***Carnegie Mellon University Class of 2020 RD Decision ONLY***

Colleges and Universities A-Z Carnegie Mellon University
81

[noparse]

Decision: Accepted (Tepper and Dietrich)

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): Did not take
ACT: 35
SAT II: Math II- 760, US History- 760
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.94
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A
AP (place score in parenthesis): World History, US History, Psychology, Calc BC, Lang&Comp (5 for all), Physics 1&2 (3)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Gov, AP Econ, AP Lit&Comp, AP Computer Science, AP Chem, AP Spanish, AP Stats
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Commended Student, AP Scholar with Distinction

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): School newspaper (Editor-in-Chief), Student Council (Vice President), Model UN (couple of best delegate and honorable mention awards), dance
Job/Work Experience: Math tutor
Volunteer/Community service: Volunteer at local retirement community
Summer Activities: Accounting internship, business summer camp
Essays:
Common app was pretty good, maybe 8/10
Why Carnegie? wrote it the day before but got good feedback about it 9/10
Teacher Recommendation:
Both of them knew me very well, did not get to read but 9/10
Counselor Rec: Pretty standard I think 7/10
Additional Rec: Newspaper sponsor 10/10
Interview: Forgot to request one… oops

Other

State (if domestic applicant): OOS
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Large public
Ethnicity:
Gender: F
Income Bracket: ~120.000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None

Reflection

Strengths: Essays, ACT score (& maybe GPA), leadership in all the clubs I’m a part of
Weaknesses: Forgot to request/sign up for an interview
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Luck
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Accepted: Michigan, CMU. Waitlisted: Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Duke. Rejected: Stanford

General Comments:[/noparse]
Good luck to future applicants, and congrats to those who got in!

82

@Henry_Garfield I can’t say for sure that monetarily CMU beats Ga Tech as an investment in the long run. My son is graduating in SCS at Carnegie Mellon in May (was also accepted at Ga Tech). He has had invaluable opportunities to network and had some amazing internships AND had a lucrative job offer more than a year before graduation. He is taught classes by professors number one in the world in their respective fields. In our case, we think it was worth it over Georgia Tech. Many companies have special recruiting teams just for Carnegie Mellon. Ymmv

83

hmm having a similar dilemma…cmu scs or in state uc berkeley

84

Decision: Accepted

School Applied To: Tepper

Objective:

  • [] SAT I (breakdown): 770 CR, 800 M, 780 W (two sittings)
    [    ] ACT:
    [] SAT II: 740 M2, 750 BioM, 750 USH
    [    ] Unweighted GPA (4.0 scale): 4.0
    [] Weighted GPA (4.0 scale): 4.438
    [    ] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 2
    [] AP (place score in parenthesis): mostly 5’s, a couple 4’s
    [    ] IB (place score in parenthesis):
    [] Senior Year Course Load: All AP’s, took one more class than is normally allowed too
    [    ] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): State champion for a certain speech/debate event, national qualifier for debate and quizbowl, AP award (i forget which one it is), state runner up for another speech/debate event

Subjective:

[ul]
[] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Speech (captain), Debate (captain), two quizbowl teams (captain of both), did all of them for all of high school
[] Job/Work Experience: Worked in an Apple store last summer
[] Volunteer/Community service: founded a tutoring service for our school, volunteered in local library and schools, around 400-500 hours
[] Summer Activities: Engineering research for 3 years, traveled abroad
[] Essays: I think they were good for the most part, no lower than 7’s, doubt they were 10’s though
[] Teacher Recommendation: History teacher and calculus teacher, both coaches for my debate and speech teams, 8/10 for both
[] Counselor Rec: Probably good, always pestered her about taking extra classes but somehow she took a liking to me 8/10
[] Additional Rec: Pretty good, a family friend who I like to talk to about politics, science, anything really - 9/10
[li] Interview: None[/li][/ul]

Other

[ul]
[] Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
[] Intended Major: Computational Finance
[] State (if domestic applicant): VA
[] Country (if international applicant): USA
[] School Type: Public
[] Ethnicity: Caucasian
[] Gender: Male
[] Income Bracket: Not entirely sure actually
[li] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): I speak 4 languages and come from the middle east? Not sure if that really is a hook or not[/li][/ul]

Reflection

[ul]
[] Strengths: SAT I, GPA, Extracurriculars, pretty much everything other than SAT II’s
[] Weaknesses: SAT II’s, also the fact that none of my EC’s were related to business
[li] Why you think you were accepted/deferred: Pretty well rounded, not many weaknesses[/li][/ul]

General Comments: Pretty psyched, this was my first major acceptance.

