Lehigh University

Responses from the Student Interview

From a student  who identifies as Major: Management – Entrepreneurship & Small Business Consultant track
Minor: Entrepreneurship
Student Self Identifies as: Black/African-American Straight Male

Summary

I’m on the Club Basketball team and I’m heavily involved in the entrepreneurship community on campus.

Background

Gender Identity: Male
Race/Ethnicity: Black/African-American
Sexual Orientation: Straight

High School Experience: Private high school in Kansas City, Missouri with a graduating class of about 100 students. There was a culture of going to college
First-Generation College Student: No
Major: Management – Entrepreneurship & Small Business Consultant track
Minor: Entrepreneurship

Extracurricular Activities: I’m on the Club Basketball team and I’m heavily involved in the entrepreneurship community on campus.
Have any of your extracurricular activities had a particularly big impact on your experience?
Entrepreneurship has most definitely. I took my first entrepreneurship class during my freshman year, and after that, I participated in back-to-back summer programs through the Baker Institute. I participated in the EUREKA pitch nights that offers to fund for student projects. This winter I’m participating in the LehighSiliconValley trip where we spend time out there learning about businesses and getting a 3-day externship at a company. I’ve also participated in some exclusive dinners where you get to talk with successful Lehigh alumni in the entrepreneurship realm.

Academic Experience

Can you describe the weekly coursework for your major?
For my major, I have done a lot in regards to the business core classes. It has you take a variety of courses. A lot of the lower-level classes include problem sets and homework to get you to know concepts. As you rise and take 200 or 300 level classes, they include more real-life case studies. In my Management 306 course, we help a small business with some recommendations on what they should do to increase their revenue. We’ve also had several papers, but there isn’t as much homework as the lower-level classes.
Is there anything you feel your major’s department does especially well or poorly?
Before, I would’ve said I wanted an entrepreneurship [program], but they’ve added that which is nice. In particular, to the business academic counseling, they do a really good job making sure you know you have the credits you need to graduate. They set up a plan for you to do that.
How would you describe the learning environment? Do you think it’s particularly competitive or collaborative?
I’d say it’s both competitive and collaborative. Once you get to the high-level classes, it’s more collaborative. A lot of the more creative majors have more group projects, but we also had some in accounting to give you a taste of what’s it’s like working on a team. As you move along in your education, the classes become smaller and smaller so the learning is more intimate. I enjoy that because you’re not getting lost in a big class. You usually know your professors and can go to office hours if you have issues.
How accessible are your professors?
Very accessible. The professors I’ve had have been responsive to emails and they have office hours two or three days a week. If your schedule conflicts with their office hours they offer times to set up a one-on-one meeting with them.
What is your favorite part of Lehigh academically?
The opportunities outside of school. I’ve gotten heavily involved in the entrepreneurship realm here, so being connected to them has allowed me to participate in pitch competitions in the Bethlehem area, as well as being part of serious investor pitch sessions. They make sure I’m in the room with highly successful Lehigh alumni in the field I want to go into. The business school does an amazing job at that. Because it’s a medium-sized school, you usually don’t have to compete a lot to get into those programs.
Why did you pick your major? Are you happy with your choice?
I originally came in as a Biology major wanting to do entrepreneurship on the side. After my first semester, I decided to do entrepreneurship full time. They didn’t have a major, but they had a lot of classes so I switched to the business school to establish a better connection with the Baker Institute. After that, I’ve been participating in a lot of their programs and classes and heard they were adding the entrepreneurship track to the management major.

Reasons to Attend

1) There’s a great alumni network. You’ll be placed in a great job. [95% of the Class of 2018 were employed or attending graduate school within 6 months of graduation.]
2) There’s a lot of opportunity on campus without having to compete for a spot.
3) It has a very great reputation in the people I’ve encountered.

Reasons Not to Attend

1) If you’re not a big Greek life person and don’t like dealing with people in Greek life.
2) If you know you want a bigger school.

Around Campus

Where have you lived on and around campus?
Freshman: Upper Cents with one roommate
Sophomore: Trembley with one roommate
Junior: SouthSide Commons with three apartment mates
Senior: Off-campus house two blocks from campus with three housemates
How was transitioning from Kansas City to Bethlehem, PA in terms of location?
Being on the East Coast was different, but I was prepared to move away from home. I’m used to traveling and living on my own, so it wasn’t too big of a transition for me. The hardest part of it was finding food I really enjoyed eating. As time went by and I didn’t go home as frequently, not being home with my family on major breaks and holidays was a challenge. Lehigh has a great office for the first-year experience. They do a lot to have programs that keep freshmen involved. They have things during breaks as well because there’s a huge international student population. [About 9% of undergraduates are international students.]

