Lehigh

Introduction
Lehigh has always been a work-hard play-hard school. Be prepared for your professors to push you, and be prepared to party with your friends.

Campus Life and Social Life
The party scene was mainly on or around campus. Fraternity life still thrives and that option is always there. The off campus houses are always having their own parties as well. Off campus bars are also springing up on the south side of Bethlehem and within a short drive there are tons of options. There are athletic programs that are ranked farily well within their respective conferences and club sports fill the voids. Academics
If you are going into engineering be prepared to learn it the old-school way. My one gripe is the need for some younger blood in some of the engineering departments. The old-school approach isn't all bad though - when you get out of school you will be working for and with a lot of those old-schoolers and they love it when you can relate or appreciate their methods. The business school seemed like an extension of my high school classes and much more of a social scene than academia - I felt like I had to dress nice to go to class there - the engineers wear jeans (and sometimes whatever they slept in) - good for the business world though I suppose. The arts & science college has both strong and weak departments, but all in all it's a good mix.

Student Body
You've got preps, jocks, japs, hippies, goths, nerds and all the other stereotypes you can think of. Most of the students would look like they came out of a J Crew catalog... Most students are from NY (Long Island), NJ (mostly northern) and PA (eastern). One of my roommates was from Wisconsin so there's definitely a range in there. My weekends normally filled up with some partying, made time to get out on my mountain bike (decent trails on campus) and hiking & skiing up in the Poconos. Concerts, clubs, etc. in Philly and NYC are within 75 miles and make for an easy escape from campus life.

In Closing...
The Lehigh student is changing to a more work-harder than play-harder student - this is good for the value of my diploma so I am all for it. The campus itself is adding, building and changing so much over the next few years that it will really be able to provide everything you'd want or need within walking distance. Lehigh has a lot of history locked up in South Mountain that they will never abandon, the campus is beautiful and the enrollment is small enough that you don't feel lost. If you are looking for a school in the northeast/mid atlantic that has a good reputation, nice campus, not too big and not too smal, and is just well rounded in every aspect then pick Lehigh.