chances for CMU?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Carnegie Mellon University
1

<p>Hey guys,</p>

<p>im a rising senior at a prestigious high school in new york city. my average is an 89 (nothing to be impressed about) and most of my courses have been geared towards humanities. i've taken three AP courses so far (english language, spanish language and us govt) i didnt do that well on the exams (3's) and im taking two more AP courses for senior year (english lit, ap calc AB). </p>

<p>my regents for math and science arent spectacular (90's for math, low 80's high 70's for sciences) however, my english and history regents are better (95+)</p>

<p>my SAT combined is a 2020 (yet again, unimpressive; 690V, 700M, 630W)
im going to retake my SAT IIs this fall and im also taking the ACT this october.</p>

<p>my EC's are a little better though</p>

<p>FRESHMAN YEAR:</p>

<p>-volunteered at local hospital about 110 hours
-volunteered for a saturday sports summer camp as an instructor's assistant for volleyball. participated in sports day and attended field trip.
-joined the REd Cross Youth Group </p>

<p>SOPHOMORE YEAR:</p>

<p>-was part of an empowerment program called Chinatown Youth Initiatives (CYI). Participated in a series of leadership and empowerment workshops revolving around Asian American issues such as media representation, social justice, self and community identity, politics and government, writing and the arts...etc. We interacted with community leaders and attended an Asian film festival. i was also part of the yearbook and participated in their annual Chinatown Beautification Day as a team leader. There were over 350 people in attendance for that event and it was a record success for CYI.
-in school, i also became part of my school newspaper and wrote for the sports department. this was also the year in which i became part of the jv volleyball team at stuy.
-i also created my own awareness club in school regarding falun gong (and had a pretty hard time with it; i've been turned down by a couple of teachers when i asked them to be the club advisor since they didnt want to be involved with something that is viewed as a "cult" and i've also had my club meeting signs vandalised. there was a lot of negativity revolving that club and it's still ongoing.)
-Volunteer for Buddhist Temple during saturdays (cook lunch for senior citizens and chat with kids and elderly after lunch)
-second year at Red Cross</p>

<p>JUNIOR YEAR:</p>

<p>-part of Oxford Health Plans' SIP Program (Summer Internship Program).
I worked as a teacher/counselor at a summer day camp (worked from 8am-6pm, mon-fri). it was pretty rigorous work. a lot of responsibility and dedication was expected of me. i basically did the same things an elementary public school teacher did ( made lesson plans; taught math, english, science and history. planned recreational activities, gave proper attention in case of nosebleeds, insect bites, bruises, scrapes and falls. made up my own tests for my students, made up own homework and classwork and graded everything, took my students to breakfast and lunch, dismissed them, addressed parental concerns, supervised kids on field trips...etc.) there was a lot expected of me and it was a learning experience for both my kids and me. the SIP program also required the attendance of several community service events and training workshops in order to graduate (in which i met all requirements so yayyy =]).
-volunteered again for the saturday sports summer camp as instructor's assistant again. i was also the yearbook photographer and became part of their dragon boating team.
- appointed as Special Events Coordinator at Red Cross YG, and then this summer, i was promoted as the Special Events Executive Board Member for Red Cross YG
- second year as part of school newspaper staff
- contributed to school's departmental arts and literary magazine
- second year as president of my own club</p>

<p>i have a pretty good teacher recommendation from english teacher but a pretty average one for science. i plan on continuing with Red Cross and my club as well as writing for school newspaper for senior year. For Red Cross, I'm planning a new fundraiser for the 06-07 school year and i'm really hoping to see it happen.</p>

<p>I know I'm pretty average academically.What are my chances?</p>

<p>What are some other reaches, matches and safeties? Please give some suggestions! Help of any kind is appreciated! THANKS!</p>

2

<p>What majors are you considering? At CMU, you apply to a specific school, and the admissions criterea vary greatly. In general, I would suggest applying to schools that are less numbers-driven since you seem to have stronger extracurriculars than scores and grades. The parents on the parents board might be able to help you find some matches and safeties.</p>

3

<p>im planning on majoring in business, so maybe college of humanities and social science or tepper school of business. what are my chances at those schools?</p>

4

<p>Be specific. Tepper might be a challenge. Creative Writing on the other hand...</p>

5

<p>creative writing? so perhaps i have a better chance at CMU CHSS. cool. thanks. any recommended matches and safeties? im also looking at some liberal arts schools too.</p>

6

<p>Hey Nafeiniar, don't be so negative on yourself. It's not true that you're only an average student. The average score on the new SAT is about 1500, so you're obviously well above average. You may not get into your top school (I didn't), but try to maintain a high self-esteem. </p>

<p>I basically agree with what everyone has said. Tepper only accepts 20% of their applicants and would be a challenge to get into, whereas HSS accepts nearly 50% and would probably be a good match school.</p>

<p>As far as other liberal arts schools to look into, I would advise you to consider:</p>

<p>Washington & Lee (match, possibly slight reach)
Bucknell (match)
Trinity (match)
Kenyon (match)
Franklin & Marshall (safety)
Richmond (match)
Gettysburg (safety)
Furman (safety)</p>

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

7

<p>Hey, nafeiniar, I assume you know this, but you can apply to both HSS and Tepper. They will each admit/reject separately.</p>

8

<p>It says on CMU.edu that CIT also takes almost 50%</p>

9

<p>Right, here's the link to CMU's admission statistics for each school.</p>

<p><a href="http://my.cmu.edu/site/admission/menuitem.edce48707aab43c019300710d4a02008/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://my.cmu.edu/site/admission/menuitem.edce48707aab43c019300710d4a02008/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>As you can see, Tepper and SCS each only accept around 20%. However the average SAT and GPA score for SCS is much higher than any other school, so I think SCS is the toughest to get into given the quality of the applicants. Tepper's acceptance rate may be low but their SAT and GPA score is similar to CIT's.</p>

<p>Hope this helps.</p>

10

<p>thanks bachovchin. that helped me a lot :)</p>

11

<p>would it be a good idea to transfer to a different school within CMU? is that allowed and what are the pros and cons of doing that?</p>

12

<p>Good idea: Not really
Allowed: Yes
Pros: You get into the major you want
Cons: There is not enough space (you won't get in for some reason) and you are stuck in a major you do not like for four years.
Cons are mostly for drama/SCS and perhaps ECE major types where space is limited and competition is fierce. Drama would probably be the hardest if not impossible to transfer into as it takes a handful out of hundreds of applicants each year.</p>

13

<p>Nafeiniar, of the two schools you mentioned, it would be much harder to transfer into Tepper than H&SS. My advice would be to apply to both schools, and if accepted to both and if it is still pretty much a toss up between the two, start in Tepper.</p>

<p>Hope this helps.</p>