Hello!
First, I’m wondering about the importance of the interview. Apparently it’s pretty casual but very important, since it shows interest. However, I’m planning to major in econ, so should I schedule my interview with an alumnus from Dietrich or Tepper? I was originally thinking Dietrich, but considering that econ is a joint program between them, I’m not really sure.
Secondly, there are 7 total DC alumnus in my state, and three are from really far places- Mountain View, SF, and Palo Alto are 6.5 hour drive one way. The rest should be within 1.5-2 hours one way, but that’s really hard for me and if the interviews aren’t super important, I’d rather not spend 3-4 hours traveling for an interview.
Tepper gives me 13 interviewer options, but they’re all located 6.5-7 hours away one way… no thanks.
tl;dr: Is CMU’s “strongly recommended” interview important enough to warrant a 3-4 hour minimum drive? Should I, a prospective econ major, look for alumnus from Dietrich or Tepper? If the answer is Tepper, I’ll give up on an interview now but if the answer is Dietrich, I may consider it.
OP, maybe you could ask the CMU admissions counselor. That would probably be the safest bet. Yes, I think that CMU takes demonstrated interest very seriously. Did you meet with the ad rep at your school or when they visited your area? Have you been able to take a campus tour? There are many ways to show interest. I don’t think that colleges expect really out of the way demonstration of interest that would be time or cost prohibitive to a student.
My S is a senior at CMU- CFA and it was his reach school because of his very narrow interest (Industrial Design) so he made sure to make that very clear to them.
He loves Pittsburgh- a surprisingly compact city with a lot of character. And we are in Austin so for him to be content in Pitt, that speaks well for it.
It’s love/ hate with CMU. They work those kids hard.
And financial aid sucks big time unless you apply ED or they really want you.
Are you in UChicago thread? My D will also be applying to both CMU and UChicago.
Good luck!
BTW , my S did not have an alumni interview . He did make sure to attend everything that CMU set up in town or at his school.
@goingnutsmom Thank you very much!
Where could I contact the admissions counselor? I see their page of admissions staff but there are a lot of them. I’m on their mailing list but somehow only got 2 emails from them, so when I missed their info session, there wasn’t another chance. I haven’t been able to take a campus tour, either- I’ve only visited the schools close to home.
Besides talking to the admissions rep at school and taking a campus tour, is there anything else I can do to show my interest? I didn’t know that about finaid, will keep it in mind.
Yes, I am in the UChicago thread! I recognized your username, haha. Thanks!
CMU admissions has a Contact Us at the bottom. I also remember that they have a Facebook page where you can ask questions snd they answer.
As an alumni interviewer, I don’t think the interviews are actually that important. We have to fill out a little form with our impressions of you, and the only student I’ve ever intereviewed who was accepted had the lowest marks along with a note, “DO NOT ACCEPT STUDENT, SHE SAID SHE DOESN’T PLAN ON ATTENDING.” She wound up not attending after being accepted. :rolleyes:
You can also look at doing a phone interview. There’s also the option to do an interview with an alumni from another college. I was in the college of engineering, but talked with plenty of students interested in other schools. The main purpose of an interview is to give students who aren’t able to visit campus a chance to learn a bit more about the campus than they can normally glean from the internet.
@goingnutsmom
Thanks!
@RacinReaver
Only one student that you interviewed was accepted? How you had to guess, approx what % of students did alumni interviews? Is goingnutsmom’s son rare in that usually one must have an interview to be accepted?
How do I look into having a phone interview? On the interview page, there’s a link to on-campus student interviews and alumni interviews- should I just clarify that I’d like to interview by phone?
You said that the impressions didn’t really matter- so is it more important that a student even interviews, compared to the contents of the interview?
Also, CMU’s interviews are informative rather than evaluative, right? So I should ask them questions to learn more about CMU. Is there anything else I should do? Anything that I should or shouldn’t do in particular?
Sorry for the massive amount of questions, and thank you!
CMU makes it pretty clear that they track interest. That means if there is anything that you can do to show interest without putting a hardship on you or your family, do it.
Is CMU really a school that you considered beforehand or are just now getting more serious about it?
I would try to learn as much as you can about CMU through it’s website and college guidebooks. Their Why CMU? essay is pretty important to them.
