<p>^Congrats! Class of '15!</p>
<p>Waitlist CIT(BME)</p>
<p>35 ACT
800 MII, 780 Chem
4.0 uw GPA/10 AP’s
USABO semifinalist, internship at hosptial over summer, other regional awards</p>
<p>1 rec—> amazing
1 rec—> good, but nothing special at all</p>
<p>essays—> good enough to get me accepted into my other colleges</p>
<p>CMU really was my first choice. I toured the campus and fell in love with the smaller, comforting environment. After getting accepted to Cornell/Duke/Northwestern, I honestly don’t know why I got waitlisted at CMU. The only thing I can think of is my interviewer asked me where else I applied to and I said MIT and apparently she took that as a sign of me not wanting to go to CMU and was a bit hostile about it. I guess she thought i wasn’t allowed to apply to a reach school and cross my fingers!</p>
<p>On a side note though, after getting my financial aid package from CMU they were being cheapskates anyways… Every other school offered me a very hefty financial aid package and CMU gave me about half. Oh well, probably going to NU next year because of the great campus.</p>
<p>CC will not let me edit the post above. Can I still discuss with CMU my merit scholarships and financial aid at Duke and have them match the money? I remember my older brother did this for CMU and they matched the award in part, yet not full.</p>
<p>Decision: Accepted SCS, CIT, and MCS! </p>
<p>Stats:
SAT: 2350 (770 Math, 780 CR, 800 W)
SAT IIs: Math II- 800, Chemistry- 790, US History- 780
GPA: 3.95 (4.0 not counting freshman year)
Rank: unknown
Other stats: AP Chem- 5, APUS- 5</p>
<p>Subjective:
Essays: strong.
Teacher Recs: decent.
Counselor Rec: good.
Hook (if any): nope</p>
<p>Location/Person:
State or Country: MA
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Female</p>
<p>Other Factors:
Extracurriculars:
Musicians’ Society President
Badminton Captain
French Club Events Coordinator
School Science Journal Asst. Editor
Pre-Medical Society Webmaster</p>
<p>Work/Volunteer/Program Experience:
Forsyth Institute Cancer Research Intern
Massachusetts State House Intern
Dedham Times Newspaper Intern Writer
Compass Computer Camps
MIT Junction</p>
<p>General Comments:
I was initially disappointed that I didn’t get into the Ivy league schools that I applied to, but looking at CMU and its amazing programs in the sciences, I’m actually glad that I can attend without being blinded by the prestige of the other schools that I applied. I really like CMU and I’m excited to see you guys there (even though I’m having major trouble deciding between SCS, CIT, and MCS). </p>
<p>By the way, I recently saw the departments that had been assigned to me. If you choose a certain school within CMU, do you HAVE to stay in that department, or can you switch to another focus? They wrote on the original letter that I have an option of anything in CIT other than Electrical and Comp Engineering because of the limited spots, but now they put me in Chemical Engineering.</p>
<p>"By the way, I recently saw the departments that had been assigned to me. If you choose a certain school within CMU, do you HAVE to stay in that department, or can you switch to another focus? They wrote on the original letter that I have an option of anything in CIT other than Electrical and Comp Engineering because of the limited spots, but now they put me in Chemical Engineering. "</p>
<p>It is much easier to transfer departments coming from CIT or SCS, so you shouldn’t have a problem. Going from Something else to Cit, or especially SCS is harder.</p>
<p>Decision: Accepted CFA (violin performance)</p>
<p>Stats:
SAT: 1670 (540 Math, 580 CR, 550 W)
SAT IIs: didn’t take
ACT: 23 (composite)
GPA: 3.06 UW
Rank: 13/~250</p>
<p>Subjective:
Essays: decent
Teacher Recs: probably decent, too
Counselor Rec: let’s just say she speaks broken English…
Hook (if any): music major</p>
<p>Location/Person:
State or Country: NH
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male</p>
<p>Other Factors:
Extracurriculars:
Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra, Band, Jazz Band, Marching Band, NH All-State, String Quartet, NH Youth Symphony</p>
<p>Work/Volunteer/Program Experience:
7 months at a music store</p>
<p>General Comments:
I suppose they overlook grades if your talents lie elsewhere…</p>
<p>^</p>
<p>For CFA, they indirectly said at my visit that grades must be decent, but are a very small factor in admission. Funny seeing all the prospective CIT/SCS kids groan in disbelief lol</p>
<p>BEWARE, BEWARE!! My S was accepted to CMU (GO JAKE!), but can’t go because although the school advertises that it matches scholarships from other schools, it does NOT! We had expected CMU to match a scholarship from two competitive schools, and after torturing us for two weeks waiting for a decision on our request for reconsideration of our financial aid award and providing proof of the offered scholarship, CMU said no. S is devastated and is now attending CWRU instead. </p>
<p>Don’t be mislead by the published financial aid policy. Whatever the number on your CSS says - they won’t give you a penny more!</p>
<p>Ok, you’re obviously upset. But numerous people have had luck with it. And frankly, im surprised they didn’t match case. They hate case!</p>
<p>CMU offers to match financial aid offers from peer institutions, not from any institution. It has always been this way, and no one has ever advertised differently. </p>
<p>From the FA page:
</p>
<p>Case Western might have been a peer institution at one point, but it isn’t listed as one any longer. Nevertheless, I wish your son the best there.</p>
<p>CMU’s usual peer institutions are listed here: <a href=“http://www.cmu.edu/ira/infox/external/peer.html[/url]”>http://www.cmu.edu/ira/infox/external/peer.html</a></p>
<p>My son really wanted to go to. they used to have a calculator on there web site they have since taken it down. My son is going to Georgia tech. He is happy now and feels it was worth getting wait listed to find out what scum bags they are. he too was offered only $15,000 and i’m a single parent with low income. Believe me you had a lucky escape. I thought the whole decision process was cruel. Every college in the country put everything on the computer all the same time but them.
