It seems to me from reading this thread that another factor considered–in addition to demonstrated interest-- in all these waitlistings of top stat students who have ivy caliber creds is the student’s financial profile. I don’t believe that Lehigh is need-blind in admissons. It has to pick and choose which students it wants to and is able to provide need-based aid for–a students’ desired major and the needs of the school in filling out a well rounded class come into play here. I would suspect that there are not too many full pay ivy caliber high stat students waitlisted if those students expressed sufficient recent (within the last year) demonstrated interest by visiting the campus and getting in touch with the local regional admissons officer in further demonstration of such interest.
@chipperd
Agree…my son was Waitlisted at LeHigh. We visited and he hesitated applying bc he didn’t love it…but he knew the engineering school was excellent and would revisit if he needed to.
My son was offered WL and/or potential January enrollment. Anyone else receive that offer?
@fingers_crossed40 Congratulations on the better offer! I totally get that.
I don’t understand the concern about not having a four-year guarantee. In my mind, the Lehigh guarantee to meet 100% of demonstrated need is more valuable.
No one thinks it will be them, but many families have unexpected financial problems: a primary breadwinner is unexpectedly killed, becomes disabled, or gets cancer. If that happens, Lehigh is committed to meeting 100% of the need and pay the entire cost if needed to get students in those families through school. They are treating their students like family. Yes, if you win the lottery you will have to pay more, but who cares? I would be glad to pay more in that situation so the student whose family has had misfortune can finish their degree.
@ayutrzi I don’t work for Lehigh and can’t speak to your specific situation. I would call them tomorrow and ask them. Hopefully, it can be resolved.
@Much2learn totally. It’s just that the other schools filled the demonstrated need with dollars, not loans as Lehigh did. Loans for an already family in need just makes another hardship.
Those who had strong academics etc but rejected or waitlisted, please read your or your kids prompt/essay for Lehigh. Did they write it as Lehigh was their first choice? Did they pay the same attention as they were applying to their first choice Ivy? Instead of looking at it as 2/3 rejected, look at it as 1/3 wrote it as if it was their first choice. And, no I do not mean, did they write it as please accept me, Lehigh is my first choice and yes you are such a great school. Instead, did they do sufficient research about the program they are applying and then write about how such program applies to their interests, how they can grow under such program and professors, what they can do with it to help the Lehigh community, society and the world overall? I have near perfect or perfect SAT, GPA, this and that so let me just apply and write a canned essay will not get you in.
@my5kiddos “My son was offered WL and/or potential January enrollment. Anyone else receive that offer?”
That is interesting. I am not aware of Lehigh offering deferrals in the past, but many schools do, and it makes sense, especially for engineering. All engineering schools have some students who change to an easier major after the first semester, which means that there are going to be places available in engineering.
oof what did i miss that 16 posts were deleted guys? :’) geez
@MESMES well, yes. Lehigh admits students who want to enroll at Lehigh, or who fill our the class in some specific way, just like any school. @muchtolearn said it much more eloquently; it’s not personal and all about a targeted class that will enroll. I am sure you will have excellent news to share with the CC community when all the decisions are in.
And to the other posters about January admits – students will transfer out after the first semester for any number of reasons not necessarily related to intended major. My student had a hall mate transfer out after first semester to be closer to home.
@trackmbe3 You said: I would suspect that there are not too many full pay ivy caliber high stat students waitlisted if those students expressed sufficient recent (within the last year) demonstrated interest by visiting the campus
Not sure if my daughter is Ivy-Caliber but she’s pretty dang good - she was in the =/>1500 SAT group of which 2/3 were not accepted - your supposition of denial if there is an aid requirement does not apply - we’d be full pay (not that I could ‘full pay’ without a second mortgage)
Got waitlisted.
GPA: 3.98 (w)
SAT : 1520
Major : comp. sci.
I know a lot of people have been asking about merit based award notifications. These awards are typically offered/communicated with the acceptance offers although Lehigh’s web site doesn’t explicitly indicate how this process is handled. I’ve only seen one acceptance on this thread who indicated they received merit aid ( Trustees’ Scholarship). This seems unusually low so maybe others will be offered with the snail male acceptance letter.
