is it possible to get accepted/ be enrolled in the fall and talk to CMU director to see if any grants or scholarships can come about or does that stuff only happen when first applying?
$54k/year in total grants and the ability to loan/workstudy the rest… Considering we grew up in legit poverty, I’m actually dying omg so surprised considering some of my other schools barely gave us anything. Thanks, Carnegie Mellon!
Decision: Accepted to Mellon College of Science (Chemistry)
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2070 (CR-670, M-670, W-730)
ACT: 31 (English-32, Science-34, Math-27, Reading-33)
SAT II: Chemistry-770, Math II- 650
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.96
Weighted GPA: 4.52
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): school doesn’t provide percentiles or rankings
AP (place score in parenthesis): Chemistry (4) Calc AB (4) (my school doesn’t offer that many AP classes, so considering, I took a large percentage of those offered)
Senior Year Course Load: AP Bio, AP Calc BC, AP Physics C Mechanics, Spanish 4, Jewish Literature, History independent research
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): None
Subjective
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Varsity Volleyball (Captain, 2 years) played for all 4 years and club volleyball
Student Government (Student Body Treasurer, 2 years)
Intern/ Medical Shadow for a couple weeks (clinical and surgical fields)
Medical Explorers
Physics Club (member)
arranged a panel of women in STEM to speak at my school
Job/Work Experience: n/a
Volunteer/Community service: best buddies, peer tutor, create art for hospitals
Summer Activities: Yale Summer Program, Camp Counselor at Jewish residential camp
Essays:?? Common App was very creative and stands-out; supplements were very specific and highlighted my desire to study chemistry, why cmu specifically (they have a small, individualized department) and desire to hold eadership positions at CMU
Teacher Recommendation: Calculus and History teachers (both were amazing, im sure!)
Counselor Rec: Amazing
Additional Rec: none
Interview: Interviewed with an admissions rep (my first reader!) over the summer, it went extremely well. I think I did a lot of ass-kissing though because i sent follow-up emails and sent a handwritten thank you note
Other
State (if domestic applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Independent, Private Jewish
Ethnicity: White
Gender: F
Income Bracket: Upper-middle
Financial Aid: yes, i recieved around 30,000 from them!
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): i don’t know what type of bearing this had at all, but I struggled with fibromyalgia all throughout high school and have stayed really active despite my condition
Reflection
Strengths: interview, recommendations, essays,grades, high-commitment ECs, chemistry experience
Weaknesses: No national awards, not that much volunteer work, SCORES overall weren’t great, and I was especialy worried b/c my math scores were low for SAT I, SAT II, and ACT
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: My Why CMU essay and interview essay were very specific and I mentioned why i knew i wanted to study chemistry and how i would use my leadership skills at cmu and my academic record is strong
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Rejected: Cornell (ED), Bowdoin College, Amherst College
Waitlisted: BC, WFU, Grinnell, Colby, Bates, Wash U
Accepted: Case (University Scholar), RPI (University Scholar), Trinity College (1823 Scholar), Northeastern, Kenyon (Promise Scholar and large grant), Hamilton College, and CMU!
Still waiting on Tufts!
General Comments: I posted this primarily because I saw a lot of people posting about many amazing extracurriculars and high scores, and I wasn’t too high powered in any of these areas. However, I did show a lot of commitment to the extracurriculars I did have. I honestly didn’t expect to get into CMU and I definitely did not sail in like many others have. I had a fantastic interview and really connected with the admissions rep. At the end of the interview she told me how impressed she was by my commitment to my leadership roles and told me that if i wrote about them in my essays, I would have a better chance. I did just that and made sure that my essays were specific to why I wanted to study chemistry and were the best supplements i wrote. This just shows that to some degree, CMU has a very holistic process and you don’t get in on just scores alone. If you’re essays are strong and you convey a unique “fit” into cmu, the admissions reps. will take a considerable look at you.
Has anyone submitted a deposit yet?
@NICE8x
It turns out I was accepted!! thanks for the advice (sorry 3 days late)
@abcdefghifjk Haha it’s ok! I’m so glad you were accepted! Congrats 
!!
@chemqueen0728 I couldn’t agree with you more on CMU’s holistic approach. Plus, they give amazing aid. I also didn’t expect to get in but am now so relieved and happy!
Absolutely no financial aid. gg no re lol
Also college board’s financial aid calculator for CMU is a liar. Would definitely do the pre-financial aid thingy that CMU offers rather than basing expectations off the calculator.
Apparently my first financial aid letter was tentative, because I just checked and they updated my financial aid. I was already pleased with the grants they were giving me but now they are giving me more. I’m so happy! Make sure you check to see if your financial aid package has been updated or changed!
What’s CMU’s engineering acceptance rate?
@NICE8x That’s great news. Were you missing any documents at the time of receiving your first FA letter?
I got Priority waitlisted to CIT. According to threads of past years, PWL is such a joke. So long, CMU
@MandomeLife I actually was not. On my portal it said they had received all the required documents but when I saw the FA it said it would be finalized when they had all my documents which I thought was weird since they had all my documents. Oh well, it was such a pleasant surprise yesterday!
@NICE8x That’s incredible! Have you decided between Michigan and CMU?
So is nobody joining the priority waitlist since it’s like not real or is it real I’m confused
@MandomeLife Thanks! And no, I’m really torn between umich and CMU. CMU offered a much better FA package since I’m OOS at umich. I plan on majoring in statistics and minoring in biology. I am afraid at CMU, however that if I change my mind and want to major in biology and minor in stats it would be hard/impossible since I’m in Dietrich. But if I major in stats, CMU has one of the best programs…
I also don’t know if I’ve been accepted into umich’s Honors Program yet.
Hopefully after I attend both accepted students days I will know.
Do you know where you are going?
are you planning to go to admitted student tour\ department tours on April 25th?
let us know if anyone is coming. we plan to attend. I admitted to ECE.
@NICE8x Yup that’s reasonable
I’ve submitted my enrollment deposit to CMU already. I applied to Michigan’s STAMPS School of Art and Design, but their program isn’t nearly as good as CMU’s. I’m so excited – hopefully you Turn Tartan 
@azoldtech I will be going to CMU on April 22nd
@Stanfordrejec This year’s college-specific acceptance rates have not been released. Last year, out of 9807 applications, 17% were accepted (1667 applicants) and 515 enrolled.