<p>I can't seem to decide whether I should apply to umich or to carnegie mellon. I want to major in political science or economics and might want to minor in something with east asian studies. I'd also really like to study abroad. Location is also huge for me, but I'm pretty much clueless when it comes to ann arbor and pittsburgh. No time to visit either. Any suggestions? Chances also matter a lot to, I'd rather apply to the school that I have a better shot at.
Here are some of my stats:
SATs- 1400/2050
SAT IIs- 760,730,700.
GPA- 94.12, Rank- around top 12%. (My rank and gpa are low mainly due to my freshmen yr grades, and I don't think umich looks at frosh grades right?)
Upward trend in grades and rigor of curriculum. Taking 4 APs right now.
Essays should be good, recs decent.
Good ECs and work experience.
I would apply to H&SS at Carnegie and LSA at mich.</p>
<p>Really appreciate any help you guys can offer me.
Thanks.</p>
<p>My advice would be to apply to both. CMU and Michigan are similar in selectivity (though CMU has certain schools which are more selective) and I'd say they would each be slight reaches for you. Your GPA/class rank will hurt a little unless you are attending an elite high school. </p>
<p>As far as locations go, CMU is an urban campus while Michigan is a rural campus. Michigan is also a lot bigger. If they are your top two choices, I'd advise applying to both and if you get into both (and don't get a chance to visit either), make your decision by deciding whether you prefer a rural or urban setting and a small/mid-size student body or a huge student body?</p>
<p>Hope that helps and best of luck in the college process. Feel free to ask any more questions you might have.</p>
<p>For Poli Sci it doesn't really matter. For Econ I'd go with CMU w/ 6 Nobel Laureautes, connections with top NY companies, private attention, top professors, and higher avg salaries. Also since Econ is halfway into Tepper and you get invited to all the job fairs and opps offered to Tepper kids. Econ/Tepper postgrad surveys are the highest median avg base salaries (55ks) not including bonuses. Most graduating kids go to top firms/companies in NY or Wall Street. This is thanks to the school's connections with firms like Lehman Brothers, Merill Lynch, JP Morgan, Duestche Bank, and Goldman Sachs. That is why a look at the postgrad surveys shows these companies as the "mode" companies (the ones that recruit the most grads) for CMU.</p>
<p>Just as a note I went to Michigan and my son is now at Carnegie Mellon; in no way is U of M rural. The university is in the city of Ann Arbor which had a 2004 population of 114,000. It's a lively sophisticated city with a college town atmosphere surrounding campus. My son spent two summers at Camp CAEN in Ann Arbor and in his opinion it was more exciting and more to do than the Oakland area immediately surrounding CMU. This includes stores, restaurants, arcades, and anime shops. (And before Accepted Already gets too worked up remember that the son is at CMU, not U of M!) Also, I don't have the specific info, but it seems like U of M would offer more study abroad opportunities.</p>
<p>Ok so small town setting then. It's not like University of Michigan is in the middle of Detroit (thankfully given the condition of Detroit) or even in real close proximity to it. Yes, Carnegie Mellon is Oakland (which is actually technically part of Pittsburgh), but downtown Pittsburgh is only about 5 miles away. Carnegie Mellon is definitely more in a big city than Michigan, that was all I meant.</p>
<p>Certainly small towns always have more of a college town atmosphere than big cities. Whether a small town setting or an urban setting is more exciting depends on the individual.</p>
<p>Sorry but I'm laughing at your definition of over 100,000 as "small town. And especially since Pittsburgh is 334,000 and Detroit is 951,000. Having spent time on both campuses, they are really not that different of an environment compared to an actual large city. Have you been to Ann Arbor? Just don't want odin64x to think that U of M is in the middle of a cornfield or isolated.</p>
<p>To answer the OP's question, you're correct, U-M doesn't compute freshman grades into the Michigan GPA. They also don't factor in +/-, or weight the GPA for honors/AP's.</p>
<p>Agree with Marilyn about the misleading description given of the City of Ann Arbor as rural/small town. From my own experience, living in Ann Arbor was one of the best things about being a student at Michigan...couldn't ask for a better college town!</p>
<p>Marilyn: I don't see how you think a large state school has better study abroad opportunities than a private research U that has facilities around the world, a huge international student body, connections with international companies, a campus in Qatar, and a facility/job link in New York. </p>
<p>I'll just take the Tepper postgrad survey as an example. If the kids are not going to NY or the east coast they are going to places like Hong Kong and Tokyo. The mode companies are all top Wall Street firms, investment banks, or other top companies. These are UBS (4), Deloitte Consulting (4), Duestche Bank (4), Goldman Sachs (3), IBM Consulting (3), JP Morgan (3), Lehman Brothers (2). </p>
<p>2004's postgrad surveys were just as impressive with mode companies being IBM (5), JP Morgan (5), Lehman Brothers (4), Merrill Lynch (4), CGI-AMS (3), etc.</p>
<p>As for this: "they are really not that different of an environment compared to an actual large city." I both agree and disagree. It's true Umich is definitely not rural but CMU's campus is a secluded traditional green-college campus on top of a hill that is 5 minutes away from downtown Pitts. The rest of Pittsburgh and the suburbs (Waterfront, Shadyside, Squirrel Hill, etc) resemble Umich's college town. </p>
<p>However, walking/driving downtown towards Upitt is a different experience. At most times during the day and during party nights, downtown Pitt streets are crowded with cars and people on the sidewalks. This is because Pittsburgh is the nation's 2nd largest college city (after Boston of course). Upitt, Duquesne, CMU, Carlow, etc. all contribute to the city atmosphere if one walks downtown. Tall/huge buildings loom everywhere downtown as do countless bridges. There are electric streetcars and even homeless people. Go up the incline and look downtown and it's impossible to declare Pitt as comparable to a "town". I think perhaps you are thinking more of the actual CMU campus rather than what is just a few minutes away. CMU has the best of both worlds location-wise and while you got the college-town world captured, you are missing out on the city world. </p>
