My son is settled with going to the honors college at NJIT without regret but he, like me, would like to see if he had a chance to a more prestigious and well known university. If he were accepted to both, which do you think he should attend. I know that with his stats, it is doubtful he would get into either but let’s just say he got into both for the sake of daydreaming.
His stats are:
Math SAT=760
SATMath2=710
SATPhys=670
GPA=3.89
Just to recap, the question isn’t whether he can get in, it’s which one should he go to if he did get into both.
The concerns are the stress levels of the 4 years for each with regard to rigor.
The other concern is the strength of the Computer Engineering degree in the marketplace.
If both are equally rigorous then I’d think that the CMU degree would go further.
The reason I ask is that we’d like to gamble the $80 application fee on one of these but we don’t want to necessarily attend the one which would be more stressful than he can handle and then not be able to even graduate because of the rigor level.
If you’re concerned that your son might not be able to handle a highly rigorous program then select ND. If you read much on this and other sites you’ll soon realize CMU is far from a walk in the park. It’s not for everyone…
This isn’t meant to disparage ND by any stretch of the imagination. I don’t know much about it but you don’t see it mentioned alongside MIT, Stanford and Berkeley as is the case with CMU.
I felt the same way too it’s just that it seems to me that Notre Dame would be harder to get into so I’m kind of thinking of not wasting the $80 bucks even though both are a shot in the dark. I figured that CMU is just WAY TOO rigorous than don’t even bother trying and just gamble the 80 on ND instead.
The reason I posted his grades was to see if the rigor of CMU would be matched by his grades. Thanks for the suggestiong though @SkepticalOfMost
@reformedman , did your son visit both schools? If so did he have any particular attraction to one or the other - something that would come through in the “Why xxx?” statement?
@SkepticalOfMost he isn’t too much into parties or the beauty of one campus more than another. According to him a beautiful campus like Pepperdine is just as good as a square box like Cooper-Union. He only cares about the 4 year education. The only “Why x?” that would interest him might be something like weather. Both are in the generally same lattitude weather-wise.
With those math numbers I think CMU would chew him up and spit him out. I saw it happen.
@reformedman , I was thinking of more than the social scene or physical campus, but if he truly thinks they’re all pretty much the same that’s likely to come through in his essay and I wouldn’t rate his chances for acceptance at CMU very highly. Doesn’t sound like there’s any ‘passion’ that might help him stand out from the very competitive crowd.
Your son is crazy. He definitely could have gotten into both CMU and Notre Dame had he applied. I personally would pick CMU, but both are fine schools.
IMO, this is a no-brainer…Notre Dame without a doubt! The networking that takes place as a Domer, & the instant bond one ND grad has with another is worth every penny invested. Look at the rankings, ND over CMU in most polls that I have found. It is a privilege to attend the University of Notre Dame. Visit the stunning campus, experience a football game, speak with alumni, & you will get a true sense of the awesomeness that is ND. Good luck to your son on wherever he lands ~ it’s an exciting time as a parent.