Hello! I am currently in a debate with my parents about which school I should be EDing to. It’s my opinion that with my profile, I won’t be admitted to CMU CS or IS and should be EDing to Rice CS. They think otherwise saying that I should be EDing to CMU and that Rice CS isn’t worth EDing to as it’s on par with or worse than UT Austin CS. Would appreciate some thoughts on the situation.
Asian male from Texas
Competitive high school in suburban Houston
Looking to major in CS with some sort of minor/double major in business or economics
Upper-middle-class family (200k+)
SAT: 1540 (740 EBRW 800 MATH 16 WRITING)
SAT 2: 800 MATH 740 CHEMISTRY
GPA: 4.59 UW, 3.94 W
Rank 62 out of 838 (Top 7.4%)
9 APs by graduation
almost all honors and AP courses
4-year HS soccer player
club soccer team qualified for the US youth soccer national league (won’t be competing as I tore my PCL)
NHS member
science NHS member
CS club member
chess club treasurer
volunteered in China for 2 weeks as a summer camp counselor teaching kids game design, robotics, and 3-d printing
volunteered at a Chinese immersion summer camp for 2 weeks, taught kids Chinese and about Chinese Culture
organized a free weeklong soccer summer camp for kids in the community, had 30+ kids show up on every given day
work part time as a youth soccer referee
Which one is your true first choice? I realize that a lot of people view ED as a “silver bullet”, but that’s not the intent. Suppose that you get into Rice ED but also get accepted to CMU RD. If your first thought is “How do I get out of my ED commitment?” then I would say that you need to apply to CMU ED.
I don’t know anything about Rice’s CS program, but I do know that CMU appears to be very friendly to full-pay students. This will certainly work to your advantage. 22% of CMUs UG student body are international students, and CMU does not offer financial aid for international students. Only 49% of freshmen receive need-based financial aid, and CMU offers very little merit aid. 29% of the UG student body identifies as “Asian only”, so being an Asian male is probably not as much of a disadvantage as it may when applying to other universities.
Your stats and EC experience will definitely make you a compelling applicant for CMU. If it truly is your first choice, then I would recommend you apply ED.
@shortnuke At Rice, the campus and overall quality of life seem more enjoyable. However I do prefer Pittsburgh over Houston and I know the quality of CS at CMU is undeniable. Ultimately I’m leaning towards Rice as it seems like I’ll have a better overall experience there.
What did you do the summer of Junior year? Also, what is your Math background? CMU CS has strong emphasis on Math.
But I kind of agree with shortnuke. IMO, don’t ED CMU. Also don’t ED Rice (I don’t even think Rice is worth the cost compared to UT Austin for CS anyways). If you are indecisive between Rice and CMU, apply RD for both and make the decision later.