A record number of high school students applied to Lehigh to be part of its Class of 2028, up 11% from the previous year.
It is the second consecutive year of record applications. Lehigh received 20,396 applications, compared to 18,415 applications for the Class of 2027. It also marks a nearly 35% increase in applications from two years ago, when applications numbered 15,160.
Notably, Lehigh saw a 32% increase in applications from its two Early Decision rounds over the previous year, which indicates that those students had declared Lehigh as their first choice among colleges and universities.
“It is incredibly gratifying that not only are more and more students choosing to apply to Lehigh, but that an even faster-growing population are the students who are making Lehigh their first-choice,” said Dan Warner, vice provost for admissions and financial aid.
Among admitted students, 357 students qualified for the Lehigh Commitment, which means that Lehigh will provide those students with a full tuition grant. To expand access to a Lehigh education, Lehigh committed to providing full tuition grants to all admitted and current undergraduate students from families with a household income of less than $75,000, beginning in Fall 2024.
“Lehigh sits at the intersection of excellence, access and affordability, and that word is being heard loudly and clearly among prospective students,” Warner said. "And the Lehigh Commitment has served to underscore the affordability message this year.”
The admitted students come from 49 states, plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, and 65 countries.
The admitted members of the Class of 2028 include:
- A student who founded "Girls who Code" at her high school
- A member of the Colorado Youth Congress who is implementing a comprehensive sex education pilot program in Colorado's largest charter school network.
- A student who traveled to Germany and completed an internship in process engineering and cybernetics
- A student who leads Feeding Philly, a non-profit that raised more than $7,500, organized over 200 workshops, recruited 500 volunteers, served over 1,500 families, and repurposed 2,500 pounds of food
- A student who led a grassroots regional water testing campaign initiated by the Local Watershed Coalition and Research Center
- A published novelist
- A six-time female national wrestling champion and three-time world medalist
- A Parliamentary Member/junior intern for Italian Parliament
- A Safe2Tell ambassador who advocates for mental health
Over the past two years, Lehigh had a nearly 500% increase in the number of merit scholarships of $15,000 a year or more offered to students from Lehigh Valley high schools, Warner said. That includes eight full-tuition merit scholarships this past year.