I took that as a sign. good luck</p>
<p>I declined enrollment two days ago. Carnegie Mellon was the first college that I expressed interest in, and the campus was beautiful. However, financial aid and other things didn’t seem to work out.</p>
<p>Hopefully, another student gets to go there and be happier than I would!</p>
<p>how did you decline the offer?</p>
<p>I sent in the form and stated that I was attending Georgetown instead. It was on the bottom of the form for actual enrollment, I think.</p>
<p>Decision Accept: CIT Mech E, SCS CSE (double major)</p>
<p>SAT: M: 800 R: 800 W:690
SAT2: M2C:800 Physics:800 Chem:800 Literature:690
GPA: 3.866 Unweighted
Rank: Undefined
Other stats: If this refers to EC’s… science olympiad/sci bowl/chinese chess
Essays: Pretty good, rather technical
Teacher Recs: sex (<as in really realllly good).
Counselor Rec: same as teacher’s rec
Hook (if any): completed research @ cal thus getting epik rec.
State or Country: CA
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: CHINESEEE
Gender: M
Other Factors: called often
General Comments: CMU class of 2015!!!</p>
<p>Decision: Accepted CFA School of Design!</p>
<p>Stats:</p>
<pre><code>SAT: 2040; 630CR, 690M, 720E
SAT IIs: 640 for mathII and 610 for Physics
GPA: 3.34 UW FFFFFFF!; 3.6W
Rank: not disclosed by my school
AP’s: BC calc, World history, Physics B, Stats, Comparative Gopo, Macro Economics, AP Comp Sci, AP English twice
</code></pre>
<p>Subjective:</p>
<pre><code>Essays: I’m a bad writer as of yet but they were interesting. Common app was about jumping off a cliff.
Teacher Recs: some range between average-good to fairly good
Counselor Rec: Generic. (1 counselor per 100 seniors)
External Rec: Two Harvard grad architects that think I’m a genius.
</code></pre>
<p>Location/Person:</p>
<pre><code>State or Country: Louisville, KY
School Type: 2000+ public Magnet school top 100 public schools in the country.
Ethnicity: White (this helps at Carnegie Mellon. haha)
Gender: male
</code></pre>
<p>Other Factors: I did my entire portfolio this year having only taken high school art class this year. They were impressed at the portfolio review.</p>
<p>I interned at an architect firm for the past three summers.</p>
<p>I have done a nationally recognized after school acting intensive for the past 8 years.</p>
<p>My friend pretty much graduated E-school and got into the Theatre school.</p>
<p>In my interview, they asked me where I would go if got into every school I applied to. I replied “MIT” quite immediately. Maybe they figured you actually had a strong chance of getting into MIT and assumed you would pick it over CMU. I would have gone to Cornell over CMU, but CMU was still my first choice.</p>
<p>Decision: Accepted H&SS and CIT</p>
<p>Stats:
SAT: 750 Math, 750 Writing, 680 CR (2180 total)
SAT IIs: 680 Math 1, 590 Physics… i had a notoriously bad physics teacher that got fired and i didn’t remember any of the math from middle school and had no time to study for it
GPA: 3.6 (at the top private school in the state), 3.4-ish UW (they don’t keep track of UW on transcript)
Rank: My school doesn’t rank
Other stats: a lot of honors/ap classes, took advanced differential equations as a senior
Subjective:
Essays: Really passionate, I think they helped
Teacher Recs: Really solid
Counselor Rec: Never saw it but I hope it was good
Hook (if any): My dad went there and is on the alumni board
Location/Person:
State or Country: Arizona, Pittsburgh native though
School Type: Private Jesuit
Ethnicity: White
Gender: M
Other factors: Legacy, dad on alumni board
General Comments: nada</p>