<p>Is there a reason that so few African-Americans and Hispanics attend CMU? I see it's 2% Hispanic and 6% AA. Can I take it CMU doesn't care about this kind of diversity too much?</p>
<p>I am not sure that it would necessarily mean that a university doesn’t care. There are a lot of factors that come into play in determining a college’s demographics. I do know that CMU has a Diversity Weekend to attract a student population that’s diverse- race, ethnicity (but maybe also socio-economic). My son was invited to attend- really enjoyed it. Some of the kids he met were offered free attendance with a plane ticket. He let me know that he feels it’s a very diverse campus. But this also includes international students. The kids there he said were all really bright, social and friendly toward him. Definitely made him want to attend.</p>
<p>This is good to hear, goingnutsmom. Is the diversity weekend during the fall or spring? My son has always had interest in CMU but their lack of f. aid has kept it off the list. He’s got excellent stats and he’s a URM interested in math/physics but I just don’t know if it’s worth it to apply. He will need a lot of aid.</p>
<p>Hi sbjdorlo, yes we have heard the same too about financial aid. There are quite a few threads on CC regarding this issue. It’s not a school that will meet need per say with lots of grants as opposed to loans. With this in mind, there are students who get really awesome packages. If the school wants you and you need financial aid they will make it possible for you to attend. My son encountered these students on his visit there. They are known to match what they consider peer school’s offers. See their website for more info. on this. We are weighing this decision heavily because we would not qualify for aid so it will be on us to pay fully I think. Best of luck.</p>
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<p>Just to re-emphasize the point, only their peer schools, not just any selective schools. Their peers are [Peer</a> Institutions-Institutional Research & Analysis - Carnegie Mellon University](<a href=“http://www.cmu.edu/ira/infox/external/peer.html]Peer”>Peer Institutions - Institutional Research and Analysis - Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Planning - Carnegie Mellon University).</p>
<p>That’s really interesting because their “peer” schools have quite a variance on how they do aid. For instance, MIT and Princeton are quite different in how they calculate and the amount they offer.</p>
<p>At least it’s good to know that CMU will perhaps come up with more money for its top students if they need it.</p>
<p>Does anyone have a link relating to the diversity visit?</p>
<p>Cmu.edu
Then to search box, type in “diversity”, which does a google search</p>
<p>Respectfully OP, 6% is pretty darn good for URMs in a STEM school. The number might seem shockingly low- but the comparison should be relative to URMs in STEM fields - which is low as is.<br>
CMU’s CMARC group does a fabulous job at the Diversity weekend and through the pre-orientation in a program called “Origins”. Once on campus, students who elect to remain involved are a tight group through CMARC and also involved all over campus. I think it’s fair to say that CMU’s student body is a warm and receptive bunch. You can look over older threads-- but CMU is not a “racist” or “uninclusive” campus relative to the junk you hear at some Ivies.
If you are really motivated in being in a campus with a higher representation of URMs you need a more comprehensive university rather than one that is heavily representing STEM fields. Schools with large proportions of URMs include University of Michigan, Maryland, Georgia Tech, Alabama, Boston University, Drexel, Northeastern. That’s just a sample.
