Admissions officer who spoke during our visit emphasized that the first thing they consider after rigor/grades/test scores was whether “this is a genuine and sincere application”.
I know Lehigh doesn’t take a huge number off the waitlist but I would encourage any one who considered Lehigh their first choice to accept the waitlist share that with admissions. They want students who want to attend and sometimes that doesn’t come across as well as intended in the essays. That being said, all of the students waitlisted per this thread are clearly wonderful students and will be exceptional where ever they choose to attend. GOOD LUCK!!
is it easy to transfer between schools?
waitlisted from engineering
SAT: 1430 (690 reading 740 math)
GPA: 4.27 W (4.33 including first semester)
female from NJ
also accepted into tulane, villanova, northeastern NUin program, penn state, and a few safeties.
not too upset since i know i’d rather go to villanova or tulane anyways but thought i would get in 
not sure what was up with the admissions for this year, they waitlisted a bunch of other people from my school too
@mountainmama19 Did she say if merit was offered with the admission notice in the portal or is it still to come?
@2kids2college I feel it has been that way at several schools. It really makes it hard to judge true matches or safeties. Between yield protection and thoughts that kids might pick somewhere else, don’t know where true matches are supposed to be.
S19, accepted, midwest, visited & emailed with CS about profs leaving. 35ACT, 3.85 UW, MV Calc, APs, courses geared towards CS, 2 long time ECs but nothing CS related.
He was WL or denied at a few closer to home.
in complete agreement with post #394. I applied to villanova, george washington, and america. I think they look for the same kind of thing in terms of not wanting JUST high scores and grades. There’s a lot of demonstrated interest, interviewing, and what you say in those 150 word essays about why you like the school. On top of that, it’s not just what ec’s you do, but what you do in those activities and what you learned. I did ASB for 4 years and even thought I wasn’t a MUN captain, I was really involved and won a lot of awards. (waitlisted by villanova and gw, accepted to american and lehigh)
I think more schools are using the holistic approach now. high sat scores and GPA are not good enough. some kids at taking AP classes just to say they did, when it probably would have been better if they did some type of community service instead.
Hi everyone, now that this application journey is over for me I thought I’d share my stats and final results. Maybe it will help some reconcile their results this year, and maybe it will help those next year…
SAT 1510 super-scored (760 math, 750 RW)
SAT2 740 Math2, 660 Literature
APUSH 4, APAH 5
Intro to Psychology 001 at an ivy A+
GPA 3.983 unweighted
White Female from NJ
Private school with 108 students in class of 2019
School does not rank students
EC’s
Leadership in mentoring middle school students on social emotional health, elected student council positions, tutoring younger students, international service with children’s organizations and animal conservation
2019 Results 5-5-5
UPenn-Rejected (ED, 4th generation legacy, alumni interview, multiple visits)
WashU-Rejected (ED2, visited campus, on campus interview)
Northwestern-Rejected (visited campus, requested interview, did not get one)
Duke-Rejected (visited campus, alumni interview)
Tufts-Rejected (visited campus, requested interview, did not get one)
Georgetown-Waitlisted (visited campus, alumni interview)
Boston College-Waitlisted (visited campus)
Barnard-Waitlisted (visited campus 2X, on campus interview)
U Miami-Waitlisted (visited campus)
NYU-Waitlisted (visited campus)
Wake Forest-Admitted (visited campus, on campus interview)
William & Mary-Admitted, Monroe Scholar (visited campus 2X, on campus interview)
Tulane-Admitted, Honors $30k/year 4 years Merit (visited campus, alumni interview)
Lehigh-Admitted (visited campus 3X, on campus interview)
George Washington-Admitted $25k/year 5 years (did not visit)
I been reading this thread from so long. I do feel the how everybody feels who got wait listed or rejected with high stats because my son also got wait listed with similar high stats. Is anybody here applied for IBE and got wait listed? If yes, then what does the decision letter says? wait listed for IBE or just wait listed? Thanks.
@anxiety247 Yes! I’m a student at Lehigh now and switching schools is as easy as signing a paper. Changing majors or programs, besides special ones like IDEAS, is so simple.
@abbeany A folder of information came in mail today.
