<p>How is merit aid awarded at Lehigh? How large are the typical awards? What is the criteria? Unfortunately merit aid will be a huge factor as to whether D will apply next year. Thank you!</p>
<p>BTW, she will most likely be studying chemistry or chemical engineering.</p>
<p>In my experience, merit aid is rare at Lehigh. In general, schools offer merit aid to attract top students well above the average for that school, or perhaps to fill a demographic need. Lehigh already attracts mostly top students. Just like with the Ivies, almost all their students are meritorious. One would need to be pretty extraordinary to stand out above the other Lehigh admits.</p>
<p>In the Fall of 2012 entering class of 1,217, 537 were determined to have financial need.</p>
<p>Of the 680 who did not have financial need (per Lehigh), unfortunately only 80 received merit scholarships, with an average of $11,550.</p>
<p>See Section H:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.lehigh.edu/~oir/cds/lucds2012.htm[/url]”>http://www.lehigh.edu/~oir/cds/lucds2012.htm</a></p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>The top 7-8% of all accepted students get any form of merit aid. That comes from my admissions director. I’m not sure if the statistics have changed for this year but it’s safe to assume they haven’t.</p>
<p>Any idea what the stats of a top 5% admit would look like?</p>
<p>Well, I didn’t get an academic scholarship but I did get a community service scholarship. I’m not sure what percentile I fall into for academics but it’s not the top 7-8%. Here are mine…</p>
<p>2140 SAT (700CR, 740M, 700W)
99/100 wGPA (about a 4.30)
My school doesn’t rank.</p>
<p>10 APs Junior + Senior Year
I got three 5’s and one 4 on the tests I’ve done so far.
10 is the most APs you can take at my school because only 4 are offered to Juniors and you can only take a max of 6 classes Senior year.</p>
<p>As far as my ECs go…</p>
<p>I cofounded a cancer research nonprofit and I’m VERY involved in it;
I also cofounded an anti-bullying group at my school;
I’m a Key Club officer as well as a Peer Leader’s officer;
I do a couple other things that aren’t noteworthy;
I have had a job since the start of junior year at about 20 hours per week.</p>
<p>From the description for the [Dean’s</a> Scholarship](<a href=“http://www4.lehigh.edu/admissions/undergrad/tuition/aidtypes.aspx#scholarships]Dean’s”>http://www4.lehigh.edu/admissions/undergrad/tuition/aidtypes.aspx#scholarships):</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The application and essay are opportunities to highlight what Lehigh is looking for; it’s a common theme in their material/brochures. </p>
<p>You should encourage your daughter to research what “leadership skills” means from Lehigh’s perspective; advice I gave to my son several years ago that turned out to be fruitful.</p>
<p>My son received a Merit Scholarship. He did not apply for it. It was awarded based on his application.</p>
<p>kikkydee, would you mind saying how much it was, and what your sons qualifications were (stats and leadership activities)?</p>
<p>Mathmomvt, my son receives the Deans scholarship which is 10,000 each year. He was admitted a few years ago so it may have changed in value. His stats were:
SAT MA. 780
SAT CR. 790
GPA 4.3
ECs included athletics, leadership in a few clubs and started a cancer fundraiser in honor of a friend with cancer. Also rode in 200 mile cancer fundraiser and started a mentoring program in his town.</p>
<p>mathmomvt,</p>
<p>Sure, ACT 33. 34s in math and science. GPA 3.7 - very competitive high school. He took classes that he viewed at important. He was willing to take classes that were hard for him and did not worry about have a perfect GPA. Not a really great essay score. I do know his teachers and guidance counselor wrote amazing letters of recommendation. He was not involved in any high school groups. He had a long term volunteer internship with a local non-profit. He was the youngest employee at the local Best Buy. Since he was 7th grade he had been working with tutors and going to academic summer programs at many different university all over the country in his area of interest. And we had gone visit the campus the summer before. Pretty normal engineering guy with a solid area of interest he had been working on for a long time. </p>
<p>Lehigh is small enough to look beyond the numbers and statistics and recognize, value and nurture potential! </p>
<p>Lehigh invited my son to be their guest for Diversity Weekend - the event was before the acceptance letters were sent out so I imagine they had to have interviewed him while he was on campus. He was given a Dean’s Scholarship for $10,000 a year when we received his acceptance letter.</p>
<p>He is an Engineering student with 2 minors, very active with his Fraternity AND on the Dean’s List 
We are so very happy and supportive of the choices he has made and man he has become under the influence of Lehigh and his fraternity!</p>
<p>Oops. ACT composite was 32.</p>
<p>Thanks for sharing, kikkydee :)</p>
<p>I agree with Kikkydee that there are also intangibles at play here, whether based upon your essay, your EC’s etc… I spoke at a Lehigh presentation in my home state for prospective students a few years ago, and the Dean of Admissions was looking for one particular accepted student and kept asking if he had arrived. He said his essay blew him away and he was considering him for the Dean’s scholarship and wanted to meet him. So, the Dean’s Scholarship is for top students who have something Lehigh feels is special about them. </p>
<p>On a side note, I have heard, however, it is not a confirmed fact, that the merit aid generally goes to families who are unlikely to receive financial aid. Again, I have not confirmed this, but have heard it and it was true in our case.</p>
<p>We were not eligible for financial aid. </p>
<p>We also live a significant distance from Lehigh and geographic diversity is a goal for the university.</p>
<p>My son’s essay was a funny story about a very high pressure unique experience he had. </p>
<p>I don’t think I would characterize my son as one of the “top” students. He is a good, serious, and hard working student.</p>
<p>Since Lehigh is a smaller well ranked university I think the admission and financial aid decisions are decided on a student by student basis. And if you come to Lehigh you will receive a very personalized education!</p>
<p>I qualified for a few loans and work study but was still able to get a merit based scholarship (community service grant for I believe $6,000 / year), so I don’t think it’s contingent on receiving financial aid. However, if you’re talking about the big awards ($10,000 - half tuition - full tuition) then perhaps you’re correct. Not sure about that!</p>
<p>I would imagine (just speculating here) that Lehigh takes a holistic approach to merit aid in the same way they take a holistic approach to making offers of admission.</p>
<p>I’m not sure perfect stats automatically guarantee merit scholarships at Lehigh. I agree with mumof2boyz, it’s just a feeling the folks in admissions get when they see that the candidate in question would be the right fit for the university.</p>