What are my chances (Carnegie Mellon University: Information Systems)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Carnegie Mellon University
1

Hey guys I was wondering if you could lmk what my chances are with CMU IS program. I am probably not the best candidate in terms of academics but I’ve shown deep interest by attending a college meeting at my HS hosted by a CMU representative, had an alumni interview, and attending the TurnTartanOvernight program. Here are my stats

[ b]Objective:[/b
]
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay) Did not take
ACT (breakdown): 31 M/ 35 R/ 33 Sci/ 29 Eng/ 32 Composite
SAT II (subject, score): Math 2 770
Chem 610 (haha…yeah)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.7 (Just want to mention that I had an 85 avg (3.0 gpa) freshman year and it greatly improved to a 94 avg (4.0 gpa) junior year
Weighted GPA: my school does not weight courses
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A
AP (place score in parentheses): APUSH 5 AP STAT 4 AP Bio 3
Senior Year Course Load: AP LIT, AP CALC BC, AP Env Science, AP Micro, Ap Psych

[ b]Subjective:**

Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):
.President of UNICEF club
.President of Stock Market club
.Active member of religious islamic club
.Member of local youth group at masque (hold meetings every saturday)
Job/Work Experience:
.Tutoring Center (12th Grade) - instructor for 8th grade students taking a common core exam in march
.Folk Culture Internship (Summer b4 12th) - interviewed artisans and created a final presentation on social justice for local community
Volunteer/Community Service:
Lots of hours from UNICEF
Summer Experience:
.Internship near Wall St - Leadership program which researched the juvanille justice system in new york and presented this research to government officials at the mayors office
.Volunteered at the Beth Isreal Department of Nuerology - worked with children with autism and did a lot of paperwork and appointment scheduling for patients

[ b]Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):**

Essays: Common App Essay, 9.5, About a time of failure and how I used that as a catalyst for success. My AP Lit teacher especially enjoyed it.

Teacher Recommendation #1: 9, AP Stat teacher, I was one of the best students in his class
Teacher Recommendation #2: 9.5, wasnt especially close with him but he is known for writing great recs
Counselor Rec: 8.5, unsure about this one. while i am close with her, she doesnt have great english
Interview: Went very well. Talked with an alumni in my feild for over an hour.
[ b]Other**

U.S. State/Territory or Country: New York
School Type: Exteremely competitive, need to take a test to get in
Ethnicity: south asian
Gender: male
Income Bracket Range: <20k
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development): Plenty of extracurriculars, low income, shown interest, improvement in grades over time

General Comments: Carnegie Mellon is my dream school and while I don’t have the best stats I truly hope I get in. Please lmk of my chances.

2

I wish you well but trust you paid closer attention to spelling in your essays than in this post.

It’s very hard to gauge your prospects without understanding how you addressed the following questions:

  1. Why is CMU your dream school and

  2. why does the IS program interest you?

In other words, why will you stand out from the crowd?

You don’t need to reply here - whatever you’ve written is now in the hands of the admissions folks.

You will find out in a few weeks and I assume you have a good backup plan in case your dream doesn’t come true. Make the best of whatever opportunity you have!

3

Haha, I was in quite the rush when I posted this discussion and I can assure you my essay was revised plenty of times! Both those questions were adressed in depth in both my supplementals as well as the alumni interview. Thank you for the feedback!