Lehigh University is a small research university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania located between New York City and Philadelphia — close enough to both for a day trip. The school has the resources of a large research school, but with a compact student boy of 7,400 students overall and 5,600 undergraduates among six undergraduate colleges. 85% of the undergraduate students are in the College of Arts & Sciences, College of Engineering & Applied Science, and the College of Business. The average class size is 28, and Lehigh leans into emerging technology, even encouraging professors to come up with class ideas that incorporate Artificial Intelligence technologies into students’ creative processes. Students appreciate this, and they receive 15,000 applications annually. The acceptance rate is 37%.
Over 90% of students at Lehigh complete at least 1 internship or experiential learning opportunity, but it isn’t all about classes and career. There is a significant Greek life on campus with 22 fraternities and sororities, which contributes to a culture of community service and community engagement on campus. The athletic tradition is also significant, and students at Lehigh are known for throwing a great party. Before you pack your bags, though, you should know that Lehigh adopted a test-optional policy indefinitely. This means that you can choose whether to submit your ACT or SAT scores. They publish the middle 50% of scores for admitted students, so you should compare your scores against the averages before deciding whether to submit.
If you’re looking for a mid-sized university that packs the punch of a major institution, send us an email. We help students get into their perfect fit.
The Lehigh Supplement is short but mighty. While many other colleges have shifted their supplements to include lots of questions of confusing importance, like “what is your favorite snack?”, Lehigh has kept their focus on you as a student. They want to know how you’ll make the most of the institution, and what you’ll do to contribute to the Lehigh community.
The supplement has three questions, and the last one has multiple prompt options. Below we’ll break down each one to help you do your best work.
How will the unique combination of college, program, major and/or 4+1 program that you selected above allow you to achieve your educational or professional goals? (200 Words)
This is a why us, but it isn’t the only “why us” you’ll have to answer — so we need to be strategic about what we amplify here. One of the keys to this question is how it is focused wholly on what academic track, or tracks, you intend to pursue. The second key is a single word: “goals.”
So, they want an answer that is academically focused, and that communicates that you have clear and thought-through objectives that you want to accomplish. These goals could be constrained to your collegiate experience, or they could include professional outcomes that you’re striving for. You don’t need to have your future perfectly mapped out to write a strong answer to this question, but you do need to know what you want to study at Lehigh. Or, rather, you need to be able to speak with confidence about an academic track you’re thinking of pursuing, even if you aren’t necessarily 100% sure that you’re going to stick to it. No, we aren’t telling you to lie. But yes, we are encouraging you to pick something and write about it confidently. You can change your mind. Writing about the history program does not mean you’ll arrive on campus as a history major.
Once you’ve decided what you want to major in or what program you want to pursue and 1-3 educational or professional goals, it’s time to start writing. We always encourage students to start supplements with a ‘hook’ — a moment, scene, exchange, or insight that draws the reader into your supplement as if it were a story, because it is.
This could be something like a moment in a course you took that is relevant to your intended major and that symbolizes why the subject is so compelling to you, like an exchange with a teacher or breakthrough in a group project. It could also be something outside of the classroom, like an experience you had in an internship, job, or simply existing in the world that similarly helped you to see that what you’re passionate about isn’t just a hobby, but a potential educational or professional path.
After you’ve opened up the supplement with a story, you want to explain really clearly what it is about the Lehigh programs you are interested in that make them your perfect fit. This cannot be vague. It must be specific, and then it must lead directly into how the specifics of the program will help you towards your goals. For example, if you want to go into pharmaceutical research (which will require graduate school), access to high-level research at Lehigh will help you towards that goal.
Close out the supplement by reiterating what you intend on pursuing and linking it back to your opening moment.
How did you first learn about Lehigh University and what motivated you to apply? (150 Words)
This is Lehigh’s second “why us.” Since you’ve already addressed your academic goals, this is an opportunity to write about what it is about the Lehigh community — clubs, athletics, culture, student community, the city of Bethlehem, or even Greek life — that has made Lehigh one of your top picks. If it isn’t your top pick, you still need to write about it as if it is. They want to feel wanted, so show that you want them!
