<p>I am very interested in CMU, currently a highschool Junior.</p>
<p>SAT I: 1920 (retaking in October)
SAT II: taking in June, Math IIC, Lit, and U.S. History.
AP: Psych 5, Euro Hist 3, Mandarin 5. 4-5 more next year with AP Calc in school.
School Average: 87%, 3.66 GPA (I'm Canadian).
School Ranking: We don't rank, but I think in top 25%..>.>.</p>
<p>Ethnicity: Asian
Country: Canada
Extracurriculars: Senior Basketball Team, Track & Field Team, 2 school club presidents, MUN awards, vice president for another club outside of school, Flute RCM level 9, Music Harmony 3, History 4, certified lifeguard (bronze cross), Duke of Edinburgh Awards Bronze and Silver, international history competition award, 1000+ volunteer hours.</p>
<p>My other SATs will be updated soon, but based on current information, would I be considered?</p>
<p>Weak factors:
1. International/Asian
2. Top 25% is not very high for Tepper (Last Year's average was 4%)
3. Relatively weak SATs (Aim for 2100+)</p>
<p>Great E.C's though but with a 13% acceptance rate last year and perhaps even lower this year, I would put it as a considerable reach.</p>
<p>Ways to improve chances:
1. Write great essays and have great recs
2. Increase that SAT as high as possible, maybe even 2300+ and somehow show that your rank is not what is representative of your abilities.
3. Apply Early Decision</p>
<p>There's a number of articles out there as well as basic overall knowledge that internationals face a harder time (and are compared to each other) vs. domestic students. This originates from a number of reasons as you can probably guess, and may colleges have quotas for internationals. So right off the bat, applying as an international to any top private school in the U.S. is a bit tougher AND you will probably be paying full price.</p>
<p>With that said, a more opinionated piece is why I think Carnegie Mellon is even HARDER for internationals to get into compared to some other top schools. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Internationals may sometimes even the playing field by adding diversity. However, Carnegie Mellon already has a sizeable international student body and you will be competing with them. Diversity is not much of an issue when there are plenty of qualified asians from Canada/Taiwan/Korea competing for spots. Being from a country like Nauru or Tuvalu or Seychelles will be much more beneficial as few students are from there (those are all countries by the way :))</p></li>
<li><p>A few years ago Carnegie Mellon raised tuition but also increased financial aid. This seems like a ploy to milk more money out of internationals and consequently realizing there is much more "demand" than "supply". </p></li>
<li><p>Internationals have somewhat of a bad reputation already on campus, one example is the Design department not accepting certain internationals or heavily wary of them.</p></li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li><p>Probably true, as CMU does have something like 10% international students.</p></li>
<li><p>This is also just a way of redistributing wealth among students - it also means CMU is able to take more money from people who are paying full price.</p></li>
<li><p>Um, proof?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>What about the Philippines? Would it be beneficial if I came from there? I have Filipino citizenship. Filipino is my first language and I was born and raised there. However, I am Chinese by blood. How does this affect my chances?</p>
<p>SAT I:2020 (just took the June 7 )
SAT II: taking in October, Math IIC, Lit, and Chinese
IB: Math Higher Level (calculus), Economics Higher Level, Business Higher Level, English Standard Level, Chinese Standard Level, Biology Standard Level
I also took the AP Calculus AB and Microeconomics but haven't gotten my scores yet
Unweighted GPA: 3.9 (both semesters)
School Ranking: top 10% (on the higher end)</p>
<p>Extracurriculars: Chinese Club VP, Internship in a publishing company, President's award for academic excellence, Study abroad in China, Community service</p>
<p>My SATs will change in a month, but as of now, what are my chances at Tepper?</p>
<p>KrazyKow: If you really must know, send me a PM and I'll drop a few names. Rather not post it here.</p>
<p>But yes, distributing the wealth mostly means internationals get screwed more. The average aid per CMU student is around 20k? Something like that (its out on the website somewhere, I know Tepper's is 19k). Basically a majority of domestic students receive some kind of aid, not many are paying full price. The second part, like I said, is a more speculative piece based off with my experiences with the international ("fob") crowd and their experiences with the admissions process. It is a bit harder to gain admission as an international, let's just leave it at that.</p>
<p>Should I take Bio then? But that would mean getting low 700s or high 600s. Taking chinese would get me a 790-800. Maybe I should change lit to bio then? Still, how are my chances now at Tepper? Thanks</p>
<p>Are you the Op? I think you should take both since I think 2 SAT II's are recommended? I mean an extra 800 on a SATII will never hurt, so include that as well. I would wait for your SAT I scores before making a reevaluation, as currently it is still a reach (students have gotten into their reaches of course) so its not a shutdown.</p>
<p>Thanks guys, I'll update when I get my SAT results. I can't wait to see them!! I'm nervous and excited at the same time. I found an old SAT 2 Biology book that my sister used, so I can read up on that. But other than that I can't find any SAT 2 books here in the Philippines, not even for math. By the way, what's an OP</p>
<p>Oh, no I am not the original poster. I just read the thread and replied because I am an international student. Then I saw you mention small countries and I thought that the Philippines is a relatively small country. That is why I asked. Sorry for the confusion.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Should I take Bio then? But that would mean getting low 700s or high 600s. Taking chinese would get me a 790-800. Maybe I should change lit to bio then? Still, how are my chances now at Tepper? Thanks
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Your IB Biology curriculum (even at SL) should be enough to prepare you for the SAT II Bio Test. Foreign language SATs on the other hand are not weighted very heavily by colleges when the person taking the test is a native speaker of the language (which might not be your case, since you are from the Phillipines).</p>
<p>In any case, Tepper strongly recommends that you take a science SAT in addition to Math, so I think you will definitely have to change Lit to Bio.</p>
<p>I think I'll switch Lit to Bio and take 3 SAT IIs then. Thanks. Yea, Mandarin is not my native language. It's my fourth, but I am Chinese. How do I prove to them that I am not a native speaker. My Mandarin is not actually that good compared to my English and Filipino, but it's good enough to get about 780-800 because my Chinese teacher in SL made me take past papers before.</p>
<p>i never took any science SAT subject test and still got into tepper.
the only subject tests they looked at were:
math 2, korean, lit, us history (cuz that's all i took!!! haha)</p>
<p>SAT II: taking in October, Math IIC, Biology, and Chinese
IB: Math Higher Level (calculus), Economics Higher Level, Business Higher Level, English Standard Level, Chinese Standard Level, Biology Standard Level
I also took the AP Calculus AB and Microeconomics but haven't gotten my scores yet
Unweighted GPA: 3.9 (both semesters)
School Ranking: top 10% (on the higher end)</p>
<p>Extracurriculars: Chinese Club VP, Internship in a publishing company, President's award for academic excellence, Taught street children English, Math and Science, Work as a waiter in Teriyaki Boy fasfood restaurant, Writing for myairshoes.com about sneakers (I collect sneakers and would like to work for Nike Philippines next year and maybe as a financial analyst in the future in Nike US.)</p>