Congratulations. We are visiting in 2 weeks.
WOW!!! Good things come to those who waitđ Congrats to Jack!!! Canât wait to hear how he likes Pgh!
He loves Pittsburgh and the Oakland neighborhood. We did a bootleg tour last fall with a ChemE junior so J was able to get into science and engineering buildings. It was like Christmas morning.
Wonderful⊠he will end up where he belongs 
Best of luck with the trip and decision!
My son also applied to Case and CMU for science - likely biochem or something similar. Waitlisted at Case, accepted at CMU! I am from Pittsburgh and my husband is from Cleveland (we live in NYC now). No offense to Cleveland, but Oakland is way better than University Circle (even though I love the Cleveland Orchestra and the Cleveland Museum of Art which are both right there). CMU was at the top of my sonâs list, in part because of the location. We are still learning about CMU / Mellon College of Science but so far we are very impressed. And happy to share my native Pittsburgh best things to do / places to eat for your visit if you like. Good luck!
We just got that letter in the mail yesterdayâŠfor our waitlisted student. âIt has been determined that your family has adequate financial resources to meet the cost of attendance at Carnegie Mellon.â It goes on to say they hope we âwill consider the value of the private educational experience offered by Carnegie Mellon as an investment in your futureâ and notes there are loan programs, payment plans, and personal financial planning options.
This is the only physical notification from CMU about anything related to the application. I do find it distasteful.
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Wow! That is indeed distasteful.
And isnât it contradictory to say âyour family has adequate financial resources to meet the cost of attendance at Carnegie Mellonâ and tell you âthere are loan programs, payment plans, and personal financial planning optionsâ (presumably you wouldnât need any of those options if you could indeed comfortably afford the COA 
)
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Why send a financial aid letter to wait-listed student at all? Are they looking to winnow down the waitlist by seeing who drops when they find out thereâs no aid?
That seems like the only logical explanation. Disappointing to see this from a school that claims to be need blind.
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@DadOfJerseyGirl Exactly! I guess my multi-page complaint to the head of Financial Aid in 2019 didnât help change this distasteful letter that goes out. I also thought it was incredibly odd to suggest such bad financial ways to pay for college.
It was a HUGE turnoff but it definitely helped close the door for us at CMU.
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Sadly, with two generations and four degrees in the family, CS was the only program I could recommend to my kids (ok, probably Drama, but that wasnât in discussion). D17 gladly went to Purdue for MechE.
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I would agree. I have a friend/classmate whose son is going next year, so I am excited to hear about his experience. Perhaps it will change my mind.
I wanted to add, since this is a thread for those who applied, I do think that CMU is great for a specific kind of kid.
wilsons, The neighborhood around Case reminded me a bit of the Oakland neighborhood in Da Burgh. In many ways, CMU and CWRU are similar; both are not just strong in engineering, but in other disciplines as well; both are located in a nice residential neighborhood in a recovering rust-belt city; they are similar in size in self-contained campuses. The difference is that CMU is much more prestigious, but CWRU is more student friendly.
My guess is your son was waitlisted by Case because his stats were higher than their typical student and they might have suspected he was using them as a safety. Did they invite him to apply ED II? Case did that to many high-stat students to get them to commit.
My son applied to MechE programs because that is the most competitive major in which he is interested. He is also interested in BioChem, and I would not be surprised if he switched majors.
boo, If you go this weekend you can experience the joy of Spring Carnival. We are going either 4/11 or 4/18.
Thank you. That would have been great, unfortunately we are flying in on the 18th.
Totally agree that the schools and locations are similar. I think itâs my Pittsburgh pride coming through on the preference for Oakland 
Both great schools and good luck to you and your son in making this decision - canât go wrong either way.
Would you mind sharing what specific kind of kid would be a good fit with CMU? Thanks!
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You really need to spend a day at CMU, during a time when classes are in session, no other time. If you are considering I would go soon to be on campus before the students leave. You need to see and feel the vibe and try to talk to students. You will feel the stress. Over the years CMU has really changed. I know several graduates from the, 1960, 70âs and 80-90âs era who are wicked smart and successful. Back then they did talk about how stressed they were and even on the verge of breaking down during their course work. These students were all from Pittsburgh and still live here. They all made it out and had/have great careers in architecture, chem eng, and techy jobs.
Fast forward to today and we know of several sub-par students who have gotten into programs OTHER than CS and Theater (the 2 most competitive) and they have either done super bad academically or quit. Others are there and no where near making it on the deanâs list even though they were their schools (local to PGH) HS salutatorians , etc.
My S19 got in and considered going for about one day. He had been extremely involved on campus since a very young child with their C-Mite programs as well as performed there as a musician several times. Heâs not a music major but living in PGH these opportunities come up. It never felt right for him.
To try to nail down the type of student who succeeds academically at CMU take a look at their deanâs list names. The majority skew internationally. I know this is a generalization but it is one clue. Since it is a very unique student body you really need to visit when school is in session to really understand.
Best of luck with your decisions!
How exactly can you tell who is international?
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Yeah, I knew this wouldnât be received as intended, but I can say with certainty from relatives who work there, it is a large majority of the names.