<p>Pitt should be getting ready for graduation soon, so things might be in preparation of that. They're usually a week ahead of CMU in finishing in the spring, so the time seems about right for it.</p>
<p>And, yeah, the 28X is great. I took it a bunch of times when I was flying out of Pittsburgh to visit grad schools, and it's a pretty reliable bus. They run something like every 20-30 minutes, so you don't have to worry about waiting forever for one. If you're not sure where to get off the bus, you could call the hotel and ask which stop, or ask the bus driver to let you know when you're nearby. If you get an a-hole bus driver, ask the people on the bus that are on it when you get up to Oakland (you'll know you're up there because you've gone through downtown and you'll be able to see one of the rivers on your right for a little bit).</p>
<p>My husband got a bus driver who made bad puns about all the street names. "If you're inclined to be let off, I'm inclined to let you off. (At Incline St.) or "What's the opposite of Small and Tall?" (Bigelow St.) </p>
<p>I don't know what the was going on near Bellfield, it looked like Carnival stuff. Of course Google maps had sent me down a closed street there, so I had to detour!</p>
<p>That's funny about the puns. Thanks for all the information. Our flight gets in at 11:50 am and my D's interview is at 3:30 (actually I need to double-check that the time was confirmed) so we should have enough time to walk around campus before the interview. I am strongly encouraging her to pack light in case we are carrying around our luggage. (this was a problem last time we went on a trip) </p>
<p>Does anyone have advice on preparing for the interview? </p>
<p>Only the usual advice. Read the Carnegie website so you don't ask dumb questions. Try to figure out some smart questions to ask, when they inevitably say "Do you have any questions?" Look your interviewer in the eye, practice a firm handshake. Remind your child to say "thanks for taking the time to talk to me" at the end of the interview.</p>
<p>The interview is as much for your D to learn about CMU as it is for CMU to learn about her. I don't think an informational interview even factors into admission. I'm not sure what department interests your D, but in SCS they want students who will take advantage of the unique opportunities. So that would be a good subject to raise, in effect, "What can I do here that I can't do at other schools?" This could include research, organizations, classes, etc. I assume you've been through the prospective students section of the CMU website: Prospective</a> Students - Carnegie Mellon University . The Carnegie Mellon Experience section is particularly informative to get a feel of the university.</p>
<p>I was thinking that the interview counted somewhat on admissions. On the Common Data Set it is checked off under the "considered" column along with extracurricular activities and things like that. On the prospective students website part it says with regards to the interview: The Office of Admission is interested in discussing senior year courses, long-term extracurricular activities and potential student majors at Carnegie Mellon. </p>
<p>Your suggestions are very helpful and would fit well into the part about discussing potential majors and activities. Having to declare a major on the application seems to be my D's main worry related to CMU since she is thinking about computer science but is also interested in engineering. Another concern is how easy it is to change majors. </p>
<p>I have to admit to getting a bit frustrated with the admissons website. My D can't call during the day from school so I went through the process on the website to schedule her interview time. After you enter all the information it says to wait for them to email you back with confirmation. It's been three days and they haven't emailed. A few months ago my D emailed the admissions office with a question and got back a form letter that didn't answer the question. So I am planning to call on Monday and make sure D actually has an interview. If it doesn't work out I guess she can ask for an alumni interview. </p>
<p>BTW my D also plays the harp and she emailed a harp teacher she found on the CMU website. The teacher emailed her right back about getting together when we visit. So that was exciting. </p>
<p>Your daughter can apply to both CIT and SCS and then see what happens come spring senior year. By then she may have decided which way to jump. SCS requires students to have a minor and I believe those minors can be in engineering fields. As an SCS major she could also minor in Harp if the harp teacher likes her.</p>
<p>Thanks mathmom. I am hoping D can narrow down her interests this summer when she goes back to math camp. Quite a few of the senior counselors there are college students majoring in some variation of computer science so they should be able to give her advice. I'm not sure where she wants to go with the harp playing. Right now it's mainly for fun and stress relief. Thanks.</p>
<p>Just in case anyone else is scheduling an interview - I was waiting for an email confirmation of the time and date we requested through their online form. I called admissions a little while ago and they said that they send out the confirmation via a "hard copy" through regular mail. The website actually says "written notificaton" will be sent and I jumped to the conclusion this would be an email. Our regular mail often arrives at a snail's pace so I won't be surprised if we get the confirmation after we have already left on our trip.</p>
<p>We just got back from the 2008 graduation ceremony. The tents at Pitt were a children's book festival. As we bid our final adieu to Pittsburgh, we stayed at the Omni Penn downtown over the weekend (special rate for graduation) and transferred to Holiday Inn in Monroeville for three days to help the DD and her friends pack up the moving truck and clean out their off campus apartment. One word of advice on graduation-reserve your rooms early, they get booked up starting a year in advance. There are several events over the weekend; separate ceremonies for University honors, school diploma, and of course commencement. For a extra special celebration dinner, we can recommend Le Mont on Mount Washington. The 4 years will pass before you know it!</p>
<p>thanks for the reminder! I am wondering about parking, I read there were 10,000 at commencement alone, and there normally are not a lot of open spaces. Did you take a shuttle in or just arrive really early each day?</p>
<p>We expected to park several blocks away and walk in, but arriving at 9:30 for the 11 am commencement ceremony, they were still letting cars into the garage, so we went for it. We got one of the last spots on the roof. If you get there by 9, it should be no problem. They also had the Morewood parking lot open all weekend. Honors ceremonies are on Saturday, and we had no problem finding parking.</p>
<p>Thanks for the travel tips. I was able to visit CMU with S1 for a campus tour last week, and then tried out the Indian restaurant on Fifth Avenue for supper.</p>
<p>This will be brief. Driving there was complicated, because the admission office webpage hadn't told us about the freeway exit closure that started back in November, so we went through the Squirrel Hill Tunnel and then doubled back through it again to find the detour route. I also think the turn-in for admission parking on Forbes Avenue ought to be better marked--that is one of the busiest streets in Pittsburgh and I was looking at traffic; there was NO SIGN readily visible to a car driver paying attention to traffic showing where to turn. </p>
<p>But once we got there we had a good time on the campus tour. The students communicated enthusiasm about being there. We didn't see the inside of many buildings, but we got a good overview of the campus. The tour definitely kept CMU on my list of colleges to recommend to my son. I think his thinking about where to go to college will be influenced by his summer program this summer, through what classmates he meets there.</p>
<p>Dorms are dorms, instruction rooms are instruction rooms, food is food, and weather is weather. The difference between one school and another is and has been and will always be the students and the quality of instructional reputation. Hopes he has a good time.</p>