<p>My son is going to an athlete recruiting camp at CMU, and there is a Sleeping Bag weekend starting right after the recruit camp ends. Is it worth it enough for him to miss a day of school? Or does it not matter?</p>
<p>Also, we requested a FA estimate, and were wondering if anyone else did that, and if it was an on-target estimate. We found two NPCs for CMU, and one gives a higher than average price for us compared to other schools, and the other gave an outrageously low price. </p>
<p>Finally - any benefit from having a strong music background but applying to engineering? Does CMU like that, or would it seem dilute to them not to hyperfocus?</p>
<p>I would call the school and ask which NPC to use. My understanding is that it was pretty accurate. When you say that you requested a financial aid estimate, do you mean from their NPC or something else? It seemed that for the best FA package for CMU applying ED was the route to go but only if it is the clear choice. You will not be able to compare FA packages from schools. It really depends if CMU is of significant interest to your son to invest in sleeping bag weekend. I think CMU likes demonstrated interest. My son combined sleeping bag stay with portfolio presentation/review and an interview. He’s a junior at CMU CFA- Design. Not sure on the music thing. CMU says it loves left brain/right brain kids but the curriculum at the different schools is very demanding so not sure how much kids do both. </p>
<p>The FA estimate was directly from CMU, they had a form to fill out online.</p>
<p>So, it turned out:
collegeabacus.com gave a terrible FA estimate, said he’d get tons of aid
FA estimate from online NPC was not that good
FA estimate from CMU’s FA department itself was 5K worse</p>
<p>CMU is not in his future. It is not that much better than other schools he is applying to which are 10K to 15K less net cost per year, all with similar total cost to attend.</p>
<p>Sorry to hear that OP. CMU is a great school but keep hearing their FA sucks. I think they are missing out on some great kids. </p>