I will be a senior next year and I am seriously looking at Carnegie Mellon for college. I’m nervous to apply though. My big concern is which would give me a better chance. If you guys could help figure out which side to pick that would help immensely
Test scores as of now.
Sat Subject Bio M: 720
ACT: 31, studying for and retaking soon.
I will be taking the Math 2 Subject Test soon as well.
My Grades are
Sophomore Year both semester:
Pre-Calculus: A/A
English 10: A/A
AP Physics 1: B/B
AP Biology A/A
Spanish 2: A/A
Theology A/A
Competitive Speech and Debate: A/A
Junior Year both semesters
AP Calculus AB: B/B
Spanish 3: A/A
Theology A/A
APUSH: A/A
AP Language: A/A
World History: A/A
Advanced Competitive Speech and Debate: A/A
Senior Year Course Load
AP Stats
AP Lit
AP Gov
AP Chem
AP Micro/Macro
Social Justice 1st semester
Weights and Conditioning 2nd semester
Advanced Competitive Speech
Extracurriculars
Cross Country (2 years), Track (1 year), Science Olympiad (1 year), Debate (3 years, captain next year), Challenger, which is a program at my school in which helps lead freshman through their first year in high school (2 years). I have been an intern at a biochemistry lab at BSU since the summer after my sophomore year. I have been a coauthor on 3 published scientific posters and am writing my own this summer. Also I will be helping train another student in the lab this summer. I am also helping plan a TEDx youth event and will be a speaker at it this fall. I am a member of the National Honor Society. Lastly, I am volunteering at a Catholic charity this summer doing interviews of workers and customers, writing articles for them and redesgning their website.
My concerns is my lack of science this year. I took two last year though and have several years of high school science from years before. I had to take World History this year to make up for not doing it my sophomore year. Also I have been going to a biochem lab several times of week and reading textbooks for that this year, so I think that compensates. I know Carnegie Mellon does not imput your freshman year grades into their GPA calculation which is why I didn’t add it here.
My question is if I should apply regular decision or early decision. I have calculated out through CMU’s financial aid sources and the school falls into an affordable range for me and it is my number one choice. If I apply regular decision would that include my senior grades into the GPA calculation because I know ED is only sophomore and junior year. I’m nervous that my subpar GPA will hinder my chances. Also I studying really hard right now for the SAT and ACT. All the pretests I have done have me at 30-32 without any prep at all.
Basically I have no idea what decision format to apply for and I have no idea how my chances are. Any help would be appreciated!
CMU is one of the schools that specifically states they consider “demonstrated interest”. Applying ED is pretty much the strongest way to demonstrate interest. If you’re sure that CMU is your number one choice, and your parents agree with the affordability, then it sounds like you’re the exact type of person that ED is meant for.
With AP Physics, Bio, and Chem under your belt I don’t think I’d worry too much about not taking a science course your Junior year (assuming that you have credit for at least one more science course from your freshman year). Is AP Calc BC offered at your school? You may want to take that instead of AP Stats, I don’t see that being a large factor at all.
Calc BC is offered at a school close to mine but only second semester which is why I’m not taking it. Plus I don’t really have room in my schedule to fit it in. The only math class at my school I can take now is AP Stats. I might be able to take Calc in BC but only second semester.
Other than that I’m planning on applying to Reed, Northeastern, Tulane, Boston University, University of San Francisco, and some WUE schools. The big reason I’m so into carnegie mellon is how they calculate GPA. MY freshman year GPA consists of years of high school math and science classes I took in middle school when I didn’t do well. Also freshman year was a wreck for me. I got misdiagnosed with depression, I actually have bipolar, and it tanked my grades. My grades also suffered in middle school from undiagnosed early onset bipolar. My grades since have been pretty good though.
@IDaho I think @shortnuke was asking what college at CMU you’re applying to, as some are very competitive relative to others. CS is near impossible to get into, and will be tough even if you go ED. For other colleges in CMU, it will be a lot easier. Depending on the school you’re applying to, you may have a good chance of getting in without ED.
I have done some research and the ED acceptance rate overall is 24% for this year. The regular admitaance rate is 13.7%. So clearly there is a big difference. Considering MCS is a few percentage points higher, I’m assuming theED rate would be too. I’m not sure what my chances honestly are. My UW GPA is 3.86 for my sophomore and junior year. My final standardized test scores are not in yet. I’m waiting on my ACT score to come back. My predicted score is somewhere between 30-32 so I obviously need to study this summer to compensate and should take the SAT. I also need to take the Math II subject test. My extracurricular are pretty good in my opinion. I have been working consistently in a biochemistry lab with my name published on several posters so far and I am authoring my own soon. So my chances seem decent, at least to me.
My kid, an Asian male from one of “those Mountain States” (ID, MT, WY) was accepted RD with ZERO HOOKS to SCS
:)>-
His ACT 34
SAT II Math & Physics 800
Ranked 6th in a class of over 400
He is exceptional in Math (Asian male strong in Math is a horrendous disadvantage for elite admissions)
Has minimal programming experience, took AP Comp Sc in 10th grade and got a 4
I suspect CMU is quite “stats heavy” in their admittance criteria like I hear some California Univs are. =D>
They place a HUGE importance on demonstrated interest.
I traded emails with the admission staff for over 4 months
We visited, reached out to the person we interacted with over email, introduced ourselves to make the connection.
Did the tour, did the info session, son did the interview.
THAT and being from the Mountain West were the main factors IMO.
