An unfortunate reality of the college admissions process can be deferrals, or worse, rejections. These results can happen even when students feel like they had the strongest application with the best grades and test scores possible. 

Just like the other Regular Decision Applicants, students who were deferred from Lehigh University’s Class of 2030 will hear back about their application by April 1st. That can feel like a really long time to wait, especially for students who applied early, hoping to finish the admissions process and just enjoy the rest of their senior year. But in between deferral and Regular Decision applications, there is plenty students can be doing to put themselves in a good spot for the rest of the college admissions process. 

What Percentage of Early Decision I and Early Decision II Applicants Does Lehigh Typically Defer?

Lehigh University offers both Early Decision I and Early Decision II, and of course, Regular Decision. They do not offer Early Action, so students should only apply to Lehigh University Early if they are certain they’d want to commit if accepted. The school website notes that, “Admission rates to Lehigh vary from year to year based on the competitiveness of the applicant pool. There is no clear indication of your chances of admission after being deferred; however, nearly every year, Lehigh admits some students who have been deferred.”

Lehigh University EDI, EDII and, RD Acceptance Rate

Lehigh University’s acceptance rate for the Class of 2028 was 25.9%. They have not yet released their acceptance rate statistics for the Class of 2029. 

Admissions Cycle	Lehigh University Class Year	Early Decision I and II Admission Rate	Regular Decision Admission Rate
2025-2026	Class of 2030	Not Reported	Not Reported
2024-2025	Class of 2029	Not Reported	Not Reported
2023-2024	Class of 2028	45.3%	25.9%
2022-2023	Class of 2027	52.7%	29.3%
2021-2022	Class of 2026	66.0%	37.0%
2020-2021	Class of 2025	70.4%	46.0%
2019-2020	Class of 2024	72.7%	49.5%
2018-2019	Class of 2023	66.3%	32.1%
2017-2018	Class of 2022	60.3%	22.3%
2016-2017	Class of 2021	59.9%	25.2%
2015-2016	Class of 2020	59.9%	26.1%
2014-2015	Class of 2019	58.3%	30.4%
2013-2014	Class of 2018	62.7%	34.3%

What Percentage of Early Decision I and Early Decision II Applicants Does Lehigh University Typically Accept?

Across both their Early Decision I and Early Decision II applicants, Lehigh University had an overall Early acceptance rate of 45.3%. Out of the 2,171 students who applied Early for a spot in the Class of 2028, 984 of them were offered a spot. That acceptance rate is almost 20% higher than the Regular Decision admit rate. 

What Should Applicants Do After Being Deferred by Lehigh: PostMortem Application Review

After being deferred from Lehigh University, the best next step is to set up Ivy Coach’s PostMortem application review. 

During the PostMortem session, Ivy Coach’s counselor,  a former elite college admissions officer, will:

• Provide detailed feedback on up to three college applications. Ivy Coach’s counselor will be able to review both essay and non-essay portions of each application.
• Brainstorm a strong extracurricular hook to put a student in the most advantageous spot for admission when an admissions officer is looking at their application. That hook needs to thread through the rest of their application and differentiate them from both frenemies at their school and those students submitting from across the sea.
• Fix application mistakes. There are always mistakes. Unfortunately, no student’s first application attempt is perfect. In fact, most contain a variety of different errors. Even something seemingly small and totally insignificant can have an adverse effect on the admissions process.
• Craft a new and improved Regular Decision school list. We’re experts at spotting missing schools from a student’s list, so we add them for the Regular Decision round. Frequently, students end up attending a school that we recommended to them!

Common Mistakes Caught During Ivy Coach’s PostMortem

There are a lot of common mistakes we see in the admissions process. The ones we’ve included below aren’t all of them, certainly not. That would take far too long to write down. These are just some of the most common errors we see. Be sure to double check that your child’s application doesn’t include any of the following. 

• Their Personal Statement was about sports, music, community service, grandparents, or travel. These are our five no-no topics. 
• Their Why College essay was an identical copy of an essay for a different school. Even if they played Mad Libs with the names of classes and professors, admissions officers can tell. And it really annoys them!
• There was a dollar amount fundraised for a charitable cause included in the application. Dollar signs make the student instantly come across as unlikable to admissions officers.
• They listed out every single activity, honor, and community service hour they ever did in one essay. That feels like bragging, don’t you agree? Plus, it looks like a student is trying to impress admissions officers. Ivy Coach’s students don’t need to try to impress admissions officers. They just do.
• The whole application is too well-rounded. That hasn’t worked in many, many, many years. We’re living in modern times, and that means each application has to be singular and unique. Just think about how many of these things admissions officers are reading. Would you want to read the same thing over and over again?
• They applied to a school that they weren’t a competitive applicant at. We tell it like it is at Ivy Coach, and that means if a student’s Early choice wasn’t the right one, we’ll be honest about it.