Like with the first supplement, you need to start with a moment. You only have 150 words, but that doesn’t mean you can’t tell a (mini)tale. It could be an experience you had on campus during a visit, but for most students, the opening story that works best is focusing on an activity you do now that you could build upon or continue at Lehigh.
We believe the quality and richness of a Lehigh education lies in us being a community of individuals with diverse backgrounds, experiences, ideas and viewpoints—a community where every individual is able to bring their full selves to every conversation and everything they do. We are committed to fostering a campus experience where everyone is empowered to share a broad range of perspectives in all of our campus learning environments. With this in mind, choose one of the following prompts and respond (300 words):
Before we get into the prompts, let’s talk for a second about the intro paragraph that Lehigh appended to this supplement. As of this application cycle, colleges are no longer permitted to ask some questions that they had previously relied on heavily to diversify their student bodies. In response to this, many colleges (including Lehigh) are asking broad, open-ended questions that encourage students to write about things that they can’t ask about explicitly. The good news for you as an applicant is that they want to know you — so show them who you are! Pick the prompt below that helps you do that best.
1. What would you want to be different in your own community (local, school, religious, academic, etc.) or the broader global community to further principles of equality or equity?
We love this prompt, but we also want you to be careful with this prompt. A teenager on a soap box is cute until it isn’t, and it’s hard to know exactly where that tipping point is when you don’t know who you’re speaking to (i.e., you don’t know the people who will be reading your application). The best way to make this prompt work for you is to speak about your own community. By keeping your answer close to home, wherever your home may be, you can tell a personal story that is the equivalent of stepping off of the soap box and sitting down to have a conversation. You can then link this personal story — which could be something that happened to you, to your family, to a friend, or that is prevalent in your community — to bigger themes related to equality and equity. Bonus points if you are actively engaged in addressing whatever issue you focus on through advocacy, community service, or other work.
2. What factors have most shaped who you are and what you believe today? You might discuss an obstacle that you have overcome or an experience that has inspired you.
This is another really solid prompt, but the open-endedness of it can be overwhelming for students and cause them to discount it before even taking a stab at an answer. We get it — “who even am I and what do I even believe?” is a tough place to start from. We still ask ourselves those questions on a daily basis, and surely weren’t able to answer confidently when we were in high school. Instead of trying to sum up your entire conception of the meaning of life in 300 words, let’s zoom in on a particular aspect of who you are and what you believe instead of trying to capture the whole picture. Pick one corner of your lived reality to focus in on here. It could be something deeply personal to your daily experience, like a learning difference that causes you to see the world differently than your peers, or it could be something like a particular faith background or belief system. Maybe your family writes an annual constitution that you all agree to live by for the next 365 days, or you have a special relationship with your best friend that goes beyond being buds. Whatever you pick must be able to be framed within a story with a beginning, middle, and end, and a compelling narrative arc.
3. Share with us a part of your personal background, perspective, experience or academic interest that has shaped you as a person and that would uniquely add to the Lehigh community
This is your last option, but it’s really not all that different from the two prompts that preceded it except that it’s even broader in its framing. Here, you could technically write about just about anything as long as you can relate it to the Lehigh community. We don’t dislike this prompt, but it isn’t as exciting for us as options 1 and 2, so we encourage students to try out the earlier ones before — and only if necessary — giving this one a shot. If you do choose this prompt, remember that the story rule still applies. You also won’t want to spend more than ¼ of the supplement talking about how you’ll contribute to Lehigh. They know what clubs and resources they offer. They want to see that you do, too, but they don’t need you to reeducate them on their extracurriculars.
The Lehigh supplement is an amazing opportunity to develop stories and narrative threads that will aid you throughout your college application process, so we often recommend students who are considering Lehigh to do this supplement first. By getting the stories on paper and the narrative arcs hammered out, you’re setting yourself up for college application success!
If you’re struggling to come up with stories for the Lehigh application, send us an email. We help students craft acceptance-earning essays.