@abbeany it did say on the acceptance letter that the decision would also be mailed out.
My DD is in the same situation as many on this board. She is a child of an alumni, had many visits, alumni day, interview etc. She is a high stats kid (top 10 in class) with strong EC’s. She had a letter of rec from an alumni (her boss) as well. We are in NJ so I think this hurt her chances. In fact, all the kids from her HS were waitlisted. They are all top 10 kids with great EC’s. This IMO is to move up in rankings in lieu of taking kids from the core states. I wonder how this will affect the alumni network moving forward? Will not consider Lehigh for my next DD.
@abbeany if your S was accepted he should receive a package snail mail but otherwise nothing.
I’m really disappointed to hear about all the alumni children who were waitlisted. i understand Lehigh’s long-standing abhorrence of being used as a safety but I would have hoped they’d have given them the benefit of the doubt that they genuinely wanted to attend even though their stats were “ivy” level.
When we visited campus we definitely got the vibe that students from the area - PA, NJ - were at a disadvantage. Made a big fuss about attracting kids from all over country. The trend at our HS over the last couple of years has definitely been a downward spiral for acceptances, despite strong candidates.
Son waitlisted for Engineering. 1460 SAT, 32 ACT, 4.2 GPA (w). Significant extracurriculars and after school job.
Did not visit Lehigh, so that may have been a factor. He will not accept a spot on the waitlist. He has good offers from RPI, Stevens and NJIT.
At most schools, legacy is only a hook for students applying ED.
It is possible that Lehigh is indeed playing with their yield numbers, waitlisting a bunch of highly qualified students with very respectable academic credentials who are unlikely to attend. It is also possible that Lehigh is trying to follow the most selective private schools, making the admission process less of a predefined SAT+GPA filtering, and more of what they call a “holistic” approach. Or maybe both are true.
The SAT+GPA will generally get you into the pool of academically acceptable candidates. Then the other factors take over: the essays, the letters of rec, the legacy, the EC, geographic and racial factors, etc. So it makes little sense to compare the raw stats, just as when applying to other highly selective schools.
@Lsregan if you want to PM me or something, i can talk more about Villanova! but Lehigh also waitlisted my sibling and I’m just confused 
I’m so surprised that my son didn’t get in but got into honors college in several other schools. But I’m even more surprised when I read about other kids who have much better stats, are legacy and showed a huge demostrated interest. Part of my son is let down by the waitlist but the other part is happy with the schools that were happy with him and wanted him to be part of family. But Lehigh definitely was interesting.
I was accepted into arts and sciences for architecture!
Stats:
ACT- 33 (super 34)
GPA- not calculated, solid A and B
Classes- 6 AP and nearly all Honors
Interview- Yes, very pleasant experience
Visits- too many to count (sibling is current student, attended Legacy Day)
State- NJ
Good luck to everyone during this process! And congratulations to everyone on their accomplishments!
accepted into engineering!!
SAT: 1470 (770 math, 700 English)
Weighted GPA: 100.12
Top decile
From NJ, any word on when merit may come out?
This has definitely been the most interesting decision forum I have been on yet! I am so curious to know what their selection process was. It is obviously very different from the other schools my son applied to We can speculate it was about “demonstrated interest”, but there are many kids on here who did that and still got waitlisted. There are kids on here with exceptional stats who got waitlisted as well (my son included). So who knows. But good luck to everyone wherever you wind up.
My daughter was waitlisted as well, 1530 SAT, 4.5 GPA, good ec’s, etc etc. To be honest, I feel it’s all a numbers game and I’m totally disgusted. Not taking the spot on the waitlist, but would have gone as first choice if she had been accepted.
If you look on the Villanova, George Washington, Lafeyette and American University forums you’ll see more of the same.
@Lsregan it seems that NJ/PA kids with high stats that don’t really want Ivy are at a disadvantage. Lehigh seems to think “oh they are using us as a Safety” when truth is just bc stats are high Ivy may not be the goal. Very sad for these kids who worked so hard.
I think Ivy acceptance rates are so low, that even high stat kids (even as a ivy legacy for me) have absolutely no guarantee of getting into an ivy, or jr ivy. I was rejected by ivy and jr ivy. Ivy’s may be accepting more 1st gen, urm’s Etc and accepting less “historically traditional” high stat kids, who have to apply somewhere, so it’s a trickle down effect.
Ivies are never a guarantee for anyone. They turn away thousands of students with 1500+ SATs and 4.0+ GPAs every single year. I can’t tell you what Lehigh is doing, exactly, but it is clear that they are not just looking at the highest test scores and GPAs to determine their class. As one poster said, it may be that your GPA/Tests get you into a pile of “acceptable” applicants, and then they take a more holistic approach that includes ECs, interest, essays, etc. That would explain why the stats are all over the place.
^ agree completely
For anyone wondering about merit scholarships, I emailed my counselor and just got a reply. She said that less than 0.5% of applicants received merit aid this year, and that there is no way to appeal for merit money. I’m upset about it too.