Gov. School or CMU precollege (art)? dilemma...

chaseholl
Tue, 10 May 2011 21:58:06 +0000

… Carnegie Mellon’s Art & Design program with a full scholarship through Summer Programs for Diversity.



Well, my first thought was “go to CMU”. But,



Looks good to colleges

That shouldn’t be a factor at all. It’s about the benefit to YOUR development/experience–not with the college application process.



A lot of my friends are going

You’ll have to meet new people some time or other!



my art teacher and my school faculty and counselor expect me to go to Gov. School to represent my school in the art department

This could be the deal breaker for me … but ultimately, it’s your experience. Have you talked to them yet? They will understand.



CMU is my dream school and might raise the chances of me getting in

Nope.



classes consist of animation, industrial design, etc… which Gov. School seems to lack.

At this point, I’m like, “Do it for the industrial design” 'cos that’s all the rage these days.



I’m not sure how I got my scholarship. You normally have to show them your portfolio but I didn’t show them anything at all. It might be because I applied through the Diversity program & my essay was good.

Yep, it was probably via the Summer Programs for Diversity. But, so what?–if you got the scholarship, that’s what counts at this point.



I didn’t work as hard on my application

So?



To be honest, Gov. school took an essay, recs, all this preparation and support from teachers, an portfolio audition and an interview, whereas CMU just took a transcript, essay, and some recs without viewing any of my artwork.



Look at how much the CMU program usually costs. It’s partially a way for them to make money over the summer, so it’s not particularly selective, although that’s not to say everyone who applies is accepted.

I’m guessing (based on the Radford mention) that your governor’s school is Virginia’s? You should make your decision based on which program you think will benefit you most–for example, if you want to go into industrial design, then obviously CMU will offer you more on that subject.