By way of comparison, CalTech’s representation of URMs is outright disgraceful- but they openly admit not to practice AA in anyway - so super qualified URMs may seek a more balanced institution. Ron Brown Scholarship and Gates Millenium winners often huddle at HYPMS – all those schools are significantly more difficult to gain entry into that CMU.</p>
<p>Try a Diversity weekend in January – see how it feels to you.</p>
<p>Well, I’m not sure my son will apply but if he does, he can look for the visit in January. Thanks for the info.</p>
<p>Six percent AAs ( black, not affirmative action!) seems better than a LOT of schools!</p>
<p>Actually CMU matches offers from other top schools. It really depends on how much they want the student. I know of at least 4 students including my son (all Hispanics) who received better financial aid/merit from schools not listed on CMU website and CMU matched these aids.</p>
<p>My son attended the diversity weekend and Origins and enjoyed both. During diversity weekend admission officers were very up front about telling the students to fax them any financial aid that was better than CMU’s, they did not say it had to come from a peer college but they said the average increase in aid was about $5600.</p>
<p>CMU offers to try to match financial aid or merit aid with a financial need component…not merit aid, necessarily. My URM S with good merit aid from peer institutions did not get any change in his fa package from CMU but the explanation was clear if financially painful for us…on paper he did not need any more money and they were saving their limited money for the financially needy. That being said he did get a small merit aid scholarship in his second year–no explanation…just showed up on his invoice.<br>
When deciding between schools, S actually saw CMU’s diversity as a plus compared to other schools he visited that, statistically, had more “minority” representation. He pointed out that while the other schools apparently had more hispanic and black students he didn’t feel their presence like he did when he visited CMU. So…it is more like the quality of the diversity rather than the quantity.</p>
<p>The URM and foreign student organizations are very active and CMARC definitely reaches out to new URMs on campus. S says that he misses the more urban and diverse highschool he attended but the loss, he says, is most acute when he goes to parties and is confronted by limited music choices. On campus and off campus food choices are pretty grim for hispanic kids (actually for all kids) …he carries a bottle of hotsauce with him and does some cooking in the dorm with other native-cuisine-deprived hispanics.</p>
<p>All interesting info and I thank-you. </p>
<p>I will say that, though my son is 1/2 Puerto Rican, he is more apt to want to hang with people who share his interests rather than his background, if that makes sense. His friends are very diverse (we’re in So. Cal. which is ethnically very diverse) and he likes that a lot, but he’s more likely to hang with musicians, church friends, mathletes, athletes, chess players, etc. no matter what their background. OTOH, it was really great for him to go on MIT’s diversity visit and meet other really smart URMs; that was revelatory (not sure that’s spelled right) for him since most of the kids around our neighborhood are not very motivated.</p>
<p>He’s a strong student (2320 SAT I; 800, 800, 730 on SAT II, 4.0/4.84 GPA; some national awards such as physics olympiad semis, chess ranking, AIME, etc.; graduate level physics research, and about 60 units of community college/univ. audit classes; tons of music, etc) and if it’s really true that CMU might match someone else’s offer, it would probably be worthwhile for him to apply.</p>
<p>He visited Lehigh on a diversity visit but it didn’t really do much for him. He loves Pittsburgh and has a full tuition at Pitt with an invite to the Chancellor’s scholarship right now.</p>
<p>I’ll talk with him some more. How does the diversity visit work? Once you apply, do they invite you or ??? Please enlighten me!</p>
<p>sbjdorlo: If your son is accepted, he will receive an invitation to attend diversity weekend in April. They will provide you if the phone number of a travel agent and you will make your son flight reservation with them, if I remember correctly they pay up $800 for the air ticket.</p>
<p>Your son has excellent test scores and activities. Which college is he applying to? SCS is the most competitive, and your son’s scores are well above the average for admitted students.</p>
<p>My suggestion is that your son have a couple of top colleges that would give him merit aid. However CMU might match this aid with financial aid and a small scholarship.</p>
<p>From my experience last year I found out that Vanderbilt and Rensselaer value Hispanics (generous financial aid). Rice and University of Miami (FL) give very good merit aid to top students. Cornell and Northwestern were not as generous (lots of loans).</p>
<p>I’m “half” hispanic, I went to Diversity weekend and origins. I’m not really active in CMARC-- just b/c I’m too buy with everything. I also did precollege. I don’t feel any racism or like it’s some white elite preppy place. It’s really chill here for everyone. No clicking ongoing on -(well, maybe the asians) everyone works and plays together.</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone. CMU sounds worth checking out for my son. I appreciate the info very much.</p>
<p>lilly, he’s been admitted to Pitt (full tuition and Chancellor’s invite), Baylor (invite to I2E), UTDallas (McDermott Semi-finalist).
His SCEA school is Princeton. His other schools are Harvey Mudd, MIT, Vanderbilt, WUSTL, Penn, and probably Caltech.</p>
<p>well how easy is it for URM’s to get into CMU? my chances?</p>
<p>-2070 sat/29 (waiting on scores to come back could go up) act
-african, oos, female
-13 IB classes/full IB Diploma
-amazing EC’s (foreign language classes in other countries, service projects in 3rd world countries, etc)
-3.74 w gpa
-great recs
-650 on Math 1 and Lit SAT II’s</p>
<p>applying to HSS, CHANCES???</p>