Chance me Lehigh?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Lehigh University
1

-From NJ
-APs: Biology, Chemistry, Statistics, APUSH, Gov’t, Psych, Calc AB, French
**The rest are honors
-Ethnicity: White (Middle Eastern), w/ some hispanic ethnicity
-SAT: 1330 (only took it once)/// but planning on twice more.
-Rank: 15/260
-GPA; 4.25
-UW GPA: 3.8

ECs:
-National Honor Society, French, History, Math

  • NHS President
  • Class VP
    -Founded a club- A club to promote volunteering in the community, and focus on the importance of applying education outside of the classroom.
    -Volleyball for 2 years at school, and club volleyball
    -Student Council
    -Broadway Cabaret Performer
    -Chamber Choir
    -President and Founder of Dance Club
    -Habitat for Humanity
    -Peer Development Leader
    -Youth Group
    -Church Antioch Leader
    -Dance Team outside of school
    -Girl Scouts Bronze Award
    -Wakksman Student Scholar- research at Rutger’s over summer and it will turn into a club. My research is pending publication.
    -Girls State Delegate
    -Governor’s School Canidate

Volunteer:
Nursing Homes
Food Pantry
Thanksgiving at Church
Letters for Veterans project
Christmas Show at Church
Tricky Tray
School Tutor
Church leader
Dig Pink Volleyball

Work:
Tutoring
Dunkin Donuts
Day Care

Interest: i visited twice, interview too( she liked me, and sent me a letter (handwriten) after)

Please chance me for Lehigh! It is so expensive, so if you have any ideas for similar cheaper schools, or if I would get merit( I wont get financial) please let me know. Thanks, good luck guys to you all :slight_smile:

2

I’d say you’ll get accepted. My father went to Lehigh, and if he was here, he’d want you to know that Lehigh is rather cutthroat. Basically, not everyone who enrolls will graduate, unlike at schools like Harvard or Yale, because Lehigh doesn’t care about picking a class with a happy bottom quarter. Needless to say, if you understand that, and you like Lehigh, I think you’ll be accepted. Your test scores are good, you have interesting ECs, and you’ve shown a ton of interest in the school. I don’t know enough about merit aid to go into that, but if you need scholarships, I would look into local ones that have less competition. They’ll have smaller awards, but you’ll have better chances and the applications will probably be easier.

3

Lehigh (like many schools) is significantly more selective than it was in your father’s day. The oldest data on the Lehigh website are for Fall 1998 admissions; at that time Lehigh accepted the majority of applicants (52%). Those days are gone; for Fall 2017, the acceptance rate was below 25%. They can now afford to be picky, even at the bottom.

The graduation rates at Lehigh are probably also significantly higher than they were in your father’s day; the latest numbers are 74% in four years and 88% in six. It’s true that these numbers are still low relative to Ivies or liberal arts colleges; however, lower graduation rates are normal at schools with lots of engineering majors. The numbers at schools like Carnegie Mellon, Stevens, Georgia Tech, or Rice are comparable.

For Fall 2016, Lehigh accepted 31% of students with SATs in the 1300-1390 range. The OP has 1330, which is at the lower end of this range. So she has a decent shot, especially if she applies ED, but there is certainly no guarantee.
https://www1.lehigh.edu/admissions/undergrad/profile

One potential problem is that she is from NJ. Lehigh gets flooded with NJ applicants; they actually have more students from NJ than any other state, even though they are located in PA. Lehigh would like to draw more students nationally and internationally, while enrolling fewer from their traditional “base” of NY, NJ, and PA. So the admissions standards for NY, NJ, and PA applicants are probably tougher than average.