Moravian, Muhlenberg, or Cedar Crest?

I have a friend who really enjoyed her time at Cedar Crest, and my brother spent his freshman year at Muhlenberg, but transferred because he got in to NYU Tisch. I'm guessing that doesn't help too much. If you have questions about either school though PM me and I can pass them along.

I'm a Muhlenberg grad. I suggest Muhlenberg but it is the most expensive so it depends on your budget too. Moravian is cool and Cedar Crest is fine but limited in areas of study. Muhlenberg will give you options because there are alumni all over that can help you get the job you want after graduation.

But I could be biased. :-)

I'm not exactly unbiased, either. My husband's a math professor at Moravian. :-)

What's your major? What are you hoping to do after your graduate? What did you like about the different schools?

My major will (probably) be neuroscience (I was a psych major at my last school). After I graduate...well, I hate to sound like your typical over-optionated Generation Y-er, but I have NO clue! You know...decent job, financial security, happiness...the usual :)

Moravian's culture was very upbeat and fun, and the setting (downtown Bethlehem...LOVE IT) was obviously perfect. But the "split-campus" thing was a bit weird...having to take a bus to get from one end to the other was off-putting. Also, I'm pretty introverted, and the "get-up-and-go" attitude, while meant well, may not suit me.

Muhlenberg's programs seemed, to me, to be most competitive (and thus most expensive!), but the atmosphere was a little stuffy, entitled, etc.

Cedar Crest had a beautiful campus, and was VERY small (can be good or bad), but it is an all-girls school (someone told me it was a "womens' college" not a girls' school, but let's face it, that's a lot of estrogen). I'm not sure how I feel about that.

Thank you everyone who has given me their opinions so far!

-NoNamer

Hey Nonamer,

I'm a graduate of Moravian College. Beautiful school. I lived on the south campus where mostly the music and art majors live. It was a quiet campus. The cafeteria is small but the food is better than on north campus and is always fresh and/or hot. In my family, five of us went to Moravian. One went to Ursinus (pre-med) and one went to Lafayette.

Cedar Crest is third or forth in the nation in their forensic program. Moravian has a great science program, so does Muhlenberg. Lafayette has recently added a neuroscience major. It also has Gateway, which is a program designed to have you placed in your field after you graduate from their school.

They are all great schools.

Ravenne

I go to Cedar Crest and adore it. Friendliest people you will ever meet, awesome professors, beautiful campus and great food. :-)

Seriously, knowing that you don't know what you're going to do with the rest of your life is a good thing. Did you know the average person now changes careers 7 times in their life? (Maybe more; it's been a while since I looked at the statistics.)

The best advice I can give you, no matter how specific your major is (and neuroscience is pretty specific) is to get the broadest education you can. College is where you learn how to think, how to research, how to tie ideas from disparate fields together. And the wider your knowledge base, the more flexible you can be later.

If you knew where you wanted to go after college and had plans for what to do, a more targeted and competitive atmosphere might be better, but my two cents' worth is that you probably want something less so.

Good luck with your decision!

I'm another Cedar Crestian, and I totally agree with everything Corey said. Yea, the campus is small, but it's amazing!

I graduated from Cedar Crest and I think its a great school but I think they are all good and you can't go wrong with any of them. They are also connected so that you can take some courses(limited) at the other schools. I didn't take advantage of that while I was there but it is an option. Good Luck
Elaine

I'm a recent graduate of Moravian College, and I loved it there. Downtown Bethlehem is definitely a nice place, and the split campus isn't so bad. To be honest, if you are a neuroscience student, you'll probably never go to South Campus unless you make a conscious effort to do so. North Campus is where most of the activity occurs on campus (except in regards to the new dorm building being built on South Campus). I know a couple science majors at Moravian currently too (my boyfriend is a former bio major), so if you want more info on their science department, let me know and I can ask them for you.

However, I also almost went to Cedar Crest (I sent them my deposit before changing my mind). It's a very nice college and I was totally impressed with their honors program, I just didn't feel as connected to the campus and the people as I did with Moravian. I've never even visited Muhlenberg, so I can't say anything about there.

So to be honest, I would say to choose wherever you feel the most comfortable. There's no use going to a college you just don't feel comfortable at.