Lehigh University
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania | Admissions Phone: 610-758-3100
E-mail: admissions@lehigh.edu | Website: www.lehigh.edu
ADMISSION
Admission Rate: 22%
Admission Rate - Men: 20%
Admission Rate - Women: 25%
EA Admission Rate: Not Offered
ED Admission Rate: 60%
Admission Rate (5-Year Trend): -9%
ED Admission Rate (5-Year Trend): 0%
% of Admits Attending (Yield): 37%
Transfer Admission Rate: 24%
# Offered Wait List: 7,737
# Accepted Wait List: 3,358
# Admitted Wait List: 69
SAT Reading/Writing (Middle 50%): 620-690
SAT Math (Middle 50%): 650-760
ACT Composite (Middle 50%): 29-33
Testing Policy: ACT/SAT Required
SAT Superscore: Yes
ACT Superscore: Yes
% Graduated in Top 10% of HS Class: 58%
% Graduated in Top 25% of HS Class: 88%
% Graduated in Top 50% of HS Class: 99%
ENROLLMENT
Total Undergraduate Enrollment: 5,047
% Part-Time: 1%
% Male: 54%
% Female: 46%
% Out-of-State: 73%
% Fraternity: 30%
% Sorority: 39%
% On-Campus (Freshman): 99%
% On-Campus (All Undergraduate): 63%
% African-American: 3%
% Asian: 8%
% Hispanic: 10%
% White: 63%
% Other: 3%
% Race or Ethnicity Unknown: 4%
% International: 9%
% Low-Income: 17%
ACADEMICS
Student-to-Faculty Ratio: 9:1
% of Classes Under 20: 50%
% of Classes Under 40: 82%
% Full-Time Faculty: 76%
% Full-Time Faculty w/ Terminal Degree: 95%
Top Programs
Accounting
Computer Science
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Engineering
Finance
International Relations
Psychology
Retention Rate: 94%
4-Year Graduation Rate: 72%
6-Year Graduation Rate: 87%
Curricular Flexibility: Somewhat Flexible
Academic Rating: 
FINANCIAL
Institutional Type: Private
In-State Tuition: $54,790
Out-of-State Tuition: $54,790
Room & Board: $14,160
Required Fees: $450
Books & Supplies: $1,000
Avg. Need-Based Aid: $44,745
Avg. % of Need Met: 97%
Avg. Merit-Based Aid: $11,097
% Receiving Merit-Based Aid: 9%
Avg. Cumulative Debt: $35,109
% of Students Borrowing: 50%
CAREER
Who Recruits
1. Knowles Corporation
2. Mineral Technologies Inc.
3. SIG
4. Tge LiRo Group
5. Crayola
Notable Internships
1. Prudenial Financial
2. Barclays
3. Visa
Top Industries
1. Business
2. Engineering
3. Education
4. Operations
5. Research
Top Employers
1. Merck
2. EY
3. PwC
4. IBM
5. Deloitte
Where Alumni Work
1. New York City
2. Allentown, PA
3. Philadelphia
4. Boston
5. Washington, DC
Median Earnings
College Scorecard (Early Career): $81,900
EOP (Early Career): $81,200
PayScale (Mid-Career): $134,100
RANKINGS
Forbes: 67
Money: 111
U.S. News: 50 (T), National Universities
Wall Street Journal/THE: 55
Washington Monthly: 71, National Universities
Inside the Classroom
Emblematic of the American economy as a whole, the once great industrial town of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, is now highlighted by a research university known for preparing the next generation of problem-solving engineers. Lehigh University is a research powerhouse that caters to only 5,075 undergraduate students, allowing for lots of individualized attention from expert faculty in world-class facilities. There are three colleges within the larger university: the College of Arts & Sciences, the College of Business & Economics, and the prestigious Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
Despite its modest size, Lehigh offers more than one hundred undergraduate degree programs and runs 2,300+ courses each school year. Academic requirements vary by school but, notably, none possess a foreign language mandate. In the College of Arts & Sciences students must complete two semesters of Composition & Literature, First-Year Seminar, one math course, and eight credits in each of the humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences. The core curricula in the College of Business & Economics includes foundational courses in decision-making and business principles as well as introductory coursework in accounting, economics, marketing, management, and finance (no matter which of those concentrations you choose). Lastly, all business students must complete a senior capstone project. Within the Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science undergrads must knock out ten credits of English and economics and thirteen credits in the humanities. There are also two innovative programs that require a foray into other disciplines—the Integrated Business & Engineering Honors Program (IBE) and the Integrated Degree Engineering, Arts & Sciences Honors Programs (IDEAS).
Lehigh has a 9:1 student-to-faculty ratio, but classes aren’t as tiny as one might expect with such favorable staffing numbers. The average class size is twenty-nine but, on the plus side, 45 percent of courses have enrollments of nineteen or fewer. Undergraduate research is commonplace, particularly within the engineering school. Each year, 40 percent of engineering students gain faculty-led research experience. Additionally, 43 percent of graduates engage in some type of international experience, whether it’s a semester of academic study abroad or a foreign-based internship. Roughly half of those students took courses in one of 250 study abroad programs approved by the university.
With a highly ranked engineering school, it’s easy to view Lehigh as primarily a techie haven. Surprisingly, the majority of students pursue other programs, with Lehigh’s well-regarded business school drawing the most majors (34%). Competitive fellowship and scholarship programs look favorably upon the university. Ten undergrads were awarded Gilman Scholarships in 2018, and three students won National Science Foundation Fellowships the year prior.
