Chances for CMU

Colleges and Universities A-Z Carnegie Mellon University
1

<p>White Male, PA
Private High School</p>

<p>ACT: 33 (36 Math, 34 Reading, 32 English, 28 Science)
SAT: 1370/2130 (690 M, 680 CR, 760 W)
Subject tests: Math II - 790, USH - 710</p>

<p>GPA: 4.22 W
- UW GPA not recorded, school doesn't rank, but top 5% </p>

<p>8 APs classes and a lot of honors classes by end of senior year </p>

<p>Calc AB: 5
US History: 5
Euro: 4
English Lang: 3 </p>

<p>Next year: AP Calc BC, AP Chem, AP Bio, AP English Lit </p>

<p>General ECs:
high school soccer and club soccer (captain)<br>
high school track & field - varsity
numerous community service projects, trips, and clubs (don't feel like listing)
Mathletes
National Honor Society
Parish Involvement - March for Life, Respect Life, Lector, Parish Carnival
Tutor, Tour guide for prospective students to high school<br>
no awards except First Honors at my school every semester </p>

<p>Work Experience:
Cashier at local grocery store: November 2007 - Present
15 hours a week</p>

<p>I would be applying as an engineering major. Do I have a good chance of acceptace and if accepted do I have any chance for merit-aid because I won't qualify for financial aid I'm pretty sure. Also, do I really need to take a science subject test? I really don't want to, but I know CMU requires two. </p>

<p>Thanks for any opinions!</p>

2

<p>note: i would be applying to CIT. </p>

<p>also my math scores are strong except SAT Math 690. 36 ACT Math, 790 Math II, Calc AB: 5, Calc BC next year. my 690 isn't even in the CMU range so will CMU consider it or just ignore it and accept my ACT score since i got a perfect score on ACT math?</p>

3

<p>Probably won't care about your SAT math score. You shouldn't have submitted it; your ACT scores were better anyway.</p>

4

<p>I actually haven't sent any of my SAT scores to CMU... yet. But seeing as CMU requires 2 subject tests they will see my SAT scores anyway so that's why I posted them.</p>

5

<p>Also, you should really take a science SAT 2. CIT requires a math and a science. I doubt they would reject you outright, but it'll be a big disadvantage.</p>

<p>Academic</a> Requirements</p>

6

<p>yeah i realized that. i really don't want to be I guess I'll have to take Chemistry in November. </p>

<p>I mean I'll have taken 2 years of Chemistry (Honors and AP), 2 years of Biology (Honors and AP) and one year of Physics (Honors). Isn't that enough for them?! I guess not.</p>

7

<p>You should try to take the SAT II Chem as soon as possible after the AP test if possible. That way all of the info will be fresh in your mind and you won't have to worry about restudying or anything like that.</p>

<p>I took my Chem exam the fall after I took the AP exam, and I didn't study at all for it. It took quite a while for all the wheels to start turning in my head again, and by some miracle I managed an 800. It was pretty nerve-wracking since all of my friends and I had different answers for so many problems, haha.</p>

8

<p>I will be taking AP Chem as a senior. I took Honors Chemistry sophomore year and did well, but i don't remember anything. I already bought the PR SAT II Chem book and i plan to take the subject test in November after about 2 months of AP Chem.</p>

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<p>bump... anyone else?</p>

10

<p>Pretty good match for acceptance, raise your math SAT score or overall score for a better shot at merit and yes I believe you have to do the required subject tests. Chemistry was always pretty easy and I think biology is too.</p>

11

<p>wow i only took 1 year of chem(ap) its a reletively easy subject considering sat2 scores are like 96 percentile is a 800.
i got a 5 in ap and 800 in sat2</p>

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<p>"its a reletively easy subject considering sat2 scores are like 96 percentile is a 800." </p>

<p>wth?! since when is the difficulty of a subject dependent upon the percentile rank for an 800 on a subject test?? that's some terrible reasoning. the difficulty of a subject varies from school to school and person to person. </p>

<p>why did you even post here?</p>

13

<p>why do u post here if you are trying for a top 20 school and arent in the 96 percentile for chem.
plus excluding math1 sat2 which is a strict perfect = 800, all the other sat2 800s vacillates. it all depends on where you stand on average regarding the other ppl who take the test with you. Chem for example, 800 cut off may be 4 wrong or 6 wrong depending on the year, so, if you are at high percentile regarding the rest of the country, you have high score.</p>

