EDII vs. RD chance me for ECE/Material Science?

FateGoneAwry16
Sun, 25 Nov 2012 15:03:01 +0000

Given your situation, you should DEFINITELY apply ED. Here’s why:

Carnegie Mellon meets full financial need if you apply ED. If you apply RD however, the financial aid package will be much worse (around 5-10k less in grants and 10-25k less in loans). Many of my friends were unable to afford Carnegie Mellon because they applied RD. Thus, applying RD isn’t smart if you really want good (read bearable) financial aid.

In addition, Carnegie Mellon is your top choice so you clearly won’t regret applying ED II. Despite what andesite says, your profile is very competitive for CIT. Your SAT is not that great, but your math score is good. Given that you’re applying for engineering, the adcoms will focus on your math score and pay less attention to the other sections. Your subject tests will be a detriment however because they aren’t in the 780-800 range.

That said, your class rank is excellent and so are your EC’s. You stand a very good chance of being accepted to CIT ED. If you do apply ED, I’d recommend applying to material science instead of ECE. Material science is more related to your environmental EC’s than ECE. In addition, ECE is much more competitive than material science. Regardless of what admissions officers say, there is a significant different between ECE and non-ECE in their eyes. Also, keep in mind that you can always switch into ECE if you get accepted to CIT.

tl;dr - Everything you’ve written indicates that you should apply ED II to Carnegie Mellon. I strongly suggest applying to Material Science over ECE, but its ultimately your decision. BTW, what aren’t you considering the Civil and Environmental Engineering major?