<p>I scored 2260 in th SAT (M-780, CR-710, W-770)
I plan on doing subject tests in physics and math2 in december and expect 700+ in both
I'm a US citizen, but I've lived practically all my life in India, where the GPA system isn't really followed. So this is what I can tell you:
My freshman grades weren't very good</p>
<p>Sophomore:
Physics - A*
Mathematics - A*
Additional Mathematics - B
Chemistry - B
Biology - A
English Language - A
Literature - B
Economics - A
Business - A
French - A</p>
<p>I only did 1 final examination (math) in my Junior year and got an A.</p>
<p>I plan on doing Economics, Further Mathematics, Physics and English Language this year. (Senior year)
And I'm expecting:
Physics - B
Math - A
English - A
Economics - A</p>
<p>I'm treasurer of my school's interact club
I'm head of finance in my class' business which we started to participate in the "Young Enterprise" program my school offers.
Yeah so my ECs are really shabby..</p>
<p>So what're my chances of getting into CMU? (Be honest please)</p>
<p>You didn’t name which schools you’re applying to…? They have various difficulties of admission. You would have a shot at Econ in HSS, but for Tepper your chances seem very slim - your app looks like a pretty one-dimensional Indian kid with good grades and generic business clubs. The fact that you are an international student will also go against you, since we have an extremely large population of Indian and Asian internationals.</p>
<p>I defer to Kate but I wonder if your stats would be viewed differently if your school already has students at CMU or CMU graduates? If your school is known by CMU there is a much higher chance of admission because they will be more familiar with the kind of student that comes from there. They look like very good stats despite the freshman year if you come from a school with a strong reputation of producing good students. A letter from a counselor giving an explanation of your trend in grades could be helpful. Don’t be discouraged but be realistic that it is really hard to get into some of CMU schools like Tepper or SCS. </p>
<p>I am not entirely certain that Kate is right about you competing with other SE Asian students for admission. You are a US citizen so, I think, you are treated as US for admissions but international for financial aid. I think this because when we lived abroad and our kids went to an international school (British system not US diploma) we were told this about our kids by several universities (but not by CMU). Some schools do limit the number of international students they take. I am most familiar with art schools because they rely on internationals heavily to pay full freight but they don’t want to fill the entire school with foreign students–CMU has some of this and RISD definitely has this approach because they could fill their class with asian students willing to pay full ride. These schools sometimes explicitly state that they try and limit internationals to 20% of the class. If there is a limit to the number of students from SE Asia they will admit, I am not sure that you will be part of that limit. Perhaps someone can clarify this.</p>
<p>You’re right in that he would probably be considered a US citizen for application purposes. The common app also asks applicants to mark ethnicity, which is unrelated to citizenship. If he is Indian in terms of ethnicity, then this will probably not really help his case - though he may be technically a US citizen, he comes from a racial category considered “overrepresented” on campus-- along with asian internationals/US students.</p>
<p>To be honest I don’t know if there’s some kind of quota CMU tries to fill regarding international asian/indian kids. I know that this year they severely overbooked the freshman class, and many of these such admits were international kids who could pay full freight. It’s reasonable to guess that to counterbalance this they will admit fewer of such students in this upcoming season.</p>
<p>OP, I’d recommend writing a really, really fabulous essay and securing godly recs. Regardless of your origin, I think it’s fair to call CMU a reach school for you unless there is something you have not mentioned on your application.</p>
<p>It’s really interesting that ethnicity and religion are now optional items on the common ap and this was not the case in the very recent past. Hence, I know bi-racial asians who actually do NOT check the asian box when applying to HYPS believing (probably semi-accurately) that there is reverse discrimination against US-born asians.</p>
<p>I agree with Kate, and think it’s really fair to say that schools that don’t practice “need blind admissions” will clearly and quite unfortunately take full-paying customers all else being equal (emphasis on “equal”). That is not to say someone who has a zero EFC is going to be denied admission - but someone with “just-at-the threshold” stats might be accepted as a full pay and most certainly stands no chance with a low EFC in any school in the country which has openly statied they don’t follow need-blind admissions.<br>
To CMU’s credit- they are quite serious about building a diverse student body-- so they do manage to do so perhaps with as high as a quarter of the class being full pay internationals-- who offer the discount-on-the-dollar for UScitizens having demonstrated financial need. So internationals stand a great chance at CMU - -if qualified. Females, even better for SCS and CIT.</p>
<p>This issue is of course is a larger more philosophical issue on the affordability of a college education and the role which qualified full-paying students-- us or international assume in the grand scheme of things. Certainly not an issue exclusive to CMU.</p>
<p>Bottom line-- all else held constant – a full pay student with stats over the threshold will likely stand a greater chance of admittance over an exactly qualified credentialed student with a low EFC. That’s not a slam to CMU-- but reality. Their endowment is not that of Harvards or PRincetons.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot for all the feedback. I’m a girl, by the way
I actually plan on applying as a full pay student since I see that I’m not the most impressive applicant. And sorry for not specifying the school… I want to apply to Mellon College of Science.