Accepted - Virginia Tech, Purdue, UVA, Georgetown; Deferred - Harvard; Rejected - Duke and Stanford; Waitlisted - UChicago; Still waiting on decisions from - NYU, UofM, Yale, Harvard, Cornell, Columbia, Princeton, UPenn

85

1st Decision: Accepted (CIT for ECE)
2nd Decision: Waitlisted (SCS)

Objective:

  • []SAT I: 2220 (800/730/690)
    [    ]SAT I (Makeup date submitted in mid-March): 2380 (800/790/790)
    []ACT:
    [    ]SAT II: 770M2 800Chem 790Physics
    []Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9? (A’s with a few A-'s)
    [    ]Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 1%
    []AP (place score in parenthesis): Calc AB (5), Calc BC (5), Phys B (5) Phys C: Mech (5), Chem (5), Eng Lang (4)
    [    ]IB (place score in parenthesis):
    []Senior Year Course Load:
    [    ]Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):

Subjective:

  • []Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): FIRST Robotics Competition (Head Captain), Marching Band (170 students) (Drum Major), NHS (Officer)
    [    ]Job/Work Experience: Software Consultant (4 Years), Physics Summer Camp for middle school kids (Lead Counselor), Media Consultant at Law Firm
    []Volunteer/Community service: Physics Summer Camp for middle school kids(Counselor)
    [    ]Summer Activities: Amatuer Radio, Summer Camp work, Vacation, Misc. hobby projects
    []Essays: I liked them and so did my teachers, but it’s hard to say if the AdCom would.
    Teacher Recommendation: Also good. All teachers liked me and one said he wishes he could work with me (he left to go back to the private sector as an engineering consultant)
    [    ]Counselor Rec: ?
    []Additional Rec: Very good. Recommendation from camp director.
    [    ]Interview: Got along really well with my interviewer. I drove a little farther to meet with someone who was from the CIT, and I think that common ground really payed off.

Other

[ul]
[]State (if domestic applicant):
[]Country (if international applicant):
[]School Type: Public
[]Ethnicity: White
[]Gender: Male
[]Income Bracket: >100K
[li]Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Nope :/[/li][/ul]

Reflection

  • []Strengths: ECs probably, since I held the highest position in my two main ECs. I also submitted a portfolio with a nicely done-up video about my personal projects, which I think really highlighted to the AdCom that I cared about what I was doing, and would be doing in ECE.

    [    ]Weaknesses: Awards. I didn’t even list AMC scores and never qualified for the AIME, let alone USAMO. I also never submitted entries for any major science fairs, etc. with my involvement in the super-competitive FRC.

    []Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Apart from good scores and grades, which CMU definately values more highly than other holistic-approach schools, I guess my love for technology just came through to the CMU AdCom.
    [    ]Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted WPI, Rejected MIT

General Comments
Nice to get an acceptance to a top tier engineering school after being rejected from MIT. Also just goes to show that being super competitive about academics isn’t necessary for getting into a great school.

86

Decision: Accepted Dietrich (Statistics)
Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): 2190 superscored (690 CR 710 M 790 W)
ACT:
SAT II: 710 Math II 720 Literature
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.81 (when I applied) 3.79 (after midterms)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 5/317
AP (place score in parenthesis): Did not submit: Chemistry (3) Statistics (4)
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calculus BC, AP Biology, AP French, AP Computer Science, Honors English
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):
Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Lots of leadership-Girl Scouts, Drama, Figure Skating (I don’t want to be too specific so people can’t identify me :slight_smile:
Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community service: Lots of community service projects
Summer Activities: Teaching religious ed.
Essays: Very good 9/10 imo
Teacher Recommendation: I read one that was very good; no idea about the others
Counselor Rec: No Idea
Additional Rec:
Interview: I thought it went very well. I had many questions and demonstrated knowledge of the school

Other

State (if domestic applicant):
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket:
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): NONE

Reflection

Strengths: Class rank, extracurricular activities, weighted GPA
Weaknesses: SATs
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I demonstrated interest by visiting and scheduling an interview. I think my essay was very good and very specific.

Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted: University of Michigan, University of Rochester, UC Santa Barbara, George Washington University, Penn State-University Park
Waitlisted: UVA and UC Berkeley
Rejected: UCLA, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Cornell (ED), Duke
Waiting: Penn, Brown, UNC Chapel Hill

General Comments: Everyone on CC is so impressive and I thought I had no chance at getting into a school like Carnegie Mellon. I am posting this for other kids who did not score perfectly on their SATs and do not have perfect GPAs. I pushed myself to take an AP class sophomore year, when at our school you only take APs junior year at the earliest. I got a C my first semester and I thought it would ruin my chances at getting into a good school but it didn’t. Don’t let one flaw or mistake stop you from applying to a great school. It truly is holistic. If it wasn’t, they would have thrown my application away right away.

87

Accepted to MCS

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1830 740M/550CR/540W
ACT (breakdown): N/A
SAT II: 660 Math II, 670 Math I
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9
Weighted GPA: 4.3
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/304
AP (place score in parenthesis): Didn’t report any
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Physics C: Mechanics, AP Physics C: E&M, AP Calc BC, AP US Gov’t, AP English Lit
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Nahhh

Vanderbilt Merit Scholarship: Nope

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): “It’s Academic!” team, National Honor Society Vice President, Math Honor Society member, History Honor Society member, Varisity Lacrosse Capitan 3 years straight, Tae Kwon Do for 8 years, Rec Soccer.
Job/Work Experience: N/A
Volunteer/Community service: VP of National Honor Society (AKA the vice leader of drowning myself and my peers in amazing community service oppertunities)
Summer Activities: N/A
Essays (rating 1-10, details): 10. This essay was the best essay I have ever written in my life, no joke.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): 9. Didn’t read any but I know they liked me.

Teacher Rec #1: 9
Teacher Rec #2: 9
Counselor Rec: 9
Additional Rec: no
Interview: Didn’t have one

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Physics (Astrophysics track)
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: African
Gender: M
Income Bracket: 70K-80K
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First Gen

Reflection

Strengths: My Essay and maybe GPA?
Weaknesses: Test Scores lmao
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Rejected from Hopkins and Caltech. Accepted- UVa, USC, Virginia Tech, Maryland and Michigan.

88

Has anyone viewed their financial aid information? No way we can pay 1/2 of our salary for her to go but that is what Uncle Sam says and looks like merit is non-existent. :frowning:

89

@zoemurr – yeah that is the same feeling… there is merit but seems not as liberal

90

I got waitlisted at CMU. They gave me an opportunity to opt for their priority waiting list. But I decided not to opt for that and move on with my other choices.

“Because of your qualifications, we are offering you the opportunity to be placed on our priority waiting list. If you choose to participate in our priority waiting list option, you will be among the first students admitted to Carnegie Mellon from the waiting list. The priority waiting list is for those students who know that Carnegie Mellon is their first choice. All students who choose to be on our priority waiting list will know of our admission decisions by May 6, 2016”

91

I feel terrible she worked so hard to get into SCS but I can’t imagine paying that kind of money. She got great merit for Northeastern, RIT, RPI, WPI and Case. Time to celebrate the win and move on…

92

@zoemurr RPI is counted as a peer school by CMU so I believe there is some room for negotiation.

93

Decision: Accepted to Engineering and Dietrich

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown):
ACT: 36 (35 English, 36 Science, 36 Math, 35 Reading)
SAT II: 750 Biology, 780 Physics, 790 Math II, 710 Spanish
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.92
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):
AP (place score in parenthesis): English Language (5) English Lit(5) Physics B (5) Physics C Mechanics (5) Biology (5) Chemistry (4) US History (4) World History (5) US Government (5) Calc BC (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis): History HL (6) English HL (6) Math HL (6) Physics HL (6) Spanish SL (7) Biology SL (6)
Senior Year Course Load: College English, College History, IB Further Math, AP Computer Science, Internship
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): None
Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Politics club (President, Founder)
Nonprofit jewelry business (President, founder)
DECA (International championship competitor)
Political campaign volunteer
City government intern
Research internships with local economics professors
Piano
Job/Work Experience:
Ski instructing
Volunteer/Community service:
Nonprofit business, political campaigns, city hall volunteering
Summer Activities:
Essays:?? Well-written and unusual but not “likeable”
Teacher Recommendation: Waived FERPA
Counselor Rec:
Additional Rec:
Interview: Didn’t have

Other

State (if domestic applicant): WA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Indian (South Asian)
Gender: F
Income Bracket: High
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none

Reflection

Strengths: Test scores, grades, unusual ECs
Weaknesses: No national awards, only two leadership positions
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: My Why CMU essays were really detailed and I mentioned specific professors and classes, and my academic record is good
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Rejected: MIT, UChicago, Columbia
Waitlisted: Northwestern, Duke
Accepted: Oxford, London School of Economics, Michigan, Johns Hopkins, UCLA, UC Berkeley, University of Washington

General Comments:[/noparse]

94

Rejected. Meh grades 35 ACT. 800 math level 2. Tests mean nothing.

