The prompt is
Why have you chosen to apply for a diversity-based program as a way to learn more about Lehigh University?
I was a little confused on whether they wanted me to focus on the specific program or just why I chose a diversity-based program in general. Does anyone know what they want or what did anyone who applied write about?
Our son attended DAP last fall and was accepted to Lehigh engineering in the spring. He just focused his essay on why he wanted to meet people from many different backgrounds that may attend Lehigh and then how he could then contribute his unique experiences and background to Lehigh if he was accepted. (Lehigh offers these diversity programs to counter the outdated stereotypical view of Lehigh as a rich white school.) In the end, son liked Lehigh but found that you had to be either very rich or very poor to go to Lehigh. We found that with 2 kids to eventually put through school, only 3K in grants out of the almost 60K cost of attendance was not enough reason to go 200K in debt.
Most of the families we met at Lehigh were middle class. The families were able to afford Lehigh by saving for college for years, financial aid from Lehigh, the students worked 1-2 jobs during the summers and had jobs on campus during the school year and then took out reasonable loans to cover the remaining costs.