I got waitlisted from Lehigh University. What should I do now?

If Lehigh University just placed you on the waitlist, you are in a position with more upside than you might expect. Unlike many schools in this selectivity range, Lehigh explicitly states that its admissions process is designed to use the waitlist and that the university intends to offer admission to students from it. That language matters. It tells you that Lehigh builds its enrollment model with the expectation that the waitlist will be activated in most years.

The historical data is among the most volatile in the landscape of elite private universities. In the pandemic-disrupted cycle for the Class of 2024, nearly 90% of waitlisted applicants were ultimately admitted, an extraordinary number driven by massive yield uncertainty. The following year, for the Class of 2025, that figure plummeted to about 5%. For the Class of 2019, Lehigh did not dip into its waitlist at all. Those swings are the direct product of yield volatility at a school that admits roughly 5,300 students to fill a class of about 1,300, producing a yield rate that has hovered around 28% in recent years. When yield comes in below projections, even by a small margin, the waitlist moves significantly. When yield holds, the list barely stirs. Lehigh cannot predict yield in advance, and neither can you. But the institutional language that the process is designed to use the waitlist is a meaningful signal that movement is the norm rather than the exception.

Accept your spot on the waitlist through your Applicant Portal by the response deadline noted in your portal. If you do not accept by that date, you will not be considered for additional offers. The waitlist is not ranked. Do this immediately. There is no positional advantage to timing your response, but failure to respond means you are out. You can also accept waitlist spots at multiple institutions simultaneously.

Commit to another school before May 1. Lehigh states directly that you should commit to one college by the deposit deadline and notes that you will likely not receive a final notice from them until after that date. Put down your deposit at another school and invest in it genuinely. If Lehigh later offers you admission, you can accept, withdraw from the other institution, and forfeit the earlier deposit. But you need a landing pad before May 1.

Email your regional admissions counselor with a letter of continued interest. Lehigh's waitlist FAQ is explicit about this: the best course of action is to connect directly with your regional counselor via email, and they welcome updates on grades, achievements, or continued interest. Additional recommendation letters and interviews are not available, so your email is your primary vehicle. Use it fully.

Your letter should be up to 650 words and should function as a love letter to Lehigh. Not a resume recitation. Not a brag sheet. Not a list of other schools that admitted you. A letter that makes your regional admissions counselor understand exactly who you will be on Lehigh's campus and why this university specifically is where your academic and personal goals come together.

Engage with Lehigh's distinctive identity directly. The first pillar is the combination of an R1 research institution with only about 5,900 undergraduates and a 10:1 student-faculty ratio. That combination is rare. If the ability to work on serious research while receiving genuine faculty mentorship is meaningful to you, say so and name specific faculty, labs, or programs. The second is Lehigh's intercollegiate degree structures: Computer Science and Business, Integrated Business and Engineering, Integrated Business and Health, and the Integrated Degree in Engineering, Arts and Sciences. These are not just double majors. They are integrated curricula drawing from multiple colleges simultaneously. If one of these programs is a core reason Lehigh is on your list, make that explicit and explain how it connects to the work you want to do. The third is the applied, hands-on orientation. Nearly all Lehigh students complete an internship or co-op during their undergraduate years. The Baker Institute for Entrepreneurship, Creativity, and Innovation supports student founders. The P.C. Rossin College of Engineering offers cooperative education programs that provide eight months of work experience within a four-year degree. If your profile is built around building things, launching things, or solving real problems, that is the language Lehigh speaks. The fourth is the residential community itself. Lehigh is a residential university where 98% of first-year students live on campus and the culture is consistently described as collaborative rather than cutthroat. If this resonates with you, ground it in specifics: the themed housing options like Global Village or Humanities House, specific student organizations, traditions like the Lehigh-Lafayette rivalry, or the Mountaintop research experience. Generic praise of the close-knit community will not distinguish you from the other students on the waitlist writing the same sentence.

Do not brag and do not list your accomplishments. If you have genuinely significant new achievements to share, include them briefly as context, but the heart of the letter should be the portrait you paint of yourself on Lehigh's campus. When you show the admissions officer a vivid picture of you contributing to a specific lab, taking a specific set of courses, or participating in a specific program, you become someone they want to advocate for. Submit the letter promptly. The primacy effect matters.
One strategic detail that distinguishes Lehigh from many peer institutions: Lehigh explicitly rates demonstrated interest as important in its admissions process. This is one of the few selective universities where your engagement with the school is formally weighted in evaluation. For waitlisted students, this means your letter and any communication with your regional counselor are not just supplementary. They are part of the evaluation itself. An admissions office that tracks demonstrated interest will notice if your letter reads like it was written by someone who has never thought seriously about Lehigh beyond seeing it on a ranking list. Make sure your letter conveys genuine, well-informed interest grounded in specifics that only apply to Lehigh.