It is with regret that I ask for a chance

Colleges and Universities A-Z Carnegie Mellon University
1

<p>One thing that's different about this thread is that many people here are alumni, current students, or parents of said current students of Carnegie Mellon. That is a big help, and I'd like to get some help on my (hopefully) last chance thread.</p>

<p>I am a rising senior in the Bay Area here in Cali, and my region is known for its uber competitive schools. I plan on majoring in comp sci.</p>

<p>GPA: 4.0 UW
4.6 UC GPA (my weighted is about the same)</p>

<p>-I've taken 4 APs and 4 honors so far, with 4 more coming up next year (taken all possible)</p>

<p>-N/A out of 400 (my school had the ingenious idea of not ranking us)</p>

<p>-SAT/ACT scores -- 2250 (710 math 740 reading 800 writing) I don't know what happened in math on that one. I got 800s on my other two (2180 2200) so super score is 2340.</p>

<p>-SAT II scores: 800 Math 2, 800 Bio E, 800 USH</p>

<p>-AP scores 5 on Calc BC, USH, and Bio. 3 on French
-ECs -- Robotics: 9-12 co-president in junior year. Won Sacramento regional with team as freshman (heavily involved) team lead soph year and junior year we made it to the semis in Silicon Valley Regional
VP of French Honor Society
Volunteer at Children's Discovery Museum
co-EIC of yearbook
Varsity Football Team
Member of National Honor Society
Member of California Scholarship Federation
Played Club soccer since I was 7</p>

<p>-employment -- Currently working as an Earth Science Research Consultant (official title) at NASA Ames Research Center. Use GIS and numerous satellites (GRACE, MODIS) to track groundwater levels in Central Valley. Use Python computer language. Only high schooler on a team comprised of graduate and undergraduate students. Will publish two papers with team, one proceedings paper to an org called ASPRS and another (hopefully) to be peer reviewed and submitted to a journal. The peer reviewed paper probably won't be ready by app time. (so far we have heavy interest)</p>

<p>-honors/awards -- Won BLADE Networks Entrepreneurship Award for innovative task card training system that myself and another member of robotics developed
2010 yearbook won prestigious Gold Crown and Pacemaker award.</p>

<p>-solid recs from robotics mentor, AP Bio teacher, and AP Calc teacher</p>

<p>-White male.</p>

2

<p>oh and i plan on applying ED to CMU, since they say they will meet full demonstrated need and it’s my first choice. My parents have saved up for college and can go anywhere from 30-35k. CMU is 55k or so I believe so I’m hoping for a somewhat generous package. I’m also applying to numerous scholarships which may help as well.</p>

<p>thanks</p>

3

<p>Demonstrated need can actually be a little weird to calculate, since they might just wind up saddling you with a ton of loans. If you do RD instead, you can then hopefully bargain with CMU for better financial aid if you’ve gotten better offers at any of their peer schools. I wound up getting a few thousand a year extra by doing that.</p>

4

<p>wait you know that carnegie only gives aid based on financial situation right?</p>

<p>there are a few schloarships that are within the college but nothing more than 8k</p>

<p>but as for your stats, your is an excellent position for sure</p>

5

<p>I rarely respond to chance threads-- but this one is a slam dunk. GPA and NASA deal make you a very attractive applicant to many schools, including CMU.</p>

<p>Having research experience on your resume prior to applying to college is a HUGGEEEEEEE plus at any major STEM school. You would have a solid shot at Caltech and Stanford as well-- but heck, who needs Cali weather when you can enjoy Pittsburgh snow! Columbia also has a special section on their ap to include abstracts of research experience.
Not to discourage you from CMU-- just sayin’ your NASA experience is going to open many doors for you. CMU is an excellent school! </p>

<p>Echo the thoughts on Racin -bargaining for financial aid is so much better to do than go ED, remember that financial aid includes loans and work study-- sadly!</p>

6

<p>Add to it you’re a smart varsity athlete, and not just the asian kid who plays tennis or the skinny white nerd who runs cross country. I have a few friends here, and possibly to some extent myself, who probably made it in on that merit alone.</p>

<p>Just realize < 10% of the other CS majors will be anything close to as well rounded as you. Your options will be to find those few who do kind of have it all, become the more typical one-dimensional nerd, or be so f’ing smart that you can take your own path separate from the other CS majors.</p>

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<p>You look like a definite yes but nothing is guaranteed for comp sci. While I understand that ED will increase your chances…you see the above risks for financial aid…</p>

<p>Varsity football!? before risking the ED/financial aid trade off…please have your coach contact the coach at CMU. If you have any chance of playing at CMU you may get a clear “yes” as a recruited athlete. Then you don’t have to worry about whether you will get in in ED and can make sure to apply to similar schools (see threads on this topic) so that you can maximize your financial aid. If you or your parents have savings for college/education be aware that these savings count very heavily in the EFC and include 529 plans. If you think some of this money can be used toward grad school…NOPE…they take the amount, divide by 4 and assume all that can be used each year. The calculation leaves you at zero after 4 years and does not take into account that CMU costs will rise 3-5% per year each year.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

8

<p>please don’t try to be in SCS and on the football team. it won’t work, and if you somehow make it you are probably doing your academics/health/happiness a great disservice.</p>

<p>that said, by all means get into CMU as a recruited athlete and then quit at the end of orientation</p>

9

<p>I don’t know if that’s necessarily true. I had a few friends in CIT with me that were on the football team and managed to excel in their studies. One wound up being the president of his fraternity, and both got NSF Fellowships for grad school.</p>

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<p>Well, I’m not even sure if I’m good enough for college football. My school isn’t a powerhouse by far. I love football but not if it interferes with academics. I plan on playing IM sports just for fun, but not necessarily on the league teams. </p>

<p>I think I’ll focus more on school for the first year anyways, regardless of which college I get into. I’ve read too much about scholarships revoked due to poor GPAs and other shortcomings.</p>

<p>If anybody can help me with one last question: CMU SCS says they require 4 years of math. I finished Calc BC this past year and my only options are AP stats and AP Comp Sci. SCS doesn’t consider Comp Sci a math, but the admissions person I talked to told me not to take Stats, going as far as saying it’s not useful. However, I can’t take Calc III at my local community college because it’s smack dab in the middle of football practice.</p>

<p>Any suggestions or alternatives?</p>

11

<p>Take a look more closely at your transcript. For example, even though I only took AP calculus through junior year as well, I had taken “5 years” of high school level math starting in 7th grade.</p>