Lehigh University
Responses from the Student Interview
From a student who identifies as Major: Marketing
Minor: Data Science
Student Self Identifies as: Caucasian Straight Female
Summary
I’m part of the Marketing club and am in Greek life.
Background
Gender Identity: Female
Race/Ethnicity: Caucasian
Sexual Orientation: Straight
High School Experience: Private high school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with a graduating class of about 120 students. There was a culture of going to college.
First-Generation College Student: No
Major: Marketing
Minor: Data Science
Extracurricular Activities: I’m part of the Marketing club and am in Greek life.
Have any of your extracurricular activities had a particularly big impact on your experience?
Being part of Greek life has because there isn’t much of a social scene at Lehigh if you’re not on a sports team or part of Greek life. The social scene is really circulated around the sports teams or Greek life. If I wasn’t involved my social life would be extremely different.
Academic Experience
Can you describe the weekly coursework for your major?
For my Marketing courses, it’s really just exams and then a project at the end of the semester. I take a lot of core business classes being in the business school, and those are exams and maybe some projects and homework assignments. For my Economics classes, I’ll usually have a problem set due every week. For Computer Science courses, I have to do a coding assignment or a lab every week.
Is there anything you feel your major’s department does especially well or poorly?
I don’t know that there’s anything they do poorly. I like the way the grading works. It’s a consistent system, compared to other classes that vary.
How would you describe the learning environment? Do you think it’s particularly competitive or collaborative?
I think it’s a mixture of both. It’s a collaborative learning environment because people work together with their friends in the library for pretty much every course that I’m in. But, it’s 100% a competitive school. People are trying to do well, but at the same time, they’re comparing themselves to their friends and classmates. When the grades come out, people are always asking how you did.
How accessible are your professors?
I’m not typically one to get help from professors, which I probably should’ve done in the past. They all have office hours and I’ve gone to a few, but I typically get help from a friend in the class. Most of my professors answer an email within the first twelve hours of sending it.
What is your favorite part of studying in the business school at Lehigh?
I love that I have classes with pretty much the same people because we’re all taking our core courses, so I’ll be able to study with my friends. I’m always in the same building because most of the business courses are in the business building.
Why did you pick your major? Are you happy with your choice?
I had a marketing internship the summer before my sophomore year when I had to declare my major and I realized how much I liked it. It’s not a really tough major and not a lot of my friends are doing it, so I like that.
Reasons to Attend
Student did not respond to this question.
Reasons Not to Attend
Student did not respond to this question.
Around Campus
Where have you lived on and around campus?
Freshman: McClintic-Marshall House with one roommate
Sophomore: Sorority house with one roommate
Junior: Same roommate for the first semester, but now we’re going abroad
How was transitioning from Philadelphia to Bethlehem, PA in terms of location?
I love it because I’m an hour away, so if I need to go home for a doctor’s appointment or to pick something up it’s so easy because I have my car on campus. It’s different because the area I lived in Philadelphia is very pretty and nice, and Bethlehem is not so nice. The areas we live in are kind of sketchy. They’re not the greatest, but I love being so close to home. [The poverty rate in Bethlehem, PA is 15.8%.]
Can you describe the level of safety you’ve experienced on and around campus?
I always feel safe, even though the area isn’t the greatest. When we’re seniors we live off-campus which is where the people who live in Bethlehem tend to live next to you. However, I always feel safe. There are blue buttons around campus but so I’ve never felt unsafe, but I know there are police around me and I’m always going to be with a friend.
Social Opportunities
What kind of nightlife or weekend activities do you participate in at Lehigh?
I definitely go out on the weekends. We’ll go out Friday, Saturday, and sometimes during the week. There is a [day party] every Saturday that I’ll go to, and then I’ll typically go out Saturday nights if I’m feeling up for it. Sundays I like getting breakfast in Bethlehem. I like to drive around with my friends because there are a lot of pretty views within a 20-mile drive. Sunday’s are more of a relaxing day. I’ll probably spend the afternoon in the library and relax during the day.
Who hosts the parties? Where are they located?
The seniors all live off-campus near each other. The fraternities will have parties at night in the basements and the day parties are all in the backyards. There can be school-registered parties where if one of the fraternities register a party two weeks in advance there will be Lehigh staff there, and it’ll be in the basement of the fraternity house on The Hill, which is a Lehigh-owned building. There will be a staff checking people in and you get a wristband if you’re 21.
