Chances at Tepper

Colleges and Universities A-Z Carnegie Mellon University
1

<p>GPA 3.35
Upward trend
Dip in grades junior year...two of my family members passed away, along with one of my friends...</p>

<p>Took mostly AP/AC classes...will graduate with 6-7 AP's.
Very strong public school</p>

<p>33 ACT
Retaking hopefully for a 35 this fall</p>

<p>Symphony Orchestra
Played at Carnegie Hall
Numerous state awards</p>

<p>Business Professionals of America
Leadership
Two national level awards
Three state level awards
7 Regional level awards</p>

<p>nominated for wharton future leaders in business
Internship with accounting firm + recs
Developed marketing plan for accounting firm</p>

<p>School Paper
Editor-in-chief
Several awards</p>

<p>Photography
Published photographer
Attended international photography convention
Finalist in nationwide photo contest</p>

<p>Two Varsity letters (not good enough to get recruited though)</p>

<p>Vice President of three smaller clubs (may not list....too "laundry list")</p>

<p>Riflery
Pro Marksman
Marksman
Marksman 1st class
Sharpshooter
Sharpshooter Bar I
Sharpshooter Bar II
Sharpshooter Bar III
Sharpshooter Bar IV
Sharpshooter Bar V</p>

<p>Low income, extremely low EFC (zero last time I used the calculator)
Amazing recs (teacher told me)
Writing/english is my strong suit so hopefully a very strong essay.
Rec from Umichigan retired professor on my behalf
Letter from psychologist/social worker to explain my grade slip.</p>

<p>I really like CMU and Tepper seems like a great bschool.
The thing is, I heard CMU really likes math/science kids....as you can
see most of my EC's are business/arts related. Math isn't my strong
suit either....and my grades def. reflect that. The more I think about it, the more I feel like I shouldn't apply. </p>

<p>CMU is the only reason i'm studying up for SAT II's.
My passion is business.
I'm also applying to UofM michigan, Emory and Indiana; if you know anything about those schools, chances would be appreciated.</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

2

<p>Hey Badkarma89, sorry to hear about the losses of your family members. I can relate; my mother passed away when I was in ninth grade. Nonetheless while your ACT score is very good (I'm not sure if I'd advise retaking it -- a 33 is very good.), your low GPA is going to raise some eyebrows particularly at a school as selective as Tepper. You didn't include your list of APs taken. If you've taken a lot of them, that will somewhat remedy your low GPA. It's always worth applying, but just make sure you have safeties.</p>

3

<p>I wouldn't recommend CMU for an applicant who has significant financial need. CMU is notorious for gapping applicants (not filling their need sufficiently) and does not guarantee to meet 100% of need.</p>

4

<p>Hmm notorious? They will meet your needed FAFSA aid from my experiences. Several kids have done ED and gotten nice aid packages so I think if they want you they will give you proper aid. </p>

<p>I don't know if Wolves here really loves Indiana or something and feels a need to come here to promote the school but I believe Tepper is definitely worth a shot.</p>

<p>Here are some facts:</p>

<p>The Tepper Business School has enjoyed a 50% jump in applications for 2006 and consequently reduced its acceptance rate to a low 19.23%. For '05 the school sent most of its students to IBM (5 students), JP Morgan (5 students), Lehman Brothers (4 students), Merrill Lynch (4 students), CGI-AMS (3 students), and other top companies. It should also be noted that all five students that went to IBM were hired as consultants. With "mode" companies such as these, it is no wonder Carnegie Mellon is notorious for its job networking. As of 2006, Carnegie Mellon University was listed as one of the "25 New Ivies" By Newsweek. It was described in this listing as having great job opportunities and its business school overlapping with that of Wharton. Goldman Sachs was included in Tepper's 2006 postgrad reports as a "mode company" with three students recruited. Other "mode" companies include Deustche Bank with four students and UBS also with four students. JP Morgan had three students and so did IBM Consulting. </p>

<p>Note: A mode company are companies that recruit the most students from CMU. For Tepper, these companies have mostly been JP Morgan, Merill Lynch, IBM Consulting, Goldman Sachs, Deustche Bank, JP Morgan, and Lehman Brothers. These results can be found at the career center at <a href="http://www.cmu.edu%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.cmu.edu&lt;/a> and under Business Admin surveys.</p>

5

<p>AP Physics
AP English
AP Calc
AP Chem
AP History
AP Gov
AP Euro History</p>

<p>I'm taking most of the AP's this year. </p>

<p>I know tepper is a great bschool. My number one choice is actually michigan because Ross is the number 2 bschool + instate tuition for me. I wanted more reaches and I thought Tepper was a good one for me.</p>

<p>I don't really know how selective CMU/Tepper is so I guess i'm here to find out.</p>

6

<p>It's always good to apply to a couple of reaches. Tepper is very selective. I would guess your chances of getting into Michigan as in-state student would be slightly higher than Tepper, though like you said Michigan has a great business school too.</p>

<p>Best of luck in the college process and feel free to ask any other questions you might have.</p>

7

<p>
[quote]
They will meet your needed FAFSA aid

[/quote]
CMU's common data set shows differently. Of those who filed the FAFSA, 27.8% had their need fully met.

[quote]
I don't know if Wolves here really loves Indiana or something and feels a need to come here to promote the school but I believe Tepper is definitely worth a shot.

