I was initially pretty reluctant to come to Lehigh, but throughout my first semester, I have been quite happy. I am an incoming sophomore student in CSB with a minor in data science and journalism. Here are some pros and cons:
Pros:
Transferring between colleges and majors is very easy.
Picking up a minor is also easy.
Very generous with AP Credit as long as you have 4s & 5s (I got around 40 credits).
Professors and upper-level students are willing to include you (at least in my major).
I am a straight white male, but I am not at all into sports, fratty, or bro culture. I was still able to find a great group of friends while here.
Cons:
A lot of people are very into the party and greek life scene. I am not as much and it doesnāt particularly bother me but it may bother some people.
I feel like I am stuck in the āmiddle of nowhereā because my hometown is a train ride from NYC.
If you want to consistently travel further than walking distance from campus you need a car. The public buses are extremely unreliable (I have seen them be up to an hour late).
The stairs.
It is heavily white.
At least for my aspirations (Software development), our career center is sort of useless. There are other resources to help me, but the career center is not the place.
Thanks for the info. Lehigh is a school Iāve been strongly suggesting to my son. I think it would be a great fit for him in a lot of ways. My main question is about their Physics program. Do you know anything about it? Weāre in the Midwest so Lehigh isnāt a school that is talked about a lot. Iām from the east coast so Iām very aware of it and itās strong reputation. But I just donāt know what their Physics program is like and where graduates end up. Any feedback would be appreciated.
I am a parent of a Son - Class of 2025 who applied ED1. He is very happy at the school and very involved in clubs and greek life. Happy to answer questions.
Each student has to apply to a specific school which has its own core curriculum as well as the schools core curriculum too. Grading depends on the professor so a mix of curving and simple grades. Students seem to work fairly hard and especially around the mid terms and finals periods.
Freshman are not allowed cars but there is a good bus loop to get around and most things are within walking distance. Students do need to walk a lot for classes, cafeteria and dorms but my son didnāt seem to mind (he did run cross country in high school).
My son currently has a car and had to apply for a parking pass which occurs right after the semester ends.
The school has a lot going on during the week and weekends so students typically stay around campus.
DS applied RD for class of 2027. We likely wont qualify for any need based aid. Do you know likelihood/numbers of applicants that qualify for merit? If you want to have any social life, is joining a fraternity a āmustā? Thank you.
From what I believe students who need money based on financial conditions will have access to grants as well as athletes primarily football and basketball players. The average student doesnāt seem to get a lot of merit and this is consistent with schools such as Lafayette. I was told that the school gives out āa lot of money to a small number of studentsā. This is just my experience as I had a daughter graduate Lafayette in 2022.
Greek life is definitely a major social force on campus but I donāt think itās absolutely necessary to enjoy the campus social scene. The school continues to be tough on fraternities and seems to want to lessen their involvement.
This is more of a personal question, but would I get a lot of money with a single parent that makes less than 60K as a NY resident? I applied RD for Civil Engineering, going here would be cool but Iām not sure if it would financially work out.
Hi - Do you have any insight into āInternational Relations at Lehighā program? How selective is this course, what kind of stats are expected to get into the school and typical career path for graduating students?
My son is a sophomore at Lehigh and I can tell you that classes heās taken so far are barely curved. You donāt need a car on campus (and parking is very limited there), but if you have to fly to Lehigh, itās not easy to manage.
I donāt think merit is very likely, they really cater to financial need, but I have heard of a few people being offered it. My personal opinion, itās a tough place for a boys if they are not in a fraternity. Thereās just not that much to do there.