<p>unfortunately CPW conflicts with region UIL academic competition in Texas. I compete on only one team that has 4 members (including me), and only the top three scores are significant.</p>
<p>So is it completely selfish of me to skip region and go to CPW? i mean, i haven't even been admitted yet but my coach needs to know now if there is a possibility of me not being at region. and i don't know what to do and i feel horrible abandoning my team but i'll feel even worse if we don't even make it past region and i missed out on CPW.</p>
<p>but then that's only IF we make it past district, which we probably will, and IF i get into MIT, which may or may not happen... </p>
<p>maybe i'm overestimating the awesomeness of CPW?</p>
<p>CPW is indeed awesome (and that’s both from the standpoint of a <em>parent</em> who attended the <em>parents</em> activities and toured dorms, and from the reports of many students who’ve attended in the last few years), but you might ask yourself a few questions. </p>
<p>Have you already been to MIT and seen the campus? (You wouldn’t be using CPW as a chance to tour campus, then.) </p>
<p>Do you feel you know enough about the campus and the students there to know whether you’d want to attend? (If so, you might miss some fun times, but you wouldn’t be lacking in insight with which to make your matriculation decision.) </p>
<p>Activities like touring all the dorms are a focus of Orientation, so although CPW might help you decide how to rank the dorms for your temp assignment during Orientation, you’ll also be getting the i^3 which will give you a flavor, and your Orientation housing assignment is only temporary anyway, so nothing lost there. </p>
<p>Basically if you already have a feel for MIT and have visited, you’re only missing a fun, cohesion-building long weekend with other pre-frosh if you skip CPW… and the real cohesion stuff starts, from what I understand, at Orientation and in your eventual living group. CPW would be fun but not necessary. And if you’re part of a team that’s counting on you, you’d probably be well advised to stick to the competition.</p>
<p>If, on the other hand, you have not yet visited MIT or if you aren’t clear on whether you’d matriculate or not if admitted, it would be worth visiting <em>sometime</em> before May 1. It does not <em>have</em> to be during CPW, though.</p>
<p>^^ random question: what is the i^3? (-i? … that’s the only i^3 I know :-D)</p>
<p>To answer original question - probably it’s best to go to the competition unless you’re really unsure about MIT and want to find out more. This is your last chance to be in high school! And it sounds like the competition means something to you. You’ll have the next four years of your life to bond with MIT people, but this is your last chance to participate in the competition. </p>
<p>Alternatively, could you go to CPW but leave early or arrive late?</p>
<p>Also, as mentioned above, if you really feel like you need to visit, then do. For example… I feel like I need to go to prefrosh weekend at Caltech even though I know I reallllly like MIT, because I don’t actually know much about the feel on campus at Caltech and want to get more information before making a final choice. (whereas I go to MIT several times/week! i’m quite local) (but… I’m still going to CPW heh)</p>
<p>i3 is the [Interactive</a> Introduction to the Institute](<a href=“http://web.mit.edu/i3/]Interactive”>http://web.mit.edu/i3/) - basically a bunch of videos on on-campus housing which try to give you a feel for the culture in each dorm. If nothing else, they’re definitely fun to watch. :)</p>
<p>And I agree completely with mootmom’s analysis.</p>
This is a good idea, if it works with your schedule.</p>
<p>I didn’t go to CPW my senior year because it conflicted with my winter color guard final competition, and I visited MIT in late April instead. I still got a feel for the campus and the people and chose to come (obviously). If you’re really unsure, though, CPW is a good time to find out everything you’ve ever wanted to know about MIT but didn’t believe from the blogs.</p>
i’m quite local) (but… I’m still going to CPW heh)</p>