<p>Hey Guys I’m a white male from a suburban town and from a 2A high school. My graduating class has approx. 300 people. What are my chances of getting into Carnegie Mellon?</p>
<p>GPA: 4.0
Class Rank: 1 of approx. 300
SAT I: 1440; Math:770 Verbal:670
SAT II Math Level 1: 760
SAT II Chem.: 720</p>
<p>Higher Level Classes:
AP Calc BC - 4 ; AB - 5
AP Chem - 4
AP US - 4
Frederick Community College Class - Film History 101</p>
<p>Extracurriculars:
Varsity Basketball
Varsity Outdoor Track
Key Club
Student Government Association
Model United Nations</p>
<p>Leadership:
Freshman Basketball Captain (9th Grade)
Junior Varsity Basketball Captain (10th Grade)
Student Government Web Site Committee Chairperson (10th - 12th Grade)
Student Government Treasurer (11th Grade)
Senior Class Council (12th Grade)
President and Founder of Model United Nations (12th Grade)
Maryland Boys State: President of City Council
Maryland Boys State: State Delegate</p>
<p>Community Service:
Approximately 180 Hours including:
Special Olympics Fall of 2004
Special Olympics Spring of 2005
Walk-a-thon for the Homeless Spring 2003
Middletown Basketball Camp Staff Member (Summers of '03 and '04)
Working with Autistic and Mentally Handicapped Children</p>
<p>Work:
National Institute of Health, National Cancer Institute, Laboratory of Genomic Diversity - Frederick Intern</p>
<p>You have a good chance, but alot of it depends on what department you’re applying to. Drama and computer science are particularly competitive, but H&SS accepts about 50% of applicants. What are you interested in as a major?</p>
<p>KrazyKow is right… I was accepted to H&SS as a transfer (which is more competitve than freshman admissions) with a less competitive application than yours. CMU’s decision will likely depend on the college or department to which you apply. Also, I’m not quite keen on CMU’s affirmative action policies, but I don’t think your white maleness will have much of an effect on their decision (I pressume you were being facetious)… I would certainly avoid the topic during the application process.</p>
<p>Your credentials will probably get you accepted, depending upon the school, but a white boy from suburbia probably won’t get much financial aid, unless you are from North Dakota. Okay, maybe that’s a little harsh, but my son had a similar resume and got no merit aid. The need based aid went according to the EFC. I do know that it is their policy to build a geographically and ethnically diverse class. Good luck to you!</p>
<p>Well, you never know ChunRich, maybe you will get lucky. I can tell you that when we attended the financial aid meeting for admitted students, the speaker began to address the group by saying “If you are here to ask for more financial aid, the answer is NO!” How about that? They will entertain written appeals if you get merit aid from other similar colleges, but their idea of matching a $20K annual offer in our case was $4K. And they state that there is no guarantee of anything at all. </p>
<p>I’m not saying these things to put you off. Maybe money is not an issue for you. I still think CMU is a fine school and would have been a great fit for my son. The reason I’m telling you the financial reality of CMU is that you should apply to other places too, and don’t count on CMU the way my son did. We were frankly shocked that with his credentials (grades, tests, rank, ECs, employment and long standing relationship with CMU) he got no merit aid when others on this board with apparently lesser credentials got money. I can only assume that they didn’t need to pay for a local middle class white boy. </p>
<p>You do sound like you will be a good candidate for admission, and I wiish you the best of luck. CMU seemed like an awesome school. Just apply other places, too, because you never know how things will turn out!</p>