I recently found out about a program at Lehigh University, Computer Science and Business (CSB). I’m not sure if anyone is familiar with it? I have not heard about this program before and there is not a lot of information on it when I googled it. Also, if anyone knows anything about the IBE program too. i am interested in both finance/business and computer science and engineering so this program sounds perfect for me. I have a few questions about these programs.
Of course, is it too difficult for me to get into? My stats are listed below and if you could give me feedback on if I would get accepted into one of the programs that would be great!
Is it more difficult to get into than regular computer science or regular business?
Do I have a higher chance of getting into this program rather than just the business school because I would be a woman in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics)?
This is a random one, but will Lehigh care about being geographically diverse whereas would I have a higher chance of acceptance because I live in Illinois?
How is the course load?
Does it lean more towards computer science or business?
How can I make my application better or more impressive to them?
GPA unweighted: 3.58
GPA weighted: 4.3
ACT: 30 (I plan on retaking)
3 AP classes this year, but I plan on taking 6 next year. For a total of 11 AP Classes my whole high school career.
I am an asian American female and am the first in my family to go to college if that makes a difference. I speak both Cantonese and English fluently and was born in California but now live in the suburbs of Chicago, IL and am a Junior in high school.
I am very involved in things other than school as well. I am on my school’s dance team (spirit & competitive) which is 2 seasons, lacrosse team, business club (qualified for state in our district competition), service club, president of ecology club, president of foreign exchange club, I was the 1st chair/section leader in band before I quit, student council, president’s club, teen advisory board, world language honor society, national honor society, and I was in a peer mentoring group.
if it helps to show my interest in engineering and computer science, over the summer I did a computer science camp at the University of Illinois, which simulated a real college experience. I have been in engineering classes at my school. I’m currently in AP Computer Science at my school as well.
The Lehigh CSB degree is really unusual. It is fully accredited as a business degree by AACSB, and also as a computer science degree by ABET. The program obviously includes a lot of business and CS courses, but it also includes a sequence of business-oriented computer courses that count for both business and CS credit. Very very employable degree.
(1) Lehigh had ACT 29-32 for Class of 2019, so 30 is within range but not outstanding. Grades and AP classes should be fine.
(2) Not as an entering student. It is hard to transfer into the program later though, because there is so much coursework to make up.
(3) Lehigh – unlike many top schools – gets fewer female applicants than male. So being female helps. For Class of 2019, applicant pool was 7299 M, 5544 F. Acceptance rate was 28% M, 34% F.
(4) It’s probably a plus. Asian background probably also a plus.
(5) Tough. Not a lot of room for electives, between all of the business and CS courses. Forget study abroad, although there is a popular CSB-oriented summer program in Prague.
(6) It is fully accredited as both. A CSB grad can apply for the same jobs as either the CS majors or the business majors. Some employers recruit CSB majors specifically, because the combination is so attractive.
(7) My impression is Lehigh likes applicants who seem genuinely excited about Lehigh, and who will be good fits at the school. They will be impressed if you visit from Illinois. If you do visit, you should meet with people involved with CSB and any sports or extracurriculars that might interest you. If you want to get back into band, Lehigh has a very active and fun student-run marching band.
I should have added that there is one other very powerful way to signal interest in Lehigh: apply for early decision.
For the Class of 2019, Lehigh accepted 582 out of 999 ED applicants. That’s an acceptance rate of 58.2 %, which is obviously much higher than the overall acceptance rate of 30%.
ED admits were about 46% of the entire entering class. So Lehigh relies rather heavily on the ED process, more so than most peer schools.
Many schools have both ED1 and ED2. At Lehigh, the application deadline is November 15 for ED1 and January 1 for ED2. In general, the differences are:
(1) If you apply to a school via ED1, your high school transcript probably won’t include any senior year grades. If you apply via ED2, then it probably will include some senior year grades. This could be helpful if your grades generally improved over your high school career. Applying ED2 also gives you another chance to retake the SAT or ACT, since those tests are generally offered in early December.
(2) Suppose you apply to your first-choice school via ED1, but don’t get in. You will get the bad news in mid-December – which means that you will still have the option of applying to your second-choice school via ED2. You can only apply ED to one school at a time, but since there are two sequential ED processes, you can actually apply to two schools by ED if necessary.
As far as I know, both ED1 and ED2 offer the same improved admissions chances. I’ve never seen a breakdown of ED1 vs ED2, just ED vs regular decision.