Lehigh University Overview
Lehigh University is a private not-for-profit institution situated in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The surrounding area of the school is a good match for students who enjoy city life.
What Is Lehigh University Known For?
- Lehigh has an impressive student to faculty ratio of 9 to 1.
- The student loan default rate at Lehigh is 1%, which is significantly lower than the national rate of 10.1%. That's great news for students who are worrying about paying off their student loans.
- The highest award offered at Lehigh is the doctor's degree.
- For the 2019-2020 academic year, 87% of the faculty were full-time.
- A student who earns a bachelor's degree from Lehigh makes roughly $95,033 a year. This is 133% more than their peers from other colleges and universities.
- On average, it takes about 4.1 years for students from Lehigh to earn a bachelor's degree. This is excellent when compared to the average of 4.4 years.
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Lehigh University Rankings
According to our 2023 analysis, Lehigh is ranked #27 out of 2,018 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality. This lands it a coveted spot in the top 5% of all colleges and universities in the country. Lehigh also holds the #6 spot on the Best Colleges in Pennsylvania ranking.
These rankings may look different from those published by other outlets, because we use an outcomes-based approach rather than a subjective one. We get our data from a number of places, including the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard. For more information, check out our rankings and methodology page.
Lehigh has also been awarded the following overall awards by our latest rankings.
Rank | Ranking Name | Share |
---|---|---|
#23 | Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools | Tweet It - Post It |
#35 | Best Doctor’s Degree Schools | Tweet It - Post It |
#39 | Best Master’s Degree Schools | Tweet It - Post It |
#79 | Best Graduate Certificate Schools | Tweet It - Post It |
Program Level Awards
These are highlights of some of the most noteworthy awards granted to specific programs at Lehigh.
Awards From Around the Web
The following table lists some notable awards Lehigh has earned from around the web.
Rank | Ranking Name | Source |
---|---|---|
#5 | Best Accounting Schools | College Factual |
#6 | Best Marketing Schools | College Factual |
#11 | Best Biological & Biomedical Sciences Graduate Degree Schools | College Factual |
#20 | Best Business Schools | Business Degree Central |
#21 | Best Business, Management & Marketing Schools | College Factual |
#48 | Best Education Graduate Degree Schools | College Factual |
Where Is Lehigh University?

Contact details for Lehigh are given below.
Contact Details | |
---|---|
Address: | 27 Memorial Drive West, Bethlehem, PA 18015 |
Phone: | 610-758-3000 |
Website: | www.lehigh.edu |
Facebook: | https://www.facebook.com/lehighu |
Twitter: | https://twitter.com/lehighu |
How Do I Get Into Lehigh?
You can apply to Lehigh online at: www1.lehigh.edu/admissions/undergrad/apply
Admission Requirements for Lehigh
Submission | Required? |
---|---|
High School GPA | recommended |
High School Rank | neither required nor recommended |
High School Transcript | required |
College Prep Program | recommended |
Recommendations | required |
SAT or ACT Scores | considered but not required |
TOEFL | recommended |
How Hard Is It To Get Into Lehigh?
Approximately 52% of accepted students are men and 48% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 46%, and the acceptance rate for women is 54%.
Average Test Scores
About 70% of students accepted to Lehigh submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 610 and 693. Math scores were between 650 and 740.
Can I Afford Lehigh University?
The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.
Student Loan Debt
While almost two-thirds of students nationwide take out loans to pay for college, the percentage may be quite different for the school you plan on attending. At Lehigh, approximately 40% of students took out student loans averaging $8,803 a year. That adds up to $35,212 over four years for those students.
The student loan default rate at Lehigh is 0.7%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.
Lehigh University Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are also 1,864 graduate students at the school.
Gender Diversity
Of the 5,070 full-time undergraduates at Lehigh, 53% are male and 47% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity
The racial-ethnic breakdown of Lehigh University students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity | Number of Grads |
---|---|
Asian | 410 |
Black or African American | 229 |
Hispanic or Latino | 486 |
White | 3,113 |
International Students | 473 |
Other Races/Ethnicities | 359 |
Geographic Diversity
Pennsylvania students aren't the only ones who study at Lehigh University. At this time, 37 states are represented by the student population at the school.
Over 89 countries are represented at Lehigh. The most popular countries sending students to the school are China, India, and Iran.
Online Learning at Lehigh University
The following chart shows how the online learning population at Lehigh has changed over the last few years.

This school is the 100th most popular in Pennsylvania for online learning according to the online graduations recorded by the Department of Education for the academic year 2019-2020.
Online Affordability Rankings of Lehigh
During the most recent year for which we have data, the full-time undergraduate tuition at Lehigh University was $55,260 for both in-state and out-of-state students. The following table shows how Lehigh is ranked for affordability for both in-state and out-of-state students among colleges and universities that are not mostly online.
Major | Tuition for In-State Students | Tuition for Out-of-State Students |
---|---|---|
Polymer & Plastics Engineering | #4 | #4 |
International Education | #4 | #4 |
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology | #7 | #7 |
Chemistry | #13 | #13 |
Manufacturing Engineering | #19 | #19 |
Entrepreneurial Studies | #27 | #27 |
Physical Sciences | #30 | #30 |
International Business | #43 | #43 |
Biological & Biomedical Sciences | #46 | #46 |
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods | #61 | #61 |
Industrial Engineering | #66 | #66 |
Online Growth Rankings of Lehigh
The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at Lehigh University was 9.6%. This is the #1,410 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at Lehigh regardless of major.
The following table shows the 1-year growth rate of Lehigh majors that offer at least one online course. This table only includes majors with positive growth.
Major | 1-Year Growth Rate |
---|---|
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology | 24% |
Psychology | 16% |
When we speak of partially online, we are referring to schools whose online population is less than 50% of its total student body. Mostly online refers to those with online populations greater than or equal to 50%.
Lehigh University Undergraduate Concentrations
The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.
References
*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.
- College Factual
- National Center for Education Statistics
- Image Credit: By IR393DEME under License
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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