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Lehigh  /  Essays  /  Prompt 2

Lehigh: Why Lehigh

200 words

How did you first learn about Lehigh University and what motivated you to apply?
What it’s really asking

This is Lehigh's 'why us' essay in disguise. It wants the real origin of your interest and the genuine reasons you decided to apply, not a ranked list of features.

Why they ask it

By asking how you first learned about Lehigh, the prompt invites an honest story and filters out copy-paste answers. Admissions readers can tell when a student actually connects to the place versus when they pasted in the school's name.

Three ways in
Start at the first moment

Open with the literal moment you first heard of Lehigh: a visit, a person, a game, a program.

Move to specifics

Go from that origin to one or two concrete things that turned curiosity into commitment.

Connect it back to you

Tie what drew you in to something about yourself, so fit is shown, not just the school described.

✕  Weak opening

“I first learned about Lehigh University when I was researching top-ranked schools with strong programs in my field.”

✓  Strong opening

“My cousin came home from Lehigh talking about a class held on a literal mountaintop, and I did not believe her until I looked it up.”

✦ Annotated example · Found Lehigh through a robotics mentor. Written by EssayLens to teach, not a real applicant’s essay. Tap a highlighted line →
I learned about Lehigh from Maria, the engineering student who coached my high school robotics team on Tuesday nights.1She graduated from Lehigh in mechanical engineering, and she fixed our drivetrain with a kind of calm, hands-on confidence I had never seen before. When I asked where she got that, she said her professors made her build things in week one, not junior year.2That stuck with me, so I started looking past her. I went to a virtual session on the Mountaintop summer program, where students chase open-ended projects without a predetermined answer for ten weeks.3I'm the kind of person who tinkers until 1 a.m. and then can't explain to my parents what I was even solving.4Mountaintop is built for exactly that itch, and few schools its size hand students that much unstructured runway. The more I read, the more it felt less like a brochure and more like a description of how I already work.What finally motivated me to apply was realizing that Maria's confidence wasn't a personality trait. It was a habit Lehigh built into her, one drivetrain and one Mountaintop summer at a time, and I want it built into me too.5
  1. 1Answers the literal first half of the prompt (how you learned about Lehigh) with a specific, human, non-generic origin story.
  2. 2Uses a credible detail (building things week one) that reflects something real about Lehigh's hands-on culture, showing motivation rooted in evidence.
  3. 3Shows the applicant moved from a personal tip to independent research on a specific named program, demonstrating real diligence.
  4. 4Reveals genuine joy and a self-aware personality quirk, which Lehigh explicitly rewards.
  5. 5Lands the motivation on a specific, earned insight that ties the personal origin back to a concrete Lehigh experience.
Stuck? Start here
  • What was the literal first moment Lehigh entered your life?
  • What specific thing turned your curiosity into a decision to apply?
  • What about you makes that thing a genuine fit rather than a nice feature?
Before you submit
  • Did you start with a real origin moment rather than a rankings sentence?
  • Did you name something specific to Lehigh?
  • Does the essay reveal something about you, not just the school?

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