I know this is a huge long shot but does anyone think Lehigh would possibly still accept an application this late after the application deadline? I’ve unfortunately been rejected from my first choice which I really expected to get into. Obviously, it’s unlikely but does anyone think it would be possible? I have a strong gpa, good ec’s, and have spoken with the track coach in the past and have been told I have a strong chance of walking on to the track team.
The only way to know would be to contact admissions. It seems unlikely to me, though - since they just finished weeding through thousands of applications and rejecting/waitlisting many highly qualified applicants.
@MadBeggarWTK to clarify did you apply and were waitlisted or you didn’t apply at all in the RD round?
I just deposited my acceptance fee.
Got into the engineering school! My stats:
UW GPA: 3.8
ACT: 34
Do Track and XC
Did science fairs and research projects through out HS.
GL everyone!
Last year my daughter was in the same boat as yours - got accepted into Ivies and offered a full ride to our excellent State school but waitlisted to Lehigh…what-the-heck!! As it was explained to me last year, Lehigh knows they are just below the top tier of schools and that they’re considered a safety school to the top tier students… Lehigh doesn’t want to have a low Yield rate (freshmen committed -to- acceptances offered ratio) which they would have if they let in all these kids that ALSO get into (and accept) the top tier schools or get full rides to excellent state programs. Ultimately the Yield would impact the school’s rankings for good or ill, so they game it. I heard last year that a STRONGLY demonstrated interest…to the point of making several visits, contacting admissions, and the college of your interest, and even weaving the Lehigh’s mission statement into the essays…is key to getting acceptances. We visited once, that’s it.
@MESMES with all due respect, I take issue with your characterization of waitlisting high stat applicants as gaming the system. Was Lehigh a top choice for your daughter? Was she planning on passing on her ivy acceptances to attend Lehigh? If the answer is no then the result was appropriate. Lehigh wants kids who want to attend. A friend of mine’s son was all bent out of shape when he was rejected from Lehigh but he had been admitted to Yale…seriously? He had no intention of attending Lehigh and they clearly figured that out but he took it as a personal affront that they didn’t accept him just because he was qualified. I’d also encourage anyone who was waitlisted and wants to attend Lehigh to pursue getting off the waitlist. As stated Lehigh wants kids who want them and are good students and I know quite a few kids who were successful.
Imagine that! if a school is your #1 you show interest, write a great essay about your interest and visit and interview.
These kids who get all bent out of shape because one of the high ranking schools they threw an application at turns them down is laughable.
Even more humorous is the cliche putting down of said school as “lesser than” because your “deserving” kid didn’t get in.
@vpa2019 My daughter did not select to go to an ivy - she loved Lehigh, visited, wrote a thoughtful essay, reached out to the department, and has a cousin there - I would have loved to see her there…finances were an issues TBH so hoped for $ (her dad made her apply to ivy even though they don’t offer merit money). There are a number of examples right here in this thread of high achieving students that had Lehigh as their first choice only to be waitlisted while kids with lower stats / ECs were selected for admittance. Not everyone has the luxury of being able to visit 2 or 3 times. Waitlists are a crap shoot - likely you won’t get selected and by the time you are (if you’re lucky enough) you’ve already gotten emotionally and financially invested in your committed school.
If a school does not select the best candidates that apply because they have some preconceived notion the candidate won’t accept the offer presuming they’ll go someplace else, then, yes, it absolutely is, without a doubt, gaming the yield rate. If it wasn’t, and it didn’t ‘cost’ them anything against their reputation, they’d offer admittance to a larger pool of candidates and include the top candidates down to their minimum cut off - not cut off the top and the bottom candidates. Yes, many will probably turn down the offer but they’ll also get a lot of super candidates.
@Leigh22 Schools are ranked by all kinds of criteria - there definitely are “better” schools and “lesser” school - unlike elementary school science fairs, not all universities can get a participation medal and be equal. I don’t remember putting down the school - just criticizing their practice of excluding objectively excellent candidates in order to improve their yield rate. And how dare you presume to think that all these great candidate kids applied there just as their presumed safety and not as a real contender like it wasn’t a deliberate decision to choose to have them as one of their top choices- and wow, how bold and judgmental to imply that none of those top candidates really wanted to go to Lehigh anyway so they “threw in” an application - since it is not cheap to apply, you don’t do so willy-nilly.