Gear everyone, my son is planning to apply Carnegie Mellon this year. There are four essays in the Supplementary Materials. Is anyone knows how many question needs to be answer? Many thanks!
Why not call their admissions office and ask?
Not meaning to be curt but this is something your son must regularly grab onto and search out from the college webpages by himself. I feel a mistake I made w/my kid’s applications was to feed her too much stuff – that was otherwise readily available.
This forum does exist for more hints, however. http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/carnegie-mellon-university/
@BB9188 My D goes to Carnegie Mellon and is a senior this year. When she applied, there were 3 supplemental essays, and all were mandatory. But your son should check for himself. If he does in fact go to CMU, there is absolutely no hand holding, the work load is tremendous and rigorous, and their students are expected to be able to figure things out for themselves with minimal help. My D is a tutor and there are very specific rules regarding tutoring and what tutors can and cannot help with. This is contrary to what most people think tutoring is. It is a rude awakening at CMU.
FYI, if they say essays are optional, do them anyway. It shows initiative. There is no easy way around CMU, so better show them that you are not lazy.
@BB9188 Always answer all questions on a college application, unless the directions specifically direct the student to pick one (or a few) out of a list of multiple essay options. But, I don’t believe that CMU gave choices last year when my son applied. There was, however, one “optional” long essay about the student’s interview. I agree with @TiggyB62 that you should answer optional essays too.
What that interview question said to me is that CMU really wants kids to do an interview. My son did not interview, but he did write in that space anyway about his visit to campus and whatever else. He was waitlisted. It was our family’s mistake for not researching and realizing in advance that an interview was important.
Thanks for everyone’s help!
Carnegie Mellon uses a point system that is called an interest quotient (IQ) which gauges prospective student interest. So every time a prospective student emails, calls, interviews, visits etc. he/she is given points. Colleges want to admit students that want to attend there. So, always sign up for a tour via email. Or call to sign up. Don’t just show up. If an interview is optional, please do it anyway. It all shows interest.
Thank you very much. This is very helpful!!