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can anyone tell me anything about this school? good, bad, I am applying to it with a 1220 and 88 GPA, i have played 2 instruments one for 12 years and am active in lots of activities. could i get in?
thanks.

By Jamimom (Jamimom) on Monday, September 15, 2003 - 09:43 am: Edit

You really did not give alot of information. First of all CMU is made up of 7 schools. The school of Computer Science is the hardest one to get in--it is rated among the best in the country, if not the best. The Carnegie Institute of Tech is the engineering school, and again it is very tough to get into that school. The School of Fine Arts is one of the best in the country and getting in depends largely on your portfolio if you are in art, and your audition if you are in peforming arts. It is very competitive. The Mellon Institute of Science is where the science/math majors go. There is also a school of business and the Humanities and Social Sciences School. Those are not quite as competitive and syou many want to check those out.See where you stand in that crowd. The 7th school is for Public policy but it is for graduate students only.
The interesting thing about CMU is that you can apply to more than one school in the university--even to all of them, and get into one but not another. Unlike Cornell, NYU and other schools where you have to pick one school, CMU allows you to consider each school individually. The Numbers you see for SAT are not useful for CMU because they are a composite for the entire school. If you audition, you can have much lower numbers. If you want the College of Computer Science (CCS), then you have to have top test scores and grades, especially in the maths. Also CMU is very interested in diversity and admissions isinclined to make allowances for those with interesting extracurriculars, athletes, underrepresented minorities, geographics.
So as you can see, you did not give enough information. Are you good at English or maths or sciences? Do you want to study music? Are you willing to audition? Where do you live--if you are from Pittsburgh, it ' s tougher--everyone there wants to go to CMU. Nevada, hey, they want to take a look. Cmu is probably one of the most eclectic schools around. Hope you check it out.

By Peregrin (Peregrin) on Wednesday, September 17, 2003 - 12:45 pm: Edit

Thanks for Responding to my post!

I live in upstate New York, near Rochester. I did apply to the Humanities and Social Sciences College there, but I was rejected partially from bad SAT II grades, and that I applied very late. Anyways, I got into Ithaca Purchase and Binghamton and have decided to Attend Binghamton in the Spring semester (I am planning on minoring in music but not sure of a major). Right now I am doing a program at SUNY Purchase in Spain for my first semester! Ithaca was my top choice but I didn't go there mainly on its cost. Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions though. I appreciate it!

By Jamimom (Jamimom) on Sunday, September 21, 2003 - 01:10 am: Edit

Binghamton is great. It makes my list of schools to check out. CMU is expensive and does not like to give generous aid packages. SUny Purchase programs are terrific. It looks like you are doing so well! Best of luck.

By Mahri (Mahri) on Sunday, January 11, 2004 - 05:08 pm: Edit

Hi I applied to CMU and i was wondeirng if you can rate me chances.

I have a 1200 SAT score
4.2 gpa (weighted) 3.7 unweighted
i rank top 25% out of 97
i'm applying to the Carnegie Institute of Tech is the engineering school
I'm bi-racial-filipino/hispanic female

involved in many extra curricular activities--over 3 pages and many i've been dedicated throughout entire hs career.

some EC: Student Gov, School Play, Varsity Tennis, Varsity Track, math/science league, tutorer, mentor, science olympiad, 300+ hours volunteering in hospital, attended governors school of engineering and technology, etc etc..

By Shauna (Shauna) on Sunday, January 11, 2004 - 08:48 pm: Edit

Mahri--

CMU's engineering program is one of the toughest in the country, and although you have lots of ECs, your scores aren't that great. I'm sorry, but I'd say your chances are slim to none.

Shauna

By Memtigers86 (Memtigers86) on Friday, March 26, 2004 - 04:54 pm: Edit

Accepted to Carnegie Mellon

For reference:

SAT 1490 SAT II 800/750/650

GPA: 4.0 unweighted 5.42 weighted

You can look up the rest of my stats at www.prstats.com under LadyStentora

Good luck to the rest of you!!

