Lehigh University supplemental essays
Lehigh University asks for two supplemental essays in 2026-27, plus more depending on your college or program. Common App. Personal statement required (250-650 words).
Early Decision closes November 1, 2026, Early Decision II closes January 1, 2027 and Regular Decision closes January 1, 2027. The prompts carry these limits: 200 words, 150 words. Every Lehigh University prompt is printed on this page in full, with its word limit and who has to answer it.
Deadlines
| Round | Date |
|---|---|
| Early Decision | November 1, 2026 |
| Early Decision II | January 1, 2027 |
| Regular Decision | January 1, 2027 |
Checked against blog.collegevine.com/how-to-write-the-lehigh-university-essays. Confirm on the college’s own page before you submit.
The essays, 2026-27
These are last year’s questions.
Lehigh publishes no prompt text. admissions.lehigh.edu says only "Common Application or Coalition Application with Lehigh Questions and Writing Supplement"; the questions live inside the application. The wording below is from essay guides and is last cycle. The program-specific variants especially need checking in the application itself. Checked again 2026-08-29 on the college own site.
Required · 200 words
How did you first learn about Lehigh University and what motivated you to apply?
Both publishers agree on wording and the 200-word limit.
Short answer. Paste it on the homepage and we will read it.
Required · 200 words
At Lehigh, we believe in pausing to celebrate the good—meaningful moments that bring joy, pride or motivation. What’s something great happening in your life right now? It could be an accomplishment, a personal win (big or small) or something you’re genuinely excited about. If it matters to you, we’d love to hear about it.
Both publishers agree on wording and the 200-word limit. This is a newer prompt; a naive guess would give Lehigh's older "community"/"how will you thrive" question instead.
Short answer. Paste it on the homepage and we will read it.
Required (this is the College of Arts and Sciences / College of Business version; special-program applicants get a different question in this slot instead, see below) · 200 words
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?
The wording depends on the program you selected on the application.
Short answer. Paste it on the homepage and we will read it.
Required (5-year dual degree Arts-Engineering applicants only; replaces the general program question) · not stated by the source (no word count given for this variant)
How will the 5-year dual degree Arts-Engineering program, which requires a major in both the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Engineering, allow you to achieve your educational or professional goals?*
College Essay Guy reproduces the asterisk. Only one program-fit question is answered per applicant.
Get a free read on this essayPaste your draft, see the verdict before you pay.No draft yet? Pick a topic for this promptRequired (Computer Science & Business applicants only; replaces the general program question) · 150 words
What makes the Computer Science and Business (CSB) program the best fit for your academic and/or professional goals?
Short answer. Paste it on the homepage and we will read it.
Required (IDEAS Honors Program applicants only; replaces the general program question) · 150 words
What makes the Integrated Degree in Engineering, Arts & Sciences (IDEAS) Honors Program the best fit for your academic and/or professional goals?
Short answer. Paste it on the homepage and we will read it.
Required (IBE Honors Program applicants only; replaces the general program question) · 150 words
What makes the Integrated Business & Engineering (IBE) Honors Program the best fit for your academic and/or professional goals?
Short answer. Paste it on the homepage and we will read it.
Required (Integrated Business and Health applicants only; replaces the general program question) · not stated by the source (no word count given for this variant)
What makes the Integrated Business & Health (IBH) Program the best fit for your academic and/or professional goals?
Get a free read on this essayPaste your draft, see the verdict before you pay.No draft yet? Pick a topic for this prompt
Your Lehigh University checklist
Two supplements, all required. The first deadline, Early Decision, is November 1, 2026.
- Common App personal statementRequired250-650 words
- Supplement 1Required200 words
- Supplement 2Required200 words
- 6 program-specific promptsOnly if you apply to the college or program it names. All printed in full above.
It saves these rows to your essay manager, where each one carries a status you set yourself and the prompt stays attached to it. Add your other schools and they land on the same page, in deadline order. Nothing written yet? The topic quiz is free as well.