Whatever one’s admissions decision, I don’t think it’s worth spending too much time figuring out why the adcomms make the decisions as they do. In many cases they are looking for very specific attributes in making up a class and fortunately/unfortunately stats are only one component of the holistic process. In many cases the student/family has no control over this. With that said, some decision compared to other schools make absolutely no sense. I’ve seen posts from this thread from WL kids, one who was admitted to JHU and another who received full Banneker Key Scholarship from UMD-both very difficult to get. Case Western rejected an applicant who was accepted into MIT-with its 6.75% admit rate-that’s really a head scratcher.
Lastly, Lehigh isn’t necessarily known for their overly generous financial aid-it’s solid but not at the level of the Ivies or other well-endowed institutions. However, they do offer full need and also offer loan reduction for mid and lower income families. However, remember what Lehigh considers to be a family’s EFC (which is used to determine full need) may be quite different that that of the Ivies, etc. The top-top schools aren’t so competitive strictly due to their stature/academics, but they also offer the most money, in many cases the award packages from these schools can be over 50% greater than what Lehigh or similar schools can offer. If middle income family/applicant is lucky enough to get into an Ivy with a a 50k/year grant vs 35k/year from Lehigh I suspect I know which school they and their parents will choose.
@sunflowerlover I’m guessing it was that that nonsense between antoshk and mrelonmusk last night and this morning
@MESMES I really wasted my time on all those now deleted posts. I was trying to make a point that didn’t register. Sorry you all had to go through that.
@MESMES is exactly right. This is a game. They all want to increase their rankings and/or the perception of their selectivity. U Chicago is an EXCELLENT example and one I often think of in this game. They now suddenly offer EDI, EDII, and EA. And you don’t have to send your scores unless you are admitted. They are making it easier to apply. Wash U also does this…tons of mailings from both of them, and Wash U has no supplement so if you already filled out the common ap, what’s another 75 bucks? Hit send to Wash U!!! Chicago has lots of essays but they have always had those…the new application options there are already an attempt to maintain their very high rank.
Yield protection is a real phenomenon in the world of admissions. Some schools should get a lot of credit for not caving into some of the other games being played like adding all of the new admissions options. (For example, Villanova added ED…Georgetown, Notre Dame, and Boston College still only have REA and say they will not cave in to the pressure of adding ED…).
@MESMES for the record I completely agree with you that it’s not right or fair to the students with those high stats. But it’s a reality.
Add that to Tulane’s and Rice’s love of sending fee wavers. It’s all seems that colleges just want to be more elite and drop their acceptance rates.
@Pianomonster20 said “It’s all seems that colleges just want to be more elite and drop their acceptance rates.”
Well. Known. Fact.
From 7 years ago:
@higheredmom Thanks - I am happy that my daughter HAS had excellent news from great schools including being in the company of 250 out of 30,000 applicants for this gem: http://www.bannekerkey.umd.edu/bkinformation.html
@MESMES I am totally understanding of your response to this process, and you have put your finger on the pulse of much of what is so very wrong with it, and with the personal concern for your daughter. The villain in all of this is US News rankings, a magazine that no longer even exists… only it’s rankings legacy. The methodology of that system, with all its shortcomings, has created consumers obsessed with selectivity and yield (as a proxy for quality… which, it isn’t), and colleges having to answer to boards wanting quantitative results… more apps, higher ranks, higher yield, higher scores, etc. etc…
Of course, when it’s your kid, only that result/event matters. But keeping the bigger picture in mind, it’s not really personal, it’s business… a business with two sides… consumer-driven demand for ranking/prestige/brand/selectivity, and institutional interests to meet that demand, meet the demands internally, etc. In your case, it appears a determination was made that even with 1/4 or 1/2 tuition merit aid, your family would be more likely to take full aid to a flagship State U honors program… maybe true… even if not… 7/10 families would do so, so that drives the process. As earlier poster noted, MIT admit was not admitted to Case Western… that’s all you need to know. In any case, sounds like your kid will succeed wherever she goes.