AP/EA Early Action Applicants

<p>Anyone else out there apply Early Action to CMU today after attending the AP/EA program this summer? If so, have you heard anything about the chances for admission?</p>

<p>My son also applied Early Action to CIT today thinking his chances in a pool of perhaps 20 was better than a pool of 6,000.</p>

<p>Please let us know how that turns out for you. I’ve never seen any statistics on acceptances after doing the EA program.</p>

<p>My son also applied EA; it was too good a chance to pass up. CMU is one of his top choices and he is anxious to hear by early October. Also, the ED restriction of applying to only one school was discouraging.</p>

<p>My son got accepted to CMU EA. Decision is coming out this week. Just a few minutes ago, my son saw it online. He went to the APEA and loves the school since. Good luck to all!!</p>

<p>Congratulations!! How exciting for him to find out so early. Now he can just enjoy the rest of his senior year without going through the college application stress.</p>

<p>My son was also accepted, and is feeling pretty proud, as we all are! Since it is an EA acceptance, he is free to apply to other schools, but he can’t think of any he would prefer to Carnegie Mellon. All in all, the summer AP/EA program was an excellent choice for him, and I would encourage others to look into it.</p>

<p>Definitely the AP/EA is an amazing program, especially if the student gets an early acceptance! The only caveat I would express about that program is for the student to be careful about the classes they choose. There are some classes that are the weeder classes for CS and ECE that they let the kids sign up for…with little warning that they will be working from morning to night nonstop. Too much work to truly enjoy the school and the college fun, I don’t know any other colleges that will let the kids wade right into the fray when they are in high school like CMU will. But I don’t think most of the classes are that work intensive.</p>

<p>My S took “data structure and algorithms” and said that was harder than he expected. The class covered hashing, graphics, dynamic programming, and compression, etc. He managed to play some and have fun. He really enjoyed it.
The class had about 20 students. 5 were summer students, the rest were CMU students. 3 got accepted, one didn’t make it. Don’t know about the other one. My S got accepted to SCS.</p>

<p>I think our kids were in the same class (mine also took the math class), but he is a CMU freshman. I’m sure our sons know each other. I think if a kid can do good in 15-211, they will get into SCS if they apply EA, because that is probably the course that weeds most kids out of CS. My son seemed to have fun, but as the time went on every single time I called he was just programming and working, working, working. Then he had a week off and went back to school, not enough of a break. I’m sure he would have enjoyed the classes more if they were spread out over a semester because he seemed burned out when he started in the Fall. Used to having more time to mess around, do sports, hang out. I don’t know if you watched any of the summer classes, but we sat in on them one day and-wow! They could have been taught in a foreign language for all we understood, this was so faced paced-it was really extraordinary. These students and professors are brilliant.</p>

<p>My S took DS and discrete math too. Maybe they do know each other.
He won a Adobe Site of the Day Award in 2007. I have no doubt when he said that’s a tough course. He definitely learned something there.
I think CMU did a great job running the summer program. Beside the fact that courses were top rated, over the weekends, my son went on couple trips, boat-ride, theme park, and science museum. He likes everything about CMU. He likes the city and the food was good too. Especially he got to know friends on the same level. This morning he was chatting with friends in different countries asking if they made it in.</p>

<p>if u apply EA & u get rejected- can u still apply rd?</p>

<p>Good question, maybe some of the parents on this thread can answer that. Just want to make sure you realize there is a big difference between AP/EA (kids who go to the summer program and find out in Oct if they get accepted-very early), and ED. At least as of last year, you could apply ED for one school and up to 4 schools RD (though you definitely want to call the application office about specifics, it’s a little odd). You may already know this, but others reading may not realize the difference. I would guess that the AP/EA might be the same, that if you got turned down for one school you could apply RD-but probably best to call the admissions office for that info. They are very responsive.</p>

<p>My son was “not accepted”. He was very disappointed, especially after doing so well in his classes at AP/EA. The only bright spot is that he now has time to apply ED to his second choice.</p>

<p>I’m sorry about your son’s news, Tamiami. I do hope this helps him refocus his search and find his best fit.
It does sound like several of our kids were in the same classes, the data structures/math pairing. I had no idea that only five of the students were rising seniors - my son confirmed this last night. These were indeed tough classes. My niece is in her second year at CMU and confirms that the classes don’t get any easier - I’ve heard CMU professors are among the hardest graders there are.
For those asking about AP/EA, this is a smallish summer program that offers the unique option of applying EA in September and getting a response by October. Rejected applicants cannot reapply.
For ED, which is what current HS seniors will be concerned about, applicants select only one CMU college to apply to. If rejected, they can amend the application to include more CMU colleges and have it considered in the RD round.</p>

<p>Tamiami, if your son is still interested in CMU, I advise this-call the admissions office. My son said the admissions info on the website at CMU is often really unclear, and you need to talk to admissions to see if he can now apply RD for the other colleges. If he just got turned down for SCS, perhaps they will let him apply RD for 4 others. Forget what the web site says. We found alot of inconsistencies when my son was applying (ED, changing to RD) that we never would have found out if we hadn’t called and asked the specific question-some of the application information is badly written, there is alot of disorganization. If there is any possibility that they will let him apply RD to the other colleges (especially since he did well during the summer program), make the call and find out for sure. It’s obviously a good fit for him if he did so well and enjoyed the school.</p>

<p>If he can reapply, he can always change colleges once he gets to CMU. He can double major, additional major, so many options. Don’t give up until everybody tells him no! And then I’d still have him send the application in anyways…</p>

<p>busdriver11. Thanks for the encouragement, although CMU has said many times during the AP/EA program that a rejection during EA disqualifies the applicant forever. We knew this going in and were willing to take the risk in exchange for what looked like favorable circumstances. Obviously my son loved the program and the school, new friends, etc. and was more than disappointed. I’ll call admissions and see if there are any options.</p>

<p>Ironically, my son has his transcript with a couple of impressive courses on it that should be viewed very positively by other top schools. They probably don’t see many CMU transcripts from a 16 year old. AP/EA didn’t pay off for him at CMU, but perhaps it will somewhere else.</p>

<p>You would think most of the elite colleges, particularly the technology heavy schools would be very impressed by a high schooler taking such difficult courses. It has to count for something, that’s for sure. I am very disappointed your son didn’t get accepted, it doesn’t make any sense to me. I am still glad you are going to call them-as the admissions process has been really disorganized. I know he won’t be able to apply to the same school he got turned down from, but if there are others in CMU that he’s interested in-it’s certainly worth asking one more time. I understand why they would want to discourage kids from taking summer classes just to get a better chance of getting into CMU, but why would they want to lose strong applicants that might easily be accepted into another CMU school.</p>

<p>I was wondering what are the stats of these “early admitted” applicants?</p>

<p>My son got a call from the CMU Admissions Office at 6:15 tonight. You can imagine what went through his mind…perhaps CMU had a change of heart.</p>

<p>Actually it was a student ambassador from Admissions asking, as a prospective student, if he had any questions about CMU, Pittsburgh, etc. When he returns the call tomorrow he should ask “so was my rejection rescinded”. But actually he will politely inform her to take his name off the list.</p>

<p>I know this was an honest mistake by Admissions, but coming just 3 days after his rejection letter, it came across poorly.</p>