CMU is ED 20% acceptance rate vs the 14% RD acceptance rate. Could be worth it now that I know they don’t do scholarship matching anymore- when did they end the practice? CMU has been my dream school since middle school due to the academics, culture and that I have family in the area.
CMU is far reachier today than it was in the early 2000s. For Fall 2000, the acceptance rate for men was 31%, and for women, 45%.
For Fall 2022, those rates were 9% and 14.7% respectively.
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I don’t think they ever did scholarship matching, but who knows. Scholarship matching really isn’t a thing anywhere. Some schools will meet the cost/FA package of a select set of their peers (typically need based aid), but even that is becoming less common.
That difference is not as great as it looks because ED includes some hooked applicants with high chance of acceptance…recruited athletes etc.
You have to run the NPC at the link in my last post to get a cost estimate. If you don’t qualify for need based aid, or enough need based aid to get to the budget your parents have, you wouldn’t apply at all, let alone ED.
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Are you sure CMU has recruited athletes? Could be wrong, but the lack of athletic scholarships and D3 makes me wonder otherwise.
I’ll run the NPC for CMU and some of the other schools. Can’t believe this is all so expensive. The OOS tuition freeze at Purdue sounds really good right now.
100% sure they have recruited athletes. Athletic scholarships are not allowed by any D3 school, but most still recruit and set aside slots for student-athletes.
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Unexpected, but I guess that means I don’t have to change anything. Thank you!
Side note, would love to meet someone who is going to CMU or MIT just to play football… must be a riot.
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It is. But, you are a strong student and will have options. I would drop the idea of a dream school because, well, it doesn’t serve a positive purpose.
You will be successful anywhere you go.
Take time to do some more research on the many schools mentioned on this thread, and think about what qualities/factors are most important to you in a college/your college experience.
Run the NPCs with your parents, and understand what the budget is. That is going to drive your list. Posters here can help you, but we do need to know what schools look to be affordable after you run the NPCs.
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Yes. My daughter with very similar stats ended up at UDel, and probably close to $35,000 after the highest merit award. Our in state schools run about $30,000. I think the reachiest school she applied to was Villanova honors, no merit, way too expensive. Her stats allowed her to go OOS, but not to a more selective university.
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You’re right. Encouraging but still realistic to say that. I figure since I’m going for an MS my undergrad school doesn’t matter that much anyway.
That said, it’s hard not to get emotional over the fact that I’ve worked hard for so long only to be held back financially.
Many, many, many students run into this. I know so many valedictorians and salutatorians who attended out state flagship, college is very expensive. However, you will find very bright students everywhere for this reason.
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Yep, it’s annoying, but it’s why one of the most popular bits of advice on this board is to not have a dream school. There are so many things out of your control when it comes to what college you can attend, it makes little sense to become too emotionally invested in any particular school.
There are many paths to success, and your high school track record indicates that you are likely to be successful at a lot of different places as long as you keep up that work and attitude.
Better to face this now than in March when you’ve fallen in love with a school and find out you can’t go because of money. Start researching more affordable options… you’ll find you can start to really appreciate them, and get excited for them.
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Also, I’m not advising you to give up on CMU or other reaches – there may be ways to get scholarships to make it happen… but just recognize that it’s unlikely and find other places you can be happy at.
You have an impressive HS record - kudos to you.
CMU is a reach for everyone, but my son was accepted by CMU with similar stats, so you have a shot there. The downside is The Nerd Farm is stingy with financial aid. On the upside, in addition to an amazing engineering college, CMU has interdisciplinary programs that might be a good fit for you like Engineering and Public Policy.
Have you considered honors colleges at schools like Pitt, Ohio State, etc.? Acceptance to honors colleges often come with healthy financial aid.
When you apply to Purdue make sure they are honoring their policy of guaranteeing sophomore engineering students their desired major if they meet a given freshman GPA hurdle (I think 3.2). When my son went to an accepted students meeting the Purdue rep let slip that they were not honoring that policy due to high number of matriculations during COVID madness. It would hurt to bust your tail to earn a 3.4 to get into MechE and be told that they only had a CivE slot for you.
You may want to consider Case Western as a safety/strong fit. They are generous with aid and someone with your stats would likely be offered a merit award equal to 50% of tuition.
I would not worry about club leadership. Schools have gotten wise to students padding their applications with clubs where they do very little. They would rather see you do a couple activities where you demonstrate dedication, advancement and leadership.
OOS admissions are very difficult at Georgia Tech. Most of the OOS applicants that I know who have gotten in recently have been either valedictorian or salutatorian of their respective high school classes.
Not the case at my magnet school- the average situation there is a choice between GA Tech and UVa, and most people in this situation have worse stats than me.
I’ll add to that. We build the ideal dream school image on a very incomplete picture. Once there, no school, and I mean NO school is without flaws. This board is littered with posts about students transferring out of their “dream school” every year.
I’ll add to what others have said too. Get an exact number from your parents. That will keep you and them from being in the bind of being accepted to a school outside of your budget. No school is worth you leveraging your future earnings significantly.
Be careful of NPCs. They include loans.
Good luck. You’ll have lots of great options that are affordable.
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CMU has a gender parity policy for STEM majors, so it is far more competitive for men to get into the College of Engineering than for women. In the 1980s CMU had 2.5 men/woman. I think today it is much closer to 50/50.
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Pretty sure every school has this.
No, they do not. It’s the exception not the rule. MANY schools have significant gender imbalance, especially in STEM majors. It’s getting better though.
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I might go for honors colleges at those schools which was my original idea for Penn State, may as well swap them out.
I’m aware of the E&PP program at CMU, it’s actually part of why it was my dream school. I would still LOVE to go there if I can pay for it.
Good to hear about leadership. I still staunchly hate the college admissions industrial complex, but at least they’re getting a little smarter.