Please chance me for transfer to Lehigh for Fall 2017.

Colleges and Universities A-Z Lehigh University
1

I’m going to try to leave out personally identifying information, but please let me know if more information is required to give a good answer.

Gender/Sex: Male
Race: Black, White
First generation college student

High School (not that great): Went to 2 high schools due to my family being dysfunctional and my mom and I wanting to get away from the negativity they caused. The aforementioned dysfunction caused me to not care about school as much as I would have before. The first HS I had around a 3.8 weighted, the next around a 3.95 weighted. However, my unweighted GPA would probably be something like a 3.1, since I did get many B’s/C’s. I just took a lot of honors and two AP’s
ACT: 26. I am considering omitting this from my application. Lehigh does not require standardized test scores from transfers, at least from my school.
ECs (school 1): District Chorus (2 years), Region Chorus (1 year), Chamber Choir, Concert Choir, Symphonic Band, Marching Band
ECs (school 2): Symphonic choir. Most of the things I wanted to be in had auditions before I moved to the area of the other school, which is why I didn’t do much senior year.
Work: Worked fast food for around 4 months senior year (school 2). I plan to omit this.

College: I attend Northampton Community College, which is very close to Lehigh which has a good relationship with them. Nearly all credits transfer for some majors, including mine. I am also in the honors program
Major: Computer Science
Prospective Major @ Lehigh: Computer Science (P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science)
GPA: 3.81 as of now, I’m expecting it to be something like 3.78 by the time I graduate
Honors classes: 4 for now (4 are required to complete the honors program), I may take another next semester
ECs:
-I receive a scholarship from the National Science Foundation that is awarded to high-achieving NCC STEM students. This requires monthly meetings.
-Honors Student Fellowship (freshman/sophomore), Secretary (sophomore)
-Chorus (semester 1 freshman year – I may omit this since I took it for credit, and did not want to continue it)
-I completed the Professional Edge Certificate at NCC last year.
-Phi Theta Kappa member

Work:
-I do paid research at Lehigh through a program designed to connect the two institutions, Lehigh and NCC. This started during summer 2016. Also, as a result of this, I was invited to become a coauthor on a manuscript that my research professor is in the process of revising. I think this is what will help me get in the most.

Recs: My research prof will give me a good rec. I’m not sure about my second one.

Other things: I’m not sure if I should even include this in my application, but the reason I decided to attend CC was because during high school, I didn’t have much drive to excel and therefore skipped school a lot and just got ‘okay’ grades. I wanted to spend two years at CC so that I could utilize my real academic potential and attend much better schools than I was accepted to out of HS.

That’s everything I can think of for now. Please let me know if I am forgetting anything, and thanks to everyone in advance for any replies, and for looking at the entire thread – I apologize for it being so long.

2

Wow! I think you have done some amazing work! Lehigh would be so lucky to have you! Have you talked directly to the professors in the Computer Science Department? Mayne one of them could write a letter of reference for you. I would even consider going to the Admissions office and having an interview with your representative. I found the faculty and the admissions office very helpful.

Hey, my son got Bs and Cs all the way through school in his Spanish classes! haha. He stayed with it for 5 years. So he didn’t have a perfect GPA either. But, you know the admissions office at Lehigh takes so much more than GPAs and test scores into account. Personally, I would guess you have an excellent chance. You just have to try. Although, no one can speak for the admissions office.

You have done some amazing work and no matter what happens I am positive you have a amazing future ahead of you! I hope you stay on CC and keep us posted. I am looking forward to following your progress.

Oh, please consider starting a thread when you submit your transfer application! Very best of luck!!!

3

Thank you so much! That means a lot!

I actually have talked to a few of the CS department professors very briefly, but not really related to transferring to Lehigh. It was while I was working there, so they probably didn’t even know that I wasn’t a Lehigh student. It may be something to consider, though.

4

Oh, PLEASE, go visit the professors and the admissions office. Please! I really think it will help you.

Also, you said your composite ACT was a 26. What is the break down? My son’s composite was pulled down by the english section. They look at the sections together and separately. Admissions understands that most students are not gifted in all areas. Maybe you should think about retaking the test. The ACT, in my opinion, is the best test for kids with high math aptitude. You are such a motivated kid. Maybe just taking a couple practice tests. My son did take the Kaplan course and it raised his composite score 5 points.

Please post here after you visit the professors and admissions.