I can only think of one student from my school who is currently in CMU, but our school in general is pretty well reputed (for an Indian school).
I know that my English teacher’s rec will be strong… but my other two won’t be ESPECIALLY good. And that’s mainly because there’s a LOT of competition in my grade so I don’t get noticed as much as I would have, had I been in any other year.
I’ve also recently started vocal training lessons and have performed twice at a restaurant-theatre place in my city. I didn’t mention this before because I didn’t think it was relevant, but would it help make my ECs look less cliched-indian-bussinessy-kid-like?</p>
<p>Yes, by all means mention the music. Having performed live is a big deal, and that will definitely make your application more three-dimensional.</p>
<p>If you have a boss or a club advisor who would give you an additional rec then that would also be a good place to go - just make sure your core 2 recommendations are from teachers.</p>
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<p>Your residence is international, so you aren’t eligible for financial aid - you HAVE to apply as a full-pay student. So this will not help your application.</p>
<p>I think recs from my English teacher, Math teacher and principle are the best I can get, but they still won’t be fabulous. Would the fact that my math teacher teaches me ‘further’ math make a difference? He has nothing bad to say about me, but the whole further math class is at the same level so I don’t really stand out.
Also, I’m not an international student… I’m a US citizen. So hopefully the fact that i’m paying the full amount will make a difference</p>
<p>Oh I just reread your post and realized you said “Your residence is international”
I didn’t know residence played a role in financial aid eligibility. Okay well that makes things more difficult… But could you also tell me how competitive MCS is relative to the other schools?</p>
<p>Yes, international status is usually calculated by residence it seems, since you are paying taxes to a certain country. I have a friend who is a Korean in design; he was born on US soil, making him a citizen, but has lived in Korea his whole life. His father is renting a cheapie apartment in NYC and paying US taxes purely so he can qualify for aid.</p>
<p>MCS is right in the middle. It usually goes (from hardest to easiest): CFA (for most programs - portfolio component), SCS, Tepper, CIT, MCS, Econ, IS, HSS.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if that’s true, kate. One of the people I knew in undergrad was born in Texas, mostly grew up in Taiwan, and was eligible for all sorts of aid. Another person I knew spent high school in the UAE since her dad had moved there for a job, but still received federal aid as well.</p>
<p>(Also, why is that dude renting in NYC. Rent a cheapie apartment in Memphis or buy a house in Detroit or something.)</p>
<p>(Haha, hell if I know. I don’t even think he’s going to be able to finish his degree, which is the sad part - I guess he has to go back to Korea for mandatory military service for some reason.)</p>
<p>There are a lot of forms of federal aid that she is still qualified for, such as national scholarships and that type of thing, because the OP is technically a US citizen. I believe work study is also offered for internationals under certain circumstances, but I could be crazy on that one - there were a few Chinese kids working with me when I was employed in Robotics. </p>
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<p>It’s defined by residence status it seems. </p>
<p>Additionally, to get aid, CMU requires a FAFSA. She cannot fill out a FAFSA without submitting her parents’ tax returns for that year. Since they don’t live here, they don’t have US tax returns most likely.</p>