[/quote]
How mature of you. I never once mentioned my school in my post. And in another thread, I even told the OP not to waste his time applying to IU. But i've come to expect this out of you.</p>

8

<p>1st: Well I said "from my experiences". That seems weird since many of my friends receive the right amount of aid (though perhaps more in loans than free money) but that's been my experience. I mostly disagreed with the "notorious" statement than anything else.</p>

<p>2nd: Yea it's really hard to miss the Indiana U. on your profile but it is quite funny how you are on the CMU board with negative responses when one of the other considered schools is IU. But like I said, "I don't know" what your purpose is so your response is welcome.</p>

9

<p>I have a question about Tepper: does it have a strong finance and economics department? I want to major in finance primarily and if I have a chnace double major in economics as well. Would this be possible in Tepper?</p>

10

<ol>
<li>Yes the departments are very strong. </li>
<li>It is a Business degree with a concentration in "Finance" if you so choose. </li>
<li>Yes you can double in economics and many students do so (as well as a double in stat which some of my friends are doing). Business/Math doubles are also popular. I would think the Business/Econ double is the easiest as many courses overlap and you probably only need to pick up a few extra classes to fill your electives.</li>
</ol>

11

<p>
[quote]
many of my friends receive the right amount of aid

[/quote]
Many of your friends is not representative of the entire population. Because applicant A got aid, that doesn't mean applicant B will get it. You look at the common data set to get an average. You estimate what your potential aid will be. Many times, colleges try to "lure" top applicants in with scholarships and good aid packages. Your friends may have completely different stats. Each situation is unique. The bottom line is you look at the CDS, you see how they are with aid, and you see how often they fill 100% of need. If you have an EFC of 1200, and are going to a school that only meets 80% of need with a price tag of 45000, they're making you pay 7800 more/year than what you are expected to. CMU only has 1 in 4 accepted applicants who file for financial aid come away with their need completely filled. If you have significant financial need, don't apply there.</p>

<p>I am here to help. I don't go around suggesting to people that they should put themselves in bad situations to promote a school. I never once said the word Indiana in my posts, I don't know why you are consistently insinuating that I have a bias, or I am trying to do one thing or another just because of my geographical location. This thread had absolutely nothing to do with my school, I never had any intentions of promoting my school, and yet you somehow get out of "I wouldn't recommend CMU for an applicant who has significant financial need." "Wolves here really loves Indiana or something and feels a need to come here to promote the school". When in fact, right now, I don't love Indiana. </p>

<p>I'm trying to help the OP, who i've already had numerous conversations with through PMs about their college process. That's what we do on this site, we help others with their applications. It would be nice for a change if you tried to do so as well.</p>

12

<p>lol is all I have to say. You're hilarious. Thanks for the help man you're totally right I should definitely be more helpful from now on. BTW: I can't find you suggesting to the op not applying to IU but that's cool I'm just not being helpful enough.</p>

13

<p>to original poster:</p>

<p>Have you considered MIT</p>

<p>They recruit marksmen for their D1 program and I have heard they have an excellent business school. They also promise to meet full financial need. Contact the coach for their rifle program and ask him about your chances - you are looking for reaches right?</p>

14

<p>MIT will be a lot harder than Tepper to get into. You don't declare your major there till beginning of sophomore year, so you don't apply to separate schools like at CMU. MIT accepted about 15% of their applicants and your stats would be signficantly lower than MIT's. As MIT is the strongest affirmative action school, if you are under-represented the figure would go up significantly; if you're not, I believe about 9 or 10% of white males were admitted. If you really want to go to MIT, then I'd encourage you to apply, but just know what you are up against.</p>

15

<p>Of the schools you mentioned your best chances by far are at Indiana, I believe you should be in there (great business school). 3.35 is very low for Emory, Michigan and CMU but given your circumstances, your good ACT and your heavy AP schedule, I think you have a chance for at least one of them. Sorry about your friend and family members; perhaps you or guidance counselor can briefly explain your personal problems and how they made the grades dip. You'd hope they'd understand.</p>

16

<p>If you have a heavy AP schedule for senior year (5 APs) but your school did not let you take any other during your other 3 years in high school, does that look good? </p>

<p>NOTE: I am only asking this specific question and it is for all colleges as well.</p>

17

<p>It's hard to generalize that because it depends on how selective the college is. Some colleges like a Caltech really look at how you did in AP courses to evaluate you, so if you were to apply early there, you'd probably get deferred (if all other parts of your application were solid) so they'd be able to see how you did the first semester in the AP classes. With most schools, though, I think they'll like to see that you are challenging yourself with AP courses (which your senior courseload will indicate), but won't be overly concerned about not having any record of your performance in AP courses.</p>

18

<p>Very impressive, but then I'm impressed with anything with "Carnegie" attached. There are no shoe-ins at the top ranked schools. The next few more years will be the peaking of the generation of boomers echo/X generation convergence and there will be some disappointed kids-but the good news is that there are a lot of schools getting a whole lot better to make college selection broader. (Hint-try a couple of the peer schools, especially the one that is home of photography." </p>

<p>Why don't you try the CMU's HSS-Art School? Dual major in business? The Tartan & Pulse can always appreciate experience talent.</p>

<p>PS: I don't believe in predicting "chances" to said school, and this post can be applied to any number of CMU prospects. I will say is to have great recs, get along with people, be focused but see the world widely.</p>

19

<p>H&SS is definitely a lot easier to get into than Tepper.</p>

<p>As far as the chances posts, we don't give numbers with the purpose of hurting or disappointing people, we do that to help people understand what their chances are for certain schools and what schools fall under reaches, matches, and safeties for them. If you don't want an honest answer about your chances, then why would you start a thread titled "Chances"?</p>

20

<p>Good post by itstoomuch.</p>