Social Opportunities

What kind of nightlife or weekend activities do you participate in at Lehigh?
I enjoy going to the movies. They have several theaters here, and one gives a student discount. I started going bowling a little more. On-campus activities, they have a program called Lehigh After Dark and they do events on campus like roller-skating and dodgeball late at night for people who don’t enjoy the party scene. I also participate in some of the parties on campus, especially during fun times like Rivalry Weekend and Halloween.
Who hosts the parties? Where are they located?
They sometimes have what’s called [registered parties], on the hill where everyone comes. Other than that, I go to off-campus events, and sometimes people rent out the nightclubs and allow the students to go to a safe venue.
What is the impact of Greek life on nightlife?
It’s extremely huge. It’s trying to grow out of that, but it’s still huge. This year, in particular, more people have thrown small individual kick-back type events, but most of what you think of as a college party is run and controlled by the fraternities and sororities. They make up a fairly large percentage of the student population here, so that influences it a lot. [31% of undergraduate students participate in Greek life.]
How happy are you with the weekend options at Lehigh? Is there anything you would change about them if you could?
A little more accessibility to the cities would be the only thing I would change. Even if they had a few major shuttles going to the big cities it would be nice, but that’s a lot to be responsible for so I get it.

Campus Culture

How did you meet your closest friends?
By going to Taylor Gym and playing basketball. That’s where I met some of my best friends freshman year. I’ve continued to meet people I’m close with through basketball. I also met a lot of good people through the summer programs that I’m a part of with the Baker Institute.
How would you describe the overall social scene?
Everybody is in something specific, but at times we all get together. At times like the Rivalry Weekend or Halloween, the campus really comes together in a way that’s not normal throughout the rest of the year. There are a lot of clusters.
To what extent do you feel people of different races and sexual orientations mix socially?
Different races mix [semi-frequently]. Different sexual orientations mix less than that. Those groups are big within themselves and they have clusters broken off from that. The Black community will get together, but it’s a specific group that throws it. Some people may come and some may not, but it’s open to everybody. [The undergraduate population is 62% White, 9% Hispanic, 8% Asian, and 4% Black/African American.]
How would you describe the African-American community on campus? How strong is it?
It’s becoming stronger. Last year there was a big separation between the Black junior and senior community and the freshman and sophomore community. There was a break in communication between those two groups. As the sophomore class moved into the upperclassman sphere, we’ve reached back down to the underclassmen more, so that gap is starting to close again. We’ve become closer over the past year.
To what extent do people in Greek life and not in Greek life mix socially?
Fairly frequently. When you go here and [31%] of students are in Greek life, you’ll know people both in and not in Greek life. During my freshman year, more people who are in Greek life mixed with people who weren’t in Greek life.
How do you like the size of Lehigh in terms of undergraduate enrollment? How has that impacted your experience? [Lehigh has about 5,200 undergraduate students.]
I always say I wish I went to a bigger school, but at the same time, I’m glad I didn’t. I have the opportunity to go to a lot of awesome events and not have to compete for them. Every event or speaker that I’ve wanted to go to, I’ve been able to go to. It’s the same with the opportunities available to students here. The Hatchery program was more of a competitive process, but I was only competing against a pool of 300 students. Being able to go into the office and establish a relationship with those people really helped.

Careers

Has the alumni network helped you find internships or jobs?
Lehigh has a surpassingly willing and experienced alumni network. They constantly encourage us to get in touch with alumni in the field we want to go into. They’re super willing to reach out and help Lehigh students. There have been several who’ve given me amazing advice as far as entrepreneurship goes, mentorship, and I’ve even gotten some investment for my business. It’s a great network to be part of.
What have you used the career office for? How helpful have they been?
I’ve never been to it. I get all of my advice from the Baker Institute Office who puts me in touch with alumni so I can grow in the realm of entrepreneurship.
Have you learned any computer programs or computer languages that will be helpful professionally?
Excel is heavily used in the business school. There’s awesome equipment in Wilbur Powerhouse that I’ve messed around with through the entrepreneurship programs I’ve been part of. I’ve used Wix, Shopify, and some Java and HTML to make websites.

Financial Aid

Have you used financial aid? If so, accommodating was the office to your needs?
The office is great. It’s not far so you can go in and ask questions if you have them. If you email them, they’ll respond either that day or the next.