Applying Regular Decision
Objective:
SAT: 1230- ERW 570, M 660
GPA: 3.81 UW (school doesn’t weight gpa)
Rank: N/A
AP: Biology (4), statistics, US History, Chemistry. Lots of Dual Enrollment
Senior Year Course Load: Precalculus (Dual Enrollment), Interpersonal Relationships, Spanish 4 (Dual Enrollment), Ethnic Literature, Personal Financial Responsibility, AP Chem, Anatomy and Physiology, English 12 (Dual Enrollment), Phycology, Sociology.
Major Awards: AB Honor Roll (9-11th), Honor roll with distinction (11th).
Subjective:
Extracurriculars: National Honors Society (11th-present),
Spanish Quiz Bowl (9-12th),
Ecology Club (12th),
Human Science Club (Founder/President)(11th-present).
Job/Work Experience: Walmart Associate (11th-present) 16-18 hrs/week.
Summer activities: Summer school online courses, Work
State: Indiana
Intended Major: Biology
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Hispanic
Gender: Male
Income bracket: $68,000
Hooks: URM, First Generation College Student
Hi David1292,
Congratulations on all your many successes! I am a Lehigh alumna and would be proud to call you a fellow alum. Yes, I think you have an excellent chance of acceptance.
As luck would have it, I just returned from the Lehigh Open House and the Legacy Weekend, where I was brought up-to-date on the University and its admissions practices. I am happy to share some info that may help you. Please reach out with any other questions - I will monitor this thread.
Like you, I was a first gen student. Lehigh offers generous financial aid, although they typically require the student to take on hefty student loans. That said, Lehigh grads have one of the highest student loan repayment rates of any university, and Lehigh’s endowment allows it to offer private loans from the university, which are typically on better financial terms than other private loans.
Financial aid will be critical. I believe the FAFSA opens Oct 1 and can be submitted by November 1. Be sure that your parents fill out the form correctly - you may have to help, or see if a guidance counselor or some other trusted person can help them.
What do you plan to study? To which college will you apply?
The only hesitation I have is if you want to go into a low paying field, the financial burdens of the loans may be too much. Do you have any idea of how much different careers pay?
Coming from the Midwest will help your odds of acceptance, as Lehigh seeks to expand its national footprint.
Good luck!
David, do apply to the Lehigh Diversity Achievers program. They will fly you out in late October, I believe. Some posters here have already received acceptances. Sounds like it would be great for you!
Thank you so much for the tips! I’ll get around to applying to the diversity achievers! I’m thinking of majoring in Biology or Biochemistry on the pre med track.
Run the NPC to be sure Lehigh will be affordable. Our recent experience was that they were not generous with $.
Your SAT is on the low side for a stem major so I think Lehigh would be a reach.
Lehigh is big on demonstrated interest so definitely sign up for the diversity program and if there is an admission presentation in your state, attend. They are also one of the few schools that have admission interviews so sign up for one if the adcoms are in your area or if you get to campus.
So you will be applying to the College of Arts and Sciences so that is great! Good luck and do post an update later this year to let us know where you end up!
Turns out that the Diversity Program deadline was a few weeks back, so I might have to research some presentations in Indiana. I ran a NPC and the aid is more generous than others. I probably would take on roughly $10,000 in student loans though. Would I have a better chance at ED 2? Obviously I would try to visit before I sign an ED agreement.
David, I am impressed that you checked this out so quickly. I suggest you call your regional representative today and explain the situation. There may still be room. If you don’t get through, send an email as well referencing this. Maybe there is a program coordinator you could cc as well.
Lehigh is a terrific place for “hungry” students like you.
Also, I just learned that you will not have the same level of indebtedness as I did due to the availability of more scholarship money. Please check it out. There are family income levels and you may qualify for no loans.
Good luck!
1stTimeThruMom , Thank you for the advice! I will be emailing the Indiana rep today and hopefully, there will be some space for me to apply. I just discovered this college just a few days ago. I really like the campus from the pictures and the youtube videos of current students. How much of a disadvantage is my SAT score?
Do not even bother worrying about the scores right now. Yes, they are a bit on the lower side but you bring other strengths to the table - dual enrollment classes, rigor, geographic diversity, ethnic diversity, 1st Gen, etc. Lehigh needs more students like you — this is spelled out in the strategic plan, The Path to Prominence.
Did you hear back from the admissions counselor?
She did reply and it’s too late to be considered for the Diversity Achievers. She also said there are no reps coming to my area before apps are due, so if I get accepted I’ll try to visit and make a decision on whether to attend Lehigh. Thank You!
Best of luck to you, David. Feel free to message me or post here if you have any other questions about Lehigh.
Hi @1stTimeThruMom . Hope youre doing well. Since you mentioned about being aware of lehigh admissions practice, i wanted to inquire and seek advice in that regard. I applied to lehigh last year (RD), got waitlisted and eventually rejected. However, the reason of the denial that they mentioned was finances. As an intl student needing a lot of financial aid made it 10x more competitive for me. They commended my academic abilities in the letter but due to limited amount of funds, they denied me the admission. I have been thinking of applying again to lehigh as a freshman. Do u think it will be worth a shot to apply early this year or totally useless since they denied me last year? I do know that they have more funds to support students they admit in early round. What would u suggest?
David, the situation for international students is completely different. There are very few schools - almost all Ivy League - that give scholarships to international students. So no, I do not think it would make sense to reapply to Lehigh unless you can receive funding from your home country. Is that a possibility?