun Fact -

Cur Non, the motto of their namesake, the Marquis de Lafayette, means why not? Why not have the courage to live boldly? Why not engage in every aspect of learning? Why not use your intellect, energy, and talent to build the kind of world you believe in?

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Lehigh University -

Here's another beautiful campus in the Lehigh Valley of Eastern Pennsylvania! Lehigh is a R1 Research school and is often compared to Villanova and Boston College. While Drexel and RPI are known for STEM, Lehigh is known for engineering, humanities, and business.

The city of Bethlehem boasts three performing arts centers on the SouthSide alone, and the Banana Factory, a dynamic cultural arts center, is located just steps from Lehigh’s campus. Known as the “City of Festivals,” Bethlehem hosts more than 20 major festivals and over 150 mini-festivals each year.

Lehigh is slightly larger than the other schools I visited with over 7600 total students in both undergrad and graduate programs. UG has around 5900 students in total. The majority of students are from PA, NJ, and NY but California made the list at #4 so chances are you'll meet quite a few students from the west coast. Students come from 78 countries and 18% are first generation students.

Lehigh has 5 colleges - College of Arts and Science, Business, Education, Health, and Engineering. The College of Arts and Science is by far the largest.

The admit rate at Lehigh is around 30% but applying ED can boost your chances quite a bit since they do take a lot of students from the ED pool. Students will also apply to the college and not to the major. Students declare their major in the second year.

This is especially notable in the engineering department where students have the flexibility to try different classes in their first two years. Over 2000 students are in the College of Engineering and 38% are women. Lehigh offers 5 interdisciplinary studies programs in the engineering department which are worth a look.

For students who don't know what they want to study, it's worth mentioning that switching between colleges is also allowed.

Lehigh is the only school to have a UN partnership - perfect for International Relations and Political Science students who want to get more exposure to the United Nations and want a front seat to global policy changemakers including the chance to attend meetings with ambassadors and other international figures.

Lehigh is test optional but 50% of applicants applied with a test score out of which 50% were admitted. SAT average is 1410. They offer ED I and ED II and demonstrated interest plays a big part in their holistic view of applications.

Engineering and Business applicants need to have passed pre-calculus and all applicants need two years of foreign language (in high school).

Overall, a very impressive university worth looking into if you're interested in research and interdisciplinary studies. Lehigh has the feel of a small liberal arts college but is a powerhouse Engineering school.

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Drexel University -

When families think of Drexel they think of co-op programs and (an unsafe) downtown Philly. There's much more to Drexel than that but it's true, the area around Drexel is very urban but it's not as crime-ridden as it used to be back in the day. Considering that it's downtown Philadelphia, we saw quite a few green spaces that cut down the 'cement' feeling.

Drexel is another private R1 Research university and has close to 13,000 undergraduates on campus and boasts an impressive alumni network of over 150,000 members. Students come from over 117 countries and the diversity of the student body is seen everywhere including in all the food trucks that we passed while walking the campus.

Drexel is strong in engineering, fashion design, nursing, and business.

Fun fact - Students in Fashion Design not only design clothes but also run fashion shows where they plan ticketed events and hire models.

Nursing students do mock runs and get exposure of what it would be like to work in a doctor's office or the emergency room. Guidance and advising from community members helps them understand the true nature of this line of work.

The cooperative education program has been around for 100 years and has over 1400 business partners. It is set up so that students do a few quarters at school and then take one quarter off to work. Most students will do one co-op or three and won't pay tuition for that quarter even though they're a full time student. A student choosing one co-op can graduate in 4 years. Most co-ops are paid, and the median 6 month salary is more than $20,000.

The co-op program helps students gain up to 18 months of résumé-enhancing experience and test driving career options — all before they graduate. And when they return to the classroom, they are able to

make an impact on instruction as they share their new industry insights with their peers.

Admissions - Drexel is test optional and offers both ED and EA.

ED is not offered to students applying to the BA/BS+MD Early Assurance

Program.This program is a 4 + 4 year program that allows students to apply and enroll early into med school. This BA/BS + MD program requires test scores.

Students can apply to the Honors College in their application or apply again in their second year.

Housing - students are required to live on campus for 2 years and most housing is single or double suites.

There are over 140 study abroad programs offered to students.

Students are automatically considered for merit aid. Keep in mind that FAFSA/CSS Profile is required for need based aid,

Average cost at Drexel is $60,000 tuition, $18,000 room and board and another $2400 fees for a total of ~$80,000 (cost of attendance per year).

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Saint Joseph's University -

Saint Joseph's University (4800 students) is conveniently located just 7 miles northwest of downtown Philadelphia and just 11 miles north of the airport. This was definitely one of the schools that I didn't know much about and was pleasantly surprised at all it has to offer.

The co-op program is popular as are the 4+ 1 degree programs.

Similar to Drexel, the co-op program here gives students experience in the work force for one full year.

The 4 + 1 programs are offered in many majors including MBA, CS, Biology, Criminal Justice, Pharmaceutics, Finance, and Education. St Joe's (that's what the locals call it) is home to the oldest pharmacy college in the country. Nursing is a newer school and St Joe's offers a top-ranked four-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN). Students will have access to a nursing facility at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM). Additionally, the RN to BSN program enables registered nurses to earn their bachelor’s degree through accelerated learning and flexible scheduling. These experiences will build upon the necessary hard skills to succeed in nursing, by enhancing your soft skills such as critical thinking, communication, clinical decision-making and holism.

Pre-law and pre-med advising is strong and 96% of it's graduates find work or go to grad school withing 6 months of graduating.

Admissions - St Joe's offers ED I and ED II as well as EA. SAT is optional but last year 74% of the applicants applied with test scores.

For direct entry health programs, 3 lab sciences and three math classes are required in high school with a GPA of 3.0. All students do choose a major while applying but you will declare your major in the second year.