Outside the Classroom
Lehigh’s three contiguous campuses account for 1,600 picturesque acres. Only 65 percent of students live on campus, and most of those are underclassmen who are required to reside in college-owned housing. The school plans to add 1,000 undergraduate students by 2026 and is presently building additional on-campus housing to accommodate the increased student population. Even with 35 percent of students living off campus, this is an incredibly involved student body with 99 percent involved in some type of extracurricular activity. Greek life is a powerful force with 43 percent of women joining sororities and one-third of men pledging a fraternity. On the athletics front, the Mountain Hawks compete in twenty-five intercollegiate sports, mostly in the NCAA Division I Patriot League. An additional forty-three intramural and club teams claim another 2,900 participants annually. On the non-sports front there are 200+ student organizations at Lehigh and over 250 art events on campus annually. Service-oriented clubs are popular and account for 65,000 collective hours of community service per year. Bethlehem is known more for its industrial history as a hub of steel production than for a thrilling nightlife, but students with a car can get to Philly in an hour and a half or New York City in a little over two hours.
Career Services
The Center for Career and Professional Development (CCPD) is staffed by ten professional employees (not counting business managers or interns) who work in career counseling, employer engagement, or graduate school advising. That 507:1 student-to-advisor ratio is within the average range of universities profiled in this guide. Yet, by almost any metric, the level of support offered to the school’s undergraduates is of superior quality.
In 2017-18, the CCPD enticed more than 6,900 attendees to its events (more than the entire undergraduate population). The fall and spring career expos draw large student crowds and are attended by as many as 140 employers, including many major corporations. Counselors held an outstanding 2,468 one-on-one advising sessions and achieved 12,000+ total engagements through in-person and online interaction. Perhaps most impressive is the number of on-campus interviews conducted in 2017-18—2,754—more than double the number of graduating seniors that year. Lehigh’s career services staff also does a superb job facilitating internships and other valuable immersive experiences. An exceptional 89 percent of Class of 2018 members completed at least one internship or externship. Lehigh’s Center for Career and Professional Development provides a top-notch level of service to its undergraduate clientele, and those efforts translate into stellar employment and graduate school outcomes.
Professional Outcomes
The Class of 2018 quickly found its way toward the next productive step in their lives with 95 percent landing jobs or grad school placements within six months of leaving Lehigh. Among graduates of the School of Business and Economics, the top industries entered by graduates were financial services (28 percent), accounting (19 percent), consulting (9 percent), and marketing (6 percent). Top employers of recent business degree earners include Amazon, CitiGroup, Deloitte, EY, KPMG, Morgan Stanley, and PwC. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science graduates flocked to companies such as ExxonMobil, GE, Google, IBM, Lockheed Martin, Merck, and Microsoft. Arts & Sciences graduates secured employment at places like CBS, People Magazine, and the National Institutes of Health. Across all three schools, the average starting salary was $65,000 with computer science majors on the high end at $87k and math and natural sciences majors on the low end at $48k.
Of those heading straight to graduate/professional school, 31 percent were studying engineering, 24 percent were pursuing business degrees, 10 percent were training for health professions, and 4 percent had entered law school. In 2018, a phenomenal 91 percent of medical school applicants found at least one acceptance. That cohort possessed an average GPA of 3.7 and MCAT scores in the 85th percentile. Recent med school acceptances included Boston University School of Medicine, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Over the past three years law school applicants were successful 93 percent of the time and were welcomed by institutions such as the University of Pennsylvania, Tulane, Temple, and Villanova. Those pursuing a master’s or a PhD from the Class of 2018 did so at Columbia, Duke, Stanford, Berkeley, Brown, Johns Hopkins, and a number of other first-class universities.
Admission
Lehigh experienced a 13 percent spike in applications between 2018 and 2017 that led to an all-time low 22 percent acceptance rate for those jockeying for a spot in the Class of 2022. Freshmen entering Lehigh for the 2018-19 school year possessed middle-50 percent scores of 1270-1450 on the SAT and 29-33 on the ACT. A similar number of students submit scores from each exam. Fifty-eight percent of entering freshmen in 2018-19 placed in the top decile of their high school class, and 88 percent were in the top quartile.
Five factors sit perched atop the list of criteria considered by the Lehigh admissions committee: rigor of courses, GPA, recommendations, extracurricular activities, and character/personal qualities. The next rung of factors deemed “important” include standardized test scores, essays, talent/ability, volunteer work, and demonstrated interest. On the subject of demonstrated interest, Lehigh places high value on an applicant’s level of commitment to attending the university. To quantify that importance, early decision applicants are admitted at a rate of 60 percent, almost three times the acceptance rate during the regular cycle. Early decision applicants comprised 56 percent of the incoming class. Women face slightly better odds, generally sporting acceptance rates 5-7 percent better than male applicants. Clearly, applying early is a major edge at Lehigh, but you’ll need to be toward the top of your class and have taken a healthy dose of AP and honors courses, particularly in STEM areas.
Worth Your Money?
Those who don’t qualify for financial aid will not receive much help from Lehigh—fewer than 10 percent of attendees receive merit aid. Fortunately, the $71,465 annual cost of attendance is knocked down significantly for the 43 percent of undergraduates who qualify for need-based aid; many see 100 percent of their demonstrated need met by the university, and the average annual grant is for $45k. With extremely high starting salaries, this school is likely to pay you back, particularly if you major in the business/engineering realm.