<p>Anyone applied for the 2009 pre-college program and has heard back from CMU?</p>
<p>Son has applied...no word yet.</p>
<p>When did your son submit his application?</p>
<p>When I got in last year, my letters at least weren't necessarily linked to the freshman admissions cycle.</p>
<p>As a fun sidenote about how the admissions office links it all together, when I got my admissions ID for actual college admissions this year and logged in, I could see all the precollege documents sent/received from last year in my account. So they definitely keep track of you over the summer as it relates to your potential admission next year.</p>
<p>On a side note, from someone who was in the video game design class last year (it was a lot of work; harder than it sounds), I'd definitely recommend it. I fell in love with the university, learned a lot, and had a ton of fun. I like what I did (as opposed to something like the AP classes) because I was able to take away something tangible: all the games I made. I have friends who did the architecture stuff so I could give you some input on that if your child is doing that.</p>
<p>Also, your kid won't be sequestered with kids of the same program. I was roomed with someone in the same program, but our hall was filled with people from everything.</p>
<p>I applied to the ap/ea program. I called them and the lady said they started making decisions two weeks ago. I sent mine in January and as of last monday they hadnt done mine yet. I m going to call again tomorow so hopefully I find out.</p>
<p>update...</p>
<p>I just called for my brother who's currently out of the country for spring break. Was told that he got accepted to both ap/ea and the game academy with letters/stuff just sent out last Thursday. We sent in his materials back in January.</p>
<p>Now, we need to figure out which program he'll attend. I personally did the ap/ea program a long time ago (7 years!) and really enjoyed it, but we are not sure which one he would benefit more. He got a 5 on the AP computer science exam last year already and has had 3 semesters of programming total (including Python and Java).</p>
<p>I called as well and I was accepted to ap/ea and game academy. She said letters were sent out last thursday as well.
I sent mine in in January also.</p>
<p>Ill give you my two cents. I attended the AP/EA program last summer, and knowing people who were in game academy, I would fully recommend AP/EA over it. If you're in AP/EA, you're with actual CMU professors taking actual CMU classes for actual CMU transcript credit. If you impress a professor, you have a huge foot in the door (mine wrote me a letter of recommendation directly to the CMU admissions officers, and I met and impressed the dean of the school I was applying to through one of the classes I was taking).</p>
<p>While I don't in any way mean to dismiss the game academy, from what I heard it was much more of a 'summer camp' program as opposed to AP/EA, which was almost exactly taking a legitimate semester at CMU.</p>
<p>It depends on your priorities and personal interests, of course, but if CMU is a choice college for you when you're doing actual applications, and you want to challenge yourself, definitely go with AP/EA. Unlike most precollege programs Ive heard about (friends went to many different ones, etc), CMU's AP/EA really does live up to the marketing hype of making you a college student for 6 weeks.</p>
<p>I'm going to do ap/ea this summer even though i was accepted to both. I only applied to game academy as a backup if i didnt get in to ap/ea.</p>
<p>Did the classes take alot of work and time because taking only two classes doesnt seem so bad but its a college course crammed into 6 weeks?</p>
<p>Yes, its a significant amount of work. You are correct in that its much more concentrated work because its a full semester course in 6 weeks.</p>
<p>Normally these exact same classes take 15 weeks, so you can imagine how much more intense they become in a 6 week semester. Don't be fooled by the fact that you're only taking 2 of them.</p>
<p>True, if you're truly interested in getting a foot in the door at CMU and getting credit, the AP/EA course is the way to go. However, after spending the previous two summers doing exactly that at my school, I decided to have a little fun. I guess it depends how you view your summer: as a means to an end or something that you'll truly enjoy. Not the AP/EA won't be great because the people in the program are awesome, but for me, it was difficult seeing myself spending a 3rd summer taking classes.</p>
<p>Yeah, and I would reiterate that the two aren't mutually exclusive. I took the classes, they were a lot of work, and I also had one of the best summers of my life. The combination of awesome people, classes that are really great and interesting, and having almost complete freedom in Pittsburgh.</p>
<p>Does going to AP/EA and doing good help your chances in getting in as an undergrad?
It would make sense if you get A's and your professors like you that it would be a guarantee. Is that true for this program or does it not have much of an effect?</p>
<p>yeah....ap/ea is quite a bit of work. Like I said, I did this myself, though 7 years ago. I took Physics for Engineering Students 1, Calculus and Concepts of Mathematics. Physics and Concepts of Math were both hard, and especially Physics. I remember that everyday after classes, a group of 4 of us would go to the library and work on all the homework problem. Usually, we could get them done before dinner, but it's intensive work! Calc wasn't bad at all on the other hand, and Concepts of Mathematics was OK if you are used to doing proof. I got accepted to SCS at CMU during RD, and with my not-so-impressive SAT scores, I had to believe that my all As pre-college grades definitely had a positive influence over the decision. But I've heard of people not getting in after doing pre-college... so I guess it helps, but probably to a certain extend.</p>
<p>Do you know if the only people that got rejected were the ones that did bad in the program or did they do good but still got rejected?</p>
<p>People do well and get deferred, rejected, or waitlisted. Doing well is not a guarantee of admission, however getting in to the program and doing well is a big plus for admission.</p>
<p>They let people in to the programs, especially AP/EA, that they want to have at their school as undergrad. If you do well in that program, it proves that you can do well at CMU, and its a big plus. No matter how you look at it though, it simply is not a guarantee. You're still going to have to put together a good application just like everyone else and make a good impression over the summer. Make sure you take the time to set up an admissions interview while you're there, those are good as well.</p>
<p>hey has anyone recieved their letter for the pre college program yet? It was supposedly sent last thursday and still hasnt arrived yet.</p>
<p>My son sent in the application for architecture( non credit)2 weeks ago,and got admitted in the following week.We do not sure that this course will count as positive to getting in cmu undergrad BArch or not.</p>
<p>It will help him, but it won’t be a free pass.</p>
<p>The big upside for him - for anyone considering one of the CFA programs that are non-credit - is that you get to meet and hopefully impress CFA faculty. Those faculty can then give you a leg up in the admissions because it is very subjective.</p>
<p>Thank Crazyshow. If my son want to go to the competitive BArch . Is it necessary to choose calculus bc instead of ab. Or to choose physic c instead of physic b.</p>