Free: this page, the checklist, the essay manager and the topic quiz. Paid: a written review of a finished draft, $49 an essay.
Paste your essay for a free read
Have it in a document? or drop one here (Word, PDF, or Text).
Not sure what a review is? What an AI college essay review can and cannot do, and what a college essay grader leaves out. What the read checks against Lehigh University’s own prompts is on the Lehigh University essay review page.
Getting into Lehigh University
Lehigh University admits 25.9% of applicants. The middle 50% of enrolled students scored 1370-1500 on the SAT and 31-34 on the ACT.
About 1 in 4 applicants are admitted, at a college of 5,898 undergraduates.
| Enrolled students | 25th | Median | 75th |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAT total | 1370 | 1440 | 1500 |
| SAT reading and writing | 680 | 710 | 730 |
| SAT math | 690 | 730 | 770 |
| ACT composite | 31 | 32 | 34 |
What SAT score do you need for Lehigh University?
A 1500 puts you in the top quarter of the students who enrolled, a 1440 at their midpoint, and a 1370 at the bottom quarter, meaning one in four enrolled students scored below it. The same three points on the ACT are 31, 32 and 34. A quarter of an enrolled class scoring under the 25th percentile is not a rounding error, so a score below the range is a reason to strengthen the rest of the application rather than a reason not to apply.
US Department of Education, College Scorecard (2026-09-17). Percentiles describe students who enrolled, not everyone admitted. SAT totals are the reading and math bands added together, which is how every source in this market reports them and is an approximation of about 10 to 20 points, because the two sections are correlated.
- What SAT score do you need for Lehigh University?
- Lehigh University sets no minimum. Among students who enrolled, the middle 50% scored 1370-1500 on the SAT: a 1370 sits at the 25th percentile, 1440 at the median and 1500 at the 75th. A score at or above 1500 is a clear strength in the application; below 1370 it is the part of the file the rest has to make up for. These are the figures Lehigh University reports to the US Department of Education, released in the College Scorecard of 2026-09-17.
- What ACT score do you need for Lehigh University?
- The middle 50% of enrolled students scored 31-34 on the ACT, with a composite of 32 at the median. There is no cutoff: a quarter of the enrolled class scored below 31. Reported by Lehigh University to the US Department of Education, College Scorecard release of 2026-09-17.
- What GPA do you need for Lehigh University?
- The honest answer is that the federal data behind this page does not contain one. Colleges report their admit rate and their enrolled students' test scores to the Department of Education; they do not report a GPA distribution, so any site quoting an exact average GPA for Lehigh University is either reading that college's own Common Data Set or estimating. What the reported data does say is that Lehigh University admits 25.9% of applicants, and the more selective a college is, the closer to the top of the class its admitted students sit and the more the strength of your course load counts alongside the number itself.
- How hard is it to get into Lehigh University?
- Lehigh University admits 25.9% of the people who apply, which is about 1 in 4 applicants. Numbers inside the reported range put you in a real position here, and the application itself decides the rest.
What Lehigh University costs after grant aid, by family income, from the same federal data.
Sort your whole college list into reaches, targets and likelies, or find colleges that fit your GPA and test scores. Both are free and neither needs an account.
Lehigh University essay questions, answered
- Does Lehigh University have supplemental essays?
- Yes. Lehigh University asks for two supplemental essays in 2026-27, plus more depending on your college or program. Every prompt is printed in full on this page. Word limits: 200 words, 150 words.
- How many essays do you write for Lehigh University in 2026-27?
- Two supplements, plus the Common App personal statement. Some applicants write more, depending on the college or program.
Schools with similar admit rates
Lehigh University admits 25.9% of applicants. The colleges either side of it in our set by admit rate, most selective first, each with its own prompts and deadlines: Reed College (24.6%), Spelman College (24.9%), Pitzer College (25.2%), University of Texas at Austin (26.6%), Villanova University (27.0%), Franklin & Marshall College (28.2%).