Lehigh Launch

Lehigh Launch

Lehigh Launch is an experiential, integrative learning experience for intellectually curious and independent students that takes you to some of the world's most exciting areas.  This distinctive first-semester experience is led by Lehigh faculty and staff, is open to students in any major, and costs the same as an on-campus semester (financial aid applies the same as for an on-campus semester). Through hands-on learning and challenging coursework in a living-learning community, students will gain new perspectives, grow as individuals and return to Lehigh with the experience and knowledge to succeed.

The Lehigh Launch programs for Fall 2025 are the Semester in the American West (the Rocky Mountain area of Wyoming; Denver; and Santa Fe, New Mexico) and the Semester in Chile (capital city of Santiago, with excursions to nearby cities as well as the Andes).

Lehigh Launch students take a uniform set of courses that are tailored to their program location. Please see below for information on how to register for the courses that are specific to your program.

Course Registration Instructions for Lehigh Launch Students

Instructions for Launch American West students:

• All students should register for the first six courses listed in the table.
• For Water and Watersheds in the American West, Rossin College students should register for ENGR 050, which will substitute for ENGR 005. All other students register for EES 075 in order to fulfill natural science (NS or NW, depending on your college) distribution requirements.
• For Sustainability and Society, those considering a psychology major or minor should register for PSYC 191. All others should register for EVST 191. Both sections fulfill social science (SS or SW, depending on your college) distribution requirements.
• With permission of the program director, American West students who are in an engineering program may substitute MATH 021 (taken in a remote asynchronous format) for other coursework if they do not have the means to take  one semester of calculus in the summer of 2025 or 2026. Please discuss this with the program director prior to registration. 

Instructions for Launch Chile students:

• Students in the Launch Chile program take the same courses, with variation for the appropriate level Spanish. All students should register for the first two courses, SOC 090 and ASTR 0XX (registration for ASTR 0XX coming soon).
• All students will have a language assessment with IES prior to registration. This will take place via Zoom. Students will then need to register for the appropriate Spanish course (091, 191, or 291).
• Race and Ethnicity in the Americas is a crosslisted course; students may choose to select either the SOC 106 (Sociology) or the AAS 106 (Africana Studies) section based on their preferences and potential majors/minors.