What is the impact of Greek life on nightlife?
A sorority and a fraternity will have parties at an off-campus house during the day. It’s easy for girls to get into any party, but for boys, if your fraternity isn’t hosting it you’re not really going to get in. People not in fraternities specifically have a different social scene. I do know people that aren’t in Greek life that I met from classes and they do go out, just not nearly as much as somebody involved in Greek life does. A lot of Greek life students will have parties together, so I’ll be with two different fraternities and two other sororities. We do mix, but not much with people not involved Greek life. [31% of undergraduate students participate in Greek life.]
What’s an alternative to going to a party or a bar that you like for a night out?
If I’m not going out on the weekend it’s either because I’m really tired so I’ll probably stay in my sorority house all day or maybe drive around with my friends, or because I have an exam on Monday or Tuesday so I’ll be in the library all weekend. We’ll go to movies, but not really instead of parties because Lehigh is a big party school so people prefer going out when they can.
How happy are you with the weekend options at Lehigh? Is there anything you would change about them if you could?
I’m really happy. I love going out and being with all my friends. Saturday nights are mostly for sports teams because they don’t do day parties on Saturday because they have practice. I’m pretty close with a lot of athletes so I’ll want to go out Saturday night, but I’d say 90% of Greek life stays in. If I were to change one thing, I would cancel some things during the day on Saturday so there would be a night party that all of my friends would want to go to.
Campus Culture
How did you meet your closest friends?
I probably had a group of 10 my freshman year that I met through a mutual friend, then we met other people. I’m still very close with them. We didn’t all join the same sorority, but five did. On bid day, I met so many people I didn’t know and now they’re my best friends. I think joining a sorority brought me to my closest 20 friends that I wouldn’t be nearly as close with if I didn’t join the same sorority as them.
How would you describe the overall social scene?
People love to party. There’s a saying that Lehigh students work hard and party harder. Everyone cares a lot about their classes and it’s very evident at this school, however people love going out. We’ll go out on a Tuesday, sometimes a Wednesday, then Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. I think people love going out and socializing.
To what extent do you feel people of different races and sexual orientations mix socially?
It’s hard to say because Lehigh is not a diverse school. I’ve maybe only met one person of a different sexual orientation. I don’t think it’s on purpose, it’s just that our social groups don’t mix at all. [The undergraduate population is 62% White, 9% Hispanic, 8% Asian, and 4% Black or African American.]
How would you describe the student body?
People are very dedicated to their work. Everyone is hardworking and it’s a really good school so everyone there cares a lot about how they’re doing in their courses, which I love. Everyone is really nice. I’ll walk down the street and people will smile at me. There is a lot of school spirit, and our biggest rival is Lafayette so we have the rivalry and people are very committed during that week.
To what extent do people in Greek life and not in Greek life mix socially?
It really depends. Sports teams and Greek life do mix because they will also have parties and invite the sororities. Some people date people on the soccer team or lacrosse team. When it comes to people not on a sports team or who didn’t go through recruitment, girls or boys, we don’t really socially mix. It’s more that I have class friends that never rushed that I’ll be friends with. I have friends who went through the requirement and it didn’t work out for them and they’re not involved in Greek life but they still go out with us. It’s easier for girls to go anywhere and have fun with your same friends, whereas with boys it’s a little different because they’re picky about who comes into their party.
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 love it and think that it’s a perfect size. I didn’t want to go to a big school, but I do love that Lehigh is bigger than the small schools. We have a little over 5,000 undergraduates and I applied to schools with less than 2,000 undergraduates which I didn’t really want. I like that I can walk around campus and I’ll be guaranteed to see one or two people I know, but there are still so many faces I don’t know.
Careers
Has the alumni network helped you find internships or jobs?
For me personally no, but half of my friends who have internships for this upcoming summer got them by speaking to Lehigh alumni on Handshake or even LinkedIn.
What have you used the career office for? How helpful have they been?
I’ve been there maybe once for a resume workshop.
Have you learned any computer programs or computer languages that will be helpful professionally?
I’m doing a Data Science minor which is essentially computer science with data mining, so I took compute science 1 which teaches JavaScript. In that class, I learned so much about the history of computer programing. I took computer science 2 which was difficult to take. This semester I took business information systems, which is a core for the business school where we learned Excel, Access, and in the end, there was a two-week period where we learned a coding language on Excel.