Admission and Deposit

Lehigh is a partner of the Common Application and Coalition Application for both first-year and transfer applicants.  Deadlines, admission plans, and required application documents are on the Application Requirements page.  Any additional or missing documents should be submitted through a prospective student's application account with the application format they choose. If you experience any issues or have questions, please check our FAQs first; if you still have questions, please contact the Office of Admissions at admissions@lehigh.edu or 610-758-3100.

Once your application is submitted, a confirmation email will be sent to the email address you designated in the application.  Due to its eventual expiration, the Office of Admissions discourages students from using a school-related email address on the application for admission.  For all questions, please contact the Office of Admissions at admissions@lehigh.edu or (610) 758-3100. In your email, please include your full name, address, and date of birth provided in the application.

SUBJECT MATTER REQUIREMENTS

The coursework or units required for admission represent the equivalent of the usual four-year college preparatory curriculum. Minimum coursework requirements can be misleading since most students who gain admission to Lehigh University exceed the minimum requirements. Below you will find the minimum requirements as well as recommended coursework.

Minimum Requirements

English: 4
Foreign Languages¹: 2
Social Science: 2
Laboratory Science: 2
College Preparatory Mathematics²: 3

Recommended coursework

¹  For otherwise well-qualified candidates, the Committee on Admissions will waive the Foreign Language requirement for admission to any one of the four undergraduate colleges.

² We recommend that candidates for admission to the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering & Applied Science and the College of Business pursue a math curriculum that includes calculus.

While there are many elements that contribute to Lehigh’s holistic application review, the Committee on Admissions will be aware of things such as (in no particular order):

• The difficulty of courses taken with special attention given to courses recognized as accelerated by national academic organizations
• Rank or relative rank in class
• The student’s grades within the context of the school's environment 
• Evidence of improvement or deterioration in grades during the secondary school career with particular attention paid to performance in senior year courses
• The quality of performance in courses that relate to the student’s anticipated area of study
• Comments and recommendations from the principal, headmaster, guidance counselor, teachers, or other professional educators within the school system
• Extra-curricular/work experience with particular emphasis placed on demonstrated leadership
• Demonstrated interest in Lehigh University

• The student’s writing through their essay and other submitted written responses

• Test scores, if provided for consideration by the student

Admissions decisions are final and will be posted online via the Applicant Portal for each student. All admitted students are expected to meet or exceed the level of academic performance through graduation that contributed to their acceptance.  An admitted student in Regular Decision may secure a place in the entering class by submitting the appropriate non-refundable enrollment deposit via the Lehigh Portal by May 1.  A student admitted through either binding Early Decision round must submit the non-refundable enrollment deposit by the date indicated in their acceptance letter.  In addition, Early Decision accepted students are required to submit an admissions form verifying that active applications to other colleges and universities have been withdrawn. The enrollment deposit is applicable towards the fall-term bill.  If an accepted student chooses to decline admission after submitting an enrollment deposit, the deposit will be forfeited, and the student's application will be closed.