Sorry, did not mean to mislead you about my S. He did not have an alumni interview but did in fact go on a campus overnight and meet with admissions. He did a lot to show CMU it was his first choice including applying ED. I’m definitely not saying that everyone needs to do this to get in. He was a weaker academic candidate (GPA and class rank) and weaker art candidate (started on portfolio late) than most applicants.
@goingnutsmom I considered it beforehand, since August, and I’ve had my essay ready to submit for a couple of weeks. The interview was something I had looked into, but I figured that I had better finish all my essays before doing interviews.
I did visit the campus, but it was way before I even thought about applying to colleges. I think I was either in middle school or a freshman, so I’m almost definitely not in the records as having visited.
That’s the run with colleges that track interest. Often, I think that they track interest because they don’t want to be considered a safety to a high stats kids. There are some schools that come to mind- Tufts, Tulane, CMU, CWRU.
That’s why it’s important to research the schools before applying. Try to reach out to admissions and I think that I would do the interview by phone or Skype if not in person, anything to give you an edge over the next applicant.
That’s the rub… Sorry typing on iPhone
As said above, I’m pretty sure CMU tracks interest. The school is a lot smaller than pretty much every state school out there, so they’re way more sensitive to more students accepting than they expect. Being off by 100 students is practically an entire dorm; just down the street at Pitt getting 100 more students than you expect isn’t as big of a deal.
The interview is supposed to be informative for you. It’s a way to learn about the intangibles of campus life you don’t really pick up without visiting. What’s the neighborhood like, what are good things and bad things about campus life, how’s the food, how do you get to/from the airport, etc.
I certainly don’t think you need an interview in order to get in, but it doesn’t help. For the record, I didn’t do one of the sleeping bag weekends (didn’t do anything of the sort for any of my schools), but I did do an on-campus interview with an admissions counselor. Of course, that was a bit easier for me because I’m from Pennsylvania, and doing a campus visit was feasible over a weekend.
If you talk with admissions and let them know there isn’t an alumni within driving distance they’ll have a list of people who are willing to do phone interviews. It’s one of the options we get to choose from when saying if we want to do interviews.
@RacinReaver @goingnutsmom
Thanks for you input! I was advised to do an in-person interview so I think I’ll try to set it up with the alumna closest to me from Dietrich. If she’s not available, I’ll either try for a phone interview or another school within CMU.
@goingnutsmom Hi,
I’m applying to the School of Design; did your S have a portfolio review at the campus? I signed up to do one, yet I’m now wondering if it’s actually worth it. I live in Florida, so paying for a plane ticket to Pittsburgh for a two-day stay seems like a lot. If he did have a review, what was his experience like?
Yes, he did do an on campus portfolio review. Don’t want to derail the thread but I think it was worth it for him. He set up in a room with other students then the profs made the rounds with each student. You have to be prepared to talk about your art and designs in an articulate way. CMU design is more about showing potential than already being a fully formed artist/designer. If you are serious about CMU design, it would be worth it for you to see if it’s the right fit. He also applied to Univ of Cinn DAAP program and was accepted. Good luck!!
@goingnutsmom Oh wow I thought it was a one-on-one review with each kid being called up individually. The main reason I’m doing the review is to explain my work, which is very conceptual.
Thank you for your response!
Maybe it depends on how many students need to be interviewed and they had quite a lot that day. I’m not sure. What I do know is that CMU Design has gotten harder to get into. It was something like 17% or 12% when he applied and last year it was something like 9%. Again, good luck!
@goingnutsmom Hi! Thank you so much for your help regarding this matter.
When I submitted my application, there was an optional question about interviews/if I had one/whether if affected my choice. I put that I was planning to have an alumni interview, but had not yet had one.
I contacted the closest alumna, but because of scheduling issues, we were never able to meet. By that time, it was too late to contact someone else.
Nonetheless, yesterday I was admitted to Dietrich! I’m incredibly happy and grateful for all the advice I received, so thank you very much!
^That’s awesome! My S really enjoyed his time there. He will be graduating this May and is now looking for a job. He said that CMU works you incredibly hard but the time goes by really fast.
@goingnutsmom I’d also like to thank you for the information you gave me. I’ll be attending the School of Design this Fall 
. I won’t be able to meet your son, but I hope to be able to see his work (although I won’t know it its his or not haha).