By Sheba_Star (Sheba_Star) on Thursday, April 01, 2004 - 10:46 pm: Edit

Hold on! I got into Carnegie Mellon and... hold on to your hats, kids...these are my stats

SAT: 1270
GPA: 3.19 Unweighted
3.52 Weighted
Applied: Thanksgiving Break
Visited: November
Essay: About second grade
Accepted: March

How 'bout dem apples?

By Glorfindel (Glorfindel) on Saturday, April 03, 2004 - 04:03 pm: Edit

I applied to the Mellon College of Science for physics and was accepted. I also was accepted into Cornell for the same thing. How is Carnegie Mellon's physics program? How does it rank against Cornell's? As far as I can tell they are on the same level of quality, but I need to pick which one is better.

By Sots (Sots) on Monday, April 05, 2004 - 09:55 am: Edit

I was accepted w/ 1400 SATS, 97.1 gpa for 1st 3 yrs of high school... this sucks because I was an exchange student for a yr (BrasiL!), which means I only get two yrs in my gpa, and my bad freshman yr counts more.

...strong art portfolio, and really good ecs.

By Debrush (Debrush) on Thursday, April 08, 2004 - 03:00 am: Edit

Is anyone out there in the College of Fine Arts, School of Art? Do you associate with other types of students, or just art students. Would you have preferred being in an all art school, such as Chicago Art Institute of RISD? Which is the best housing to live in? Thanks

By Nycityman (Nycityman) on Friday, April 09, 2004 - 12:42 pm: Edit

i just got into design and fine arts. i hope to double major.

By Sgiovinc (Sgiovinc) on Saturday, April 24, 2004 - 01:38 am: Edit

accepted to CMU college of sciences....1290 SAT's, 3.9 gpa..6 AP's... sat II's in the mid to hi 600's...but have lots of music background...probly got me in...otherwise i wa lucky i think...female from NY...biochem major

By Martist77 (Martist77) on Friday, April 30, 2004 - 06:04 pm: Edit

Wondering what my chances were at either the Computer Science or Institute of Technology:

I'm a junior and I'm taking the SATII's tomorrow in Math + History, AP in History next Friday, and SAT in June, so no scores yet... but I did get th 98th percentile in Math on the PSAST, without preparation, and I think I can get an 800. Verbal not so good, but I'm practicing...hopefully it'll be good... Also, I got all advanced scores on MCAS Anyways, this is what I have so far (although some of it might not matter):

I go to Tantasqua HS in Sturbridge/Fiskdale, MA, USA (if that matters) and I'm a white male

3.91 WGPA as of mid-year--best guess is 93 percentile and rising...
Just got into National Honor Society
Perfect attendance for two years running...
Really interested in computers and programming, etc.--I skipped a grade in my schools course
Chess Team
Varsity Math Team
Recycling Club--we started up a program at school, and collect paper after school
Student Council-ours is like 4th in the state or something good--I'll probably be webmaster of its site next year
Regional Student Advisory Council
Recreational sports
Various art stuff--esp. oil painting--I'm quite good, although this doesn't quite pertain to what I want to study
Various Community service--through church, school, etc.
I work at SUBWAY
I'm Looking into an internship for next year and summer employment doing computer stuff...
I've also taught myself some German (online courses, tapes, etc.) and I plan to really get into it over the summer
I also plan on learning more programming especially Java so I can take the AP test (right now I only know QBASIC, some C++ and Javascript, HTML, and some other pretty insignificant stuff)
I do well in all the stuff I listed , and I've earned various awards for those and other things too...

Next year I'm taking AP Chem, English, and Calc AB (I'll probably take the BC test learning on my own) That's all my school offers--I think I'm the only one taking all of them

Admittedly, I slacked off a bit in Freshman year, but I haven't finished a class with a "B" since, and throughout HS I've taken all honors courses whenever offered, and If it weren't for that one year I might have been #1.

Sorry it's so long.
Thanks.

Also, Sheba_Star: Which school?

By Taxguy (Taxguy) on Wednesday, May 12, 2004 - 09:37 pm: Edit

Be careful about Carnegie Melon. Although it is a very fine school, you are limited to the school that you got accepted in. Thus, if you apply to the design school and want to switch to the art school, you need to reapply as a new student. This is a very serious situation. Otherwise, CMU is one of the better schools in the country for art, computer sciences and sciences and engineering in general.