This year Lehigh admitted enough students to have around a 45% acceptance rate. I feel as though this is a red flag. Has anyone noticed a decline in the quality of education or students at Lehigh? I specifically am interested in the CS and business departments.
The selectivity of a school is in no way a proxy for quality. It’s a measure of popularity, nothing else.
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I’ve spoken with you before and you seem like a knowledgeable person. Do you have any perceptions or ideas about Lehigh you can share?
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We visited Lehigh when my son was looking at schools (he graduated from Cal Poly 2 years ago with a BS/MS in ME). We all liked Lehigh a lot. They have plenty of engineering toys and the campus was nice. He didn’t end up applying, but that was simply because he only applied to 7 schools and 3 were WUE safeties. Lehigh was really the last to get cut. He had guaranteed money at RPI as a Rensselaer Medalist, anticipated good money at Case (which he got, $100k) and really resonated with WPI. Since he knew he’d get into to those, there was no reason to apply to Lehigh. Still, we all liked it quite a bit. It’s a very respected degree.
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I really appreciate that. I’ve been doubting my choice ever since I made it, and that’s not because I don’t like the school. Whether I picked UMD, RPI, or UOR I would be stressing about this. Lehigh was, in my mind, a worse CS degree then the rest of those listed, but the integrated business degree is what helped me look past that. I think you’ve at least calmed my qualms about this decision for the week. Thank you.
Good to hear! Remember, FWIW, your success will be made by YOU, not the school. Adding to that, the RPI students we met with seemed miserable and there only for the great scholarship. What a bad way to spend 4 years. You’re going to have a great time!
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Yeah I got that same feeling when I was there. Thank you so much.
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Not entirely sure about the acceptance rate situation but part of the Path to Prominence plan is to expand the undergrad population by 1,000 students over a decade, as well as adding 100 new faculty and 500 additional grad students. Also, the number of Chinese applicants has been down the last 2 years due to Covid and they make up the largest population of international students on campus visit. There’s been a large amount of new construction and renovation including the opening of the new health sciences college. Maybe they accepted more because they need more kids and Covid has made yield prediction more difficult?
Personally I think they’re stretching themselves a bit thin and should give some thought to returning to their core strengths along w their excellent interdisciplinary programs. Given that the HS population is declining I’m not clear why Lehigh felt expansion was necessary. They may need to re-evaluate their plans. I hope the new President is up to the task.
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I’m pretty certain making finances work matters more to them.
It appears that you believe this is just sort of a stop gap for their growth. Presumably they’ll improve in the future?
On its most recent CDS, Lehigh reported a middle-range ACT profile of 29–33. If you research other colleges, you might find one or two with an acceptance rate in the lower teens with an ACT range not as high as this.
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I think so. I also think that covid added to the issue. They do take a good chunk of their students thru ED but the RD portion was is a toss up these last couple years. Also Lehigh was very popular with PA kids and many high stat kids I’ve known over the years have applied there. They used to get accepted and go. Now many of them are waitlisted or out right rejected (tufts syndrome maybe…they’re very touchy about being second choice) and less kids are bothering to apply because they’re getting a rep. And if you’re going to snub your alumni base and local schools then you better find National and international replacements which takes time. And Lehigh isn’t the easiest school to get to travel wise.
I also think much of the acceptance turmoil is linked to this: as part of the path to prominence Lehigh made the decision to pretty much dispense with merit aid and move to need based aid only and they decided to make diversity a priority. The switch over in the targeted demographic has resulted in them needing to admit more kids because they’re not sure who will attend. And high stat kids aren’t rewarded with merit so they may be less likely to apply or attend.
Just my opinions. For full disclosure my S is graduating this year and has had a wonderful experience. He applied ED and never looked back.
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Just to let you know I did get some merit aid as an RD applicant, so they’re not completely done with it. It does seem, based on what you’re saying, the leadership needs some course correcting.
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Glad to hear that! It really is a wonderful school! I do hope the new President can sort it out.
ETA my S did the CSB course of study. He loved it!
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