<p>I dislike when people here try to take things out of context to attempt to start a confrontation. Note that never did I say that Ann Arbor was a bad city or wasn't an enjoyable college town. I was just pointing out the differences between the two cities, not saying one is better than the other. </p>
<p>Yes, as I have already stated I was incorrect to call it rural, but as I said before, all I meant by that was on a comparative basis U of Michigan is not in/adjacent to as big of a city as CMU. </p>
<p>Let's try to do what we are supposed to do and give the original poster advice, not start silly arguments.</p>
<p>Exactly, I was just trying to make sure the OP wasn't misled by the word "rural" or the phrase "small town". Some of the kids on these boards are not checking other sources and I would hate to see someone not apply to a college because they relied on something misleading that they read here. The OP said he knew nothing of either location but it was a huge factor; was not able to visit so I felt it was important that he get a clearer idea of the differences/similarities.</p>
<p>odin64X - I see from your other posts that you are from NYC and selecting your 8th and last application. (Nearly all of his other choices are in cities and highly selective schools for the most part.) When you're from NY even Pittsburgh might seem rural! Talk about tall buildings, bridges, and homeless people....</p>
<p>But remember that you should be happy to go to every school you apply to - if you really don't know anything about these last two options do some studying on their extensive web sites. Did your GC recommend them? If so, why? If you can give some specific reasons why you are considering these colleges you can get better advice. What are the most important factors to you? What kind of college experience are you looking for? What kind of lifestyle do you envison? Are you hoping for scholarships? Why is location a huge factor? You may have noticed that people on the CMU board recommend CMU, and people on the U of M board recommend Michigan. You will not find disinterested people on these boards!</p>
<p>Personally I am more enamored with CMU than our graduated son, who is more or less ambilivant to CMU- He got what he wanted. </p>
<p>A school does not need to oversell itself. And beware of those who do. </p>
<p>As for polysci/econ and big city connections: My older bro who is in the first year of the BOOMERS, (ivy-league, big city financial institution, PhD) has fired many "great" schooled, smart, bright, accomplished people because of misplacement, incompetence, and reorganizations. Contacts and connections are great but ultimately its you and not the school of attendance that will decide your fate. </p>
<p>PS. Bro has also dodged a lot of arrows...His wife is smarter than he is.</p>
<p>Wow, I just wrote an entire essay and it got deleted. Im feeling lazy now so I'll just shorten my response.
Yes my counselor recommended the two schools mainly cause the weakest part of my app is my rank/gpa. CMU, I heard doesn't weight rank that heavily, I believe the avg rank for a H&SS student was top 12%. As for Umich, they dont look at frosh grades, which is where most of my B's are. Outside of my frosh yr, I only have like 3 Bs.
Location is so important to me cause Im from nyc and I cant imagine life without the crowded subways, the hustle and bustle, the looming buildings, and the mcdonalds on every block. But I realized that I cant base my college apps solely on location, which is why Im considering umich and cmu. I think both are "urban" enough to satisfy me, but I guess its also a question of which one is more so than the other.
I'm also thinking of entering the business field and I love how umich offers me the option of doing so if I do decide to enter (with ross, assuming I get in of course). And CMU, if I majored in econ, I get the benefits of tepper.
To the suggestion of apping both, probably won't happen since Ive alrdy decided my other 7 and college office is really strict about going over the limit, but I'll ask.
*sigh..., Im so torn. At least I have BU xD, I can get into that right?...</p>
<p>O yea, and fin aid is definitely huge for me since Im dirt poor. If I dont get sufficient aid, I probably wouldnt be able to attend, although Im not opposed to taking out loans.
Thanks to everyone for their advice.</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon is one of the stingiest schools with regard to both financial aid and merit aid. Michigan is a state school and even though you're aren't an in-state student, it would still be cheaper.</p>
<p>The characterization of "stinginess" is relative. Likewise, whether a state school is cheaper to a private school is also relative. Unless you are one of the administrators of CMU, your statements may mislead prospective qualified students.</p>
<h1>15: Most would argue that all top privates (aside from the Ivies and Rice) are stingy. Go to the other boards and look at their complaints. It's quite the norm for private students to always think that they pay more than they should but CMU actually gives pretty good aid (at least to the people they want to come). No one can really judge how much aid CMU will give (it is a bit random) but to say it is stingy is not accurate of everyone's experiences.</h1>
<p>Michigan is one of the most expensive public schools in the country for out of state, tuition appears to be not much lower than CMUs or any private. They have different tuition rates for different programs but it's about $30,000 a year oos accd to their website. Not a bargain...</p>
<p>Bach: What's your major? I don't know if you had to take the required stats class but if you did/have you would know that CC.com has quite the skewed survey population especially in a thread that does not have mostly enrolling students. What about the kids who attend CMU, wouldn't most of them be satisfied with their financial aid (seeing as they actually attend)? </p>
<p>Your survey population from that thread is about 3 people and one even said "However, I would bet my entire award that nobody else is in the same financial situation as my family, so I'm not a good representative sample.". </p>
<p>The rest are known complainers of CMU seeing as their kids now go elsewhere. The ones I am talking about are of course taxguy and lk. If you took a survey of current CMU students (such as the ones on my floor freshman year) you would see that they got their aid met quite fine.</p>
