<p>Hi, I have a question about the student body.</p>
<p>I love everything about Lehigh and the only thing I am really questioning is social life and student body. The main question is... are they friendly and laid back? A lot of things I have read, people have said everyone there (or at least the majority) are the typical rich, upperclass, preppy, and spoiled brats. While I understand that some of "these" might exist at almost all campuses, does this group dominate the campus?</p>
<p>Well, my son loves Lehigh and he is definitely the "friendly and laid back" kind of guy. He has lots of friends who would also fit that description. There probably are some spoiled brats there, too, but plenty of good kids!</p>
<p>Any ranked, private school is going to have a preppy contingent. I would bet that the preppy side is less evident than at, say, Bucknell, but more than Penn State. You really should visit again to determine how YOU feel about the student body.</p>
<p>Lehigh's students certainly seem relaxed and are generally outgoing; their college spirit (and not just for sports) shows just how strong a community they are. You cannot have a solid sense of community unless you have sociable students. This solidarity extends beyond the undergraduate years. </p>
<p>Of course, almost everyone at Lehigh is a hard worker as well. After all, they are there first and foremost for the education.</p>
<p>im not a lehigh student (as you can probably tell by my handle), but i feel i should comment because i was somewhat worried about the whole 'preppy' thing when i entered college a few years ago.</p>
<p>while most people at patriot league schools (lehigh, lafayette, bucknell, colgate, et cetera) do come from upper middle class familes and have a fairly 'preppy' style, i would say that the VAST majority are incredibly laid back. my parents are both public school teachers and were first generation college students. i have a friend whose dad is president of a major corporation and has a nine digit net worth. i would have never known had he not come to speak during a parents weekend (and had i not then looked him up online). its never been an issue.</p>
<p>are there 'spoiled brats' on these campuses? certainly. one lived next door to me freshman year. one out of twelve girls on my coed hall. not surprisingly, she didnt get into her first choice sorority. or her second choice. or her third choice. or her fourth choice. or her fifth choice. she got into her sixth... out of seven on campus at the time. i think that says it all.</p>
<p>thanks very much for that input. It is really odd, but for not having visited Lafayette, I have more of a "connection" or a longing to see it more than UCLA and USC.</p>
<p>after going there for a few days I have to say this:</p>
<p>sure individuals are fine. but as a whole, its crap...there are hate crimes on campus and unless your rich and white you will not be comforatable</p>
<p>I'm glad you visited, Kmacs. It was important for you to determine how you fit in - or didn't.</p>
<p>I'm curious about where you heard about hate crimes, though. The Movement promotes diversity and stands against hate crimes, but I wasn't aware that any hate crimes had actually occurred on campus (at least, not recently.) I would imagine that the vast majority of students as well as the administration would have zero tolerance for such behavior. </p>
<p>As for the racial mix of campus, the best way to change that is for a large number (or, more realistically, a growing number) of URMs to apply to Lehigh and then decide to go. Of course, these students have to have the right temperaments for such a stepping out of their comfort zones. It would be an activism without signs and rallies - and the students would get a good education while doing it. Because it's a private college in the Northeast, Lehigh is never going to have a black majority, but one day it may have a more representative population.</p>
<p>My son attends Lehigh. Most of the students are very, very bright. Whether or not they come from rich backgrounds, doesn't matter. Once you are dropped onto a campus in August of your Freshman year, it is sink or swim. It is you (your personality) that will lead the way.</p>
<p>Yes, Lehigh is very frat dominated. My son, who is a pledge, has said that the past month has been the best month of his entire life.</p>
<p>He is very bright, and can balance work and partying. If you can't do that, then no matter if you are rich, poor, white or a minoirty, you won't cut it at Lehigh. Lehigh is a TOUGH sCHOOL. His roomate, who is a minority, made my son's life very, very difficult. I think it's because of son's late, late, late nights (whether out pledging or studying), plus the fact that he made the Deans List the first semester made his roomate pretty angry. Roomate tried to pull every trick in the book to have my son booted from his room. But, the truth always comes out, and son is safe and sound. </p>
<p>Lehigh is a great school if you are smart, outgoing, and want to join, join, join in.</p>
<p>I don't understand why your son's roommate's being a minority is relevant. Are you saying that there are indeed racial tensions on the campus? You might want to clarify.</p>
<p>well "The Movement" was actually created because a black student was up on the hill looking for a party and a white frat boy said "what are you doing here on my hill and my school boy" A fight started and the movement was created</p>
<p>I talked to about 5 or 6 black students and they all said the same thing. The school is crap as a whole on racial integration. Half of the college experience is social learning, its a shame lehigh comes up so lacking in that department.</p>
<p>For what it's worth, apparently there were 160+ kids who attended the 'diversity life weekend', which was the largest amount of minorities visiting the campus during the weekend in lehigh's history (previous record: 60). should it be safe to assume that the class of 2010 will be perhaps the most diverse ever?</p>
<p>and yup, the campus definitely has a frat boy with flip flops driving around bmw hue to it, but i also saw a lot of 'regular' dudes and girls (whatever that means). everyone seems generally clean cut, and it definitely wasn't as bad as i expected... i actually feel silly being worried about it.</p>
<p>i think the school's big enough that you'll find your niche.</p>
<p>It's great to hear that Lehigh is working toward a more diverse student body. Change occurs slowly, step by step. The jump in Diversity Life Weekend attendance shows that minorities are considering Lehigh as a serious option. I'm curious to know what percentage of those students chose to enroll after visiting the campus and meeting some of their prospective classmates.</p>
<p>The class of 2010 will probably be Lehigh's most diverse class and also its most selective. With 11,000 applicants for a class of a little over 1000, it had to be tough, even accounting for over-acceptance to reach the desired yield. Our tour guide last year said that Lehigh was going to accept a lower percentage this year due to over-enrollment the year before - and that statement didn't take into account the increase number of applications. Now that Lehigh is #32 on the national university list, more and more people are considering it.</p>
<p>That's terrible, Kmacs. You do need to distinguish between the deplorable behavior of one student and the character of the entire student body. If you look at the pictures of The Movement protest, you'll see a ton of white faces standing in support of racial, gender, and sexual orientation tolerance. </p>
<p>I don't know enough about the whole incident and the protest that followed, so I can't really comment further. I do know that it was important for you to visit Lehigh and talk to people before making your decision - and that's exactly what you did.</p>
<p>momwaitingfornews I said before, individuals are fine. </p>
<p>And as I said, I talked to numerous people whom had first hand experience, they all concurred on it. In fact one kid actually said "you, you and you, will have a good time here(pointing out the three white girls), you and you...I'm not so sure(point to a hispanic kid and me)" I talked to him for 20 minutes, he was extremely intelligent and knowledgeable. I'm not trying to say that Lehigh is the worst, most racist college in the country, but for the year 2006 I think it deserves a bad rep.
I'm sure many colleges have thier own niches, but I took an effort to look around and observe everything I could and what I saw was horrific. I did not see one black student even talk, much less hang out with a white student. A good number of the asian kids even stuck to themselves, Im sure its just your typical niche group, but atleast I'm talking from first hand experience....
Like I said before, indivuduals are fine, but the whole aura of the college(as im sure many other $40,000+ selective universities are) was
1. preppy rich white kids
2. everyone else</p>