14

<p>I think your numbers are Ok, fairly typical for CMU applicant. I'd consider it a match or more likely match/reach. You asked about merit aid...CMU's on the stingy side there, you need to stand out in the pool of applicants. Since you're a white guy from PA and you don't have stats that stand out in any way (for CMU that is), I wouldn't count on it.</p>

15

<p>yeah i'm not banking on merit aid.. would be nice though. i'll be content with an acceptance letter. </p>

<p>unholy:
"why do u post here if you are trying for a top 20 school and arent in the 96 percentile for chem. plus excluding math1 sat2 which is a strict perfect = 800, all the other sat2 800s vacillates. it all depends on where you stand on average regarding the other ppl who take the test with you. Chem for example, 800 cut off may be 4 wrong or 6 wrong depending on the year, so, if you are at high percentile regarding the rest of the country, you have high score." </p>

<p>i really don't think you understand what is going on. I made this thread to see if I would be competitive at Carnegie Mellon University. Yes, I asked if it was necessary to take a science subject test, and I realize I should. But you came to my thread and posted your chemistry score and you are now telling me something that is completely irrelevant to anything I was looking for. </p>

<p>I am seriously worried about you. since when is a perfect 800 Chem subject test score a requirement for admission to top 20 schools? also, if an 800 Chem score is 96 percentile as you say then that means the test is actually difficult not "relatively easy". the 800 math 2 score is around low 90%, which means an 800 is not a necessarily a "perfect" score in terms of questions right and wrong. </p>

<p>i still have no idea why you posted here.</p>

16

<p>Actually, if the 800 score is in the low 90th percentile, that means many people probably did get perfects on the exam, and it would be an easier one. For example, look at the distribution of the SAT II Chinese exam. Getting a 700 on that test is actually really lousy.</p>

<p>If, say, a 760 is a 99th percentile, then that test would be more difficult, as very few, if any, people got all of the questions correct.</p>

<p>It doesn't matter, though, as an 800 on the SAT II Chem is hardly a requirement to get into CMU. One of my good friends while there didn't go to a HS that offered AP courses, didn't have a way to attend a community college, and it was before online courses became more accepted. He didn't do very well on his SAT II science test, but he still managed to get all As in his CS courses at CMU (his science requirements were another matter, though).</p>

17

<p>RacinReaver it could be an easy exam or it could be a self selecting smarter group that takes the test. Surely you wouldn't argue that the Math2 SAT is easier than the Math1. But a large portion of test takers get 800s on it.</p>

<p>As far as the OP is concerned. Do take the Chem SAT your stats are good otherwise.</p>

18

<p>yeah i realized that. i really don't want to be I guess I'll have to take Chemistry in November. </p>

<p>that was the reason for my first post</p>

<p>"its a reletively easy subject considering sat2 scores are like 96 percentile is a 800."</p>

<p>wth?! since when is the difficulty of a subject dependent upon the percentile rank for an 800 on a subject test?? that's some terrible reasoning. the difficulty of a subject varies from school to school and person to person.</p>

<p>why did you even post here?</p>

<p>that was the reason for my second post</p>

<p>and that last post i dunno im not gonna post no more, its not gona get me into college...</p>

19

<p>
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and that last post i dunno im not gonna post no more, its not gona get me into college...

[/Quote]
</p>

<p>Thank you. </p>

<p>
[Quote]
RacinReaver it could be an easy exam or it could be a self selecting smarter group that takes the test. Surely you wouldn't argue that the Math2 SAT is easier than the Math1. But a large portion of test takers get 800s on it.</p>

<p>As far as the OP is concerned. Do take the Chem SAT your stats are good otherwise

[/Quote]
</p>

<p>Exactly. And I plan too.</p>

20

<p>I actually thought the Math IIc was easier than the Math I, and I got a higher score on it. :p Probably helps that it wasn't stuff that I hadn't taken a course in since middle school.</p>

<p>That said, I don't think the SAT II Chem is nearly as self-selective as tests such as Chinese or one of the other languages which are probably only taken by native speakers. I think the II Chem is taken mostly by students which are required to take one science, and haven't done physics yet. As far as I recall, when I took the SAT II tests, the physics and bio 800s corresponded to a higher percentile than the chemistry, and I can't believe there's that much of a difference between students taking bio, chem, and physics.</p>