Write a Letter of Continued Interest

A student’s Letter of Continued Interest must be a love letter to the university. You heard us right, a love letter. Not Romeo and Juliet, standing outside the balcony like a stalker, but rather, showing genuine care and interest in the school. It needs to prove to admissions officers that your child really wants a spot there, and moreso, they’d be a huge asset to the campus community during their time there.

The Letter of Continued Interest should be filled with details that show how exactly a student will contribute to the school through the power of their unique hook and perspective. How will your child make a difference in the school’s courses, culture, and campus?

That letter should catch the attention of admissions officers as quickly as possible, and every sentence should pack a punch. Your child’s hook should be clearly tied to specific aspects about the school’s environment and offerings throughout that letter.

What a Letter of Continued Interest Should Not Do

Just as well as there are Letter of Continued Interest yeses, there are also Letter of Continued Interest nos. A big no is any academic updates. That’s boring to admissions officers. It’’s a waste of space and it comes across as bragging. Bragging is unlikable. 

A Letter of Continued Interest shouldn’t start with your child’s name. Believe it or not, admissions officers don’t need that information. It takes up precious space in that one page letter that could be used in a much better way. Really, that space should be used to illustrate a clear picture of your child’s singular unique hook, showcasing how they’ll contribute their hook to the specific aspects of the school (think programs, institutes, culture, traditions, and activities).

This might be different from other advice you’ve received (and by might, we mean probably is). In that case, we’re sorry your child got a false start on drafting that letter. Hopefully, there’s still time to correct those mistakes before submitting!

When Applicants Should Submit Their Letters of Continued Interest

We recommend students submit their Letter of Continued Interest as soon as possible. That’s ideally within a few days of receiving a deferral. For example, if a student learns they are deferred on December 15th, we like students to send in their Letters of Continued Interest before December 20th.

The one time we won’t advise students to send their letter is in the day or two leading up to Christmas Eve or between Christmas and New Year’s. In that case, we have students wait to send the letter in until a few days into the New Year. 

Please note that we said waiting to send, not waiting to write. That letter will contain the blueprint to how we’d encourage a student to reposition their Regular Decision applications, many of which will be due January 1st. They should draft that letter as soon as possible and then use it as a guide moving forward.

Chances of Getting into Lehigh After Being Deferred

Similar to many schools, Lehigh University does not release the acceptance stats for students who are admitted after being deferred. And because they specifically say that in most cases, they don’t even defer students, that may also have an impact on those chances.

However, a fairly universal average statistic we use as a reference point at Ivy Coach is that about 10% of deferred candidates ultimately earn admission to the school that deferred them. Although the percentage can vary from year to year and from school to school, it’s a fairly consistent threshold.  

However, that rate rises to about 40% on average for students who come to Ivy Coach after being deferred. We work closely with a student to create a compelling Letter of Interest and boost their chances of admission after a deferral, as well as improve their odds for the Regular Decision process.

A Deferred Student’s Chances Improve Dramatically with Ivy Coach

For those students who come to work with Ivy Coach first after being deferred, if they play their cards right, they still have a genuine chance at admission. 

But we’re very realistic at Ivy Coach. We’re all about honesty. We tell it like it is. Because of this, we can only take on students after a deferral if they fully understand that their chances simply aren’t as strong as when they first applied. All we can do is give them the best possible chance to gain admissions. And if quadrupling a student’s chances post-deferral is not enough, we recommend they seek help elsewhere!

What To Do After Being Rejected By Lehigh University

Lehigh University admissions is a selective process. With an admissions rate of 25.9% for the Class of 2028, three out of four students who submitted applications were not accepted. If your student received a rejection from Lehigh University, we want them to know they’re not alone.

Even though rejection can feel like the end of the world, we encourage students not to let that get in the way of the rest of their admissions process. As long as they’re willing to fix initial application mistakes and reframe their storytelling narrative the way that we suggest, a rejection from one school doesn’t mean more rejection will follow.

Ready to move forward and take the next step in the admissions journey? Then sign up for Ivy Coach’s PostMortem. One of our former elite university admissions officers will work with you to develop a competitive strategy for Regular Decision admission.

After a rejection, students come to Ivy Coach because they know we’ll guide them through their Regular Decision process and ensure they don’t make the same mistakes over and over again. We dare admissions officers not to give a student a spot at their school. In fact, we dare admissions officers not to want to hug our students!

Getting Started with Ivy Coach After a Lehigh Deferral or Rejection

If you’re interested in Ivy Coach’s plan to optimize your child’s Regular Decision case for admission to Lehigh University’s Class of 2030 after a deferral, or if you need help planning for Regular Decision applications after deferral or rejection, we recommend that you fill out our complimentary consultation form. We’ll reach out to let you know the next step in taking control of the admissions process.