95

@XAtlas if you get merit scholarship from RPI, how do you negotiate for aid from cmu?

96

D was rejected, great grades, 760 Math 2 and 2050 SAT. We were surprised as she had stunning ec’s and we believed that they really showcased her commitment to STEM.

97

Decision: Accepted

Objective:[ul]
[] SAT I (breakdown): 2220 Superscore (700/800/720)
[] ACT: N/A
[] SAT II: 800 Math II, 730 Bio E, 730 Chem
[] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.8
[] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 10%
[] ELC?: What?
[] AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Comp Sci A (4), AP Bio (3), AP Gov (3), AP Lang (3), AP Physics 1 (4), AP Calc BC (2 AB subscore 3), AP Chem (3) - Yes, I know they suck. Lol
[] IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
[] Senior Year Course Load: Internship, Biology Research Practicum, Advanced Organic Chemistry, AP Lit, AP Stat, Teacher Aid
[] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Nothing amazing. Pretty standard honor student/varsity athlete awards.

[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Wrestling (2 years captain, 3 years varsity, 4 years total), Computer club (2 years president, 4 years total), Robotics (4 years), Freshmen mentoring program (3 years), NHS (2 years), Tutoring (2 years)
[] Job/Work Experience: Internship senior year at UMD, Shadowed pediatrician over summer, Coauthored a medical research paper
[] Volunteer/Community service: About 150 hours of various community service at school
[] Summer Activities: Took classes at school, club wrestling, shadowed pediatrician, took undergrad class at JHU
[] Essays:Really passionate personal statement that some may consider as a sob story, but I did emphasize that I made it to the other side stronger and motivated. Overall strong and unique essays that I put a lot of work into.
[] Teacher Recommendation:Decent rec from freshmen Algebra 2 teacher that was also my head wrestling coach for 2 years and stepped down to assistant coach the next 2 years. Strong rec from junior year world history teacher that I aid for senior year
[] Counselor Rec: I come from a big school so she just based it off of 3 pages worth of info I gave her. It was her first year, and I tried my best to meet and get to know her early on in the year to make sure she would write a good rec.
[] Additional Rec: Strong rec from a medical doctor I worked with
[li] Interview: N/A[/li]
[/ul]Other[ul]
[] State (if domestic applicant): Maryland
[] Country (if international applicant): USA
[] School Type: Public magnet program that is predominantly African American
[] Ethnicity: Asian
[] Gender: Male
[] Income Bracket: Upper-middle
[li] Hooks (URM, first generation college, research, etc.): Mentioned above[/li]
[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[] Strengths: Well rounded, strong essay, pretty good rec letters
[] Weaknesses: Low AP Scores, Awards aren’t very extraordinary
[] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: My scores were decent, I like to think I’m rather unique and well rounded.
[] Schools were you accepted to: UCLA, Emory, CMU, WFU, and UMD Honors College
[] Schools were you wait listed at: UChicago, WUSTL, Vandy, Notre Dame, and Georgetown
[] Schools you were rejected from? All the Ivy Leagues :/, Stanford, Duke, JHU, Northwestern, Berkeley, and Tufts
[li] Schools you are waiting for? N/A[/li][/ul]General Comments: Hindsight is 20/20. Time to make my decision.

98

adhebbar: we received a letter in the mail the other day from CMU asking us to send in other offers we had and ask for our financial aid to be reviewed. We will send it in, but unless they cough up about 25k there is no way she can go there. Can I ask how people are affording this school? I feel terrible that she earned a spot and can’t go, but there is just no way. We are definitely well off, but this price tag with no aid is crazy.

poetmom: I’m sorry your D was rejected. We were floored that mine was accepted. She has very good grades (not amazing) and 2150 SAT, and wonderful ecs. However, he ecs are almost all language based. She has very little STEM experience but was admitted for SCS. I think hers came down to a very glowing letter from her counselor, but who knows?

99

Is anyone who got accepted to CMU planning on not going? (specifically SCS?)

100

I don’t think my daughter is going to SCS. Why? Are you wait listed? I think it says farther up the thread that they don’t usually pull from that list unfortunately.