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<p>Nobody is ‘tooting’ any horns. Some people are trying to offer helpful suggestions.</p>
<p>As a general rule, it is much more helpful to post positive suggestions, rather than concentrate on posting negative opinions about various schools–especially if you have no personal experience whatever with those schools or programs.</p>
<p>FWIW, my kid (and others I know) turned down CMU for a lot of reasons, but none of them are because of any deficiency in the academic strength of the programs. They have numerous very good programs; the one my kid turned down is one of the best.</p>
<p>There are other factors involved in a mature person’s evaluation of a college choice than rank. The person who started this thread has specifically asked for schools at which he/she may be eligible for a merit scholarship. CMU offers a few (very few), but none of them are full tuition. It is a great choice for many students, and possibly for the OP, if a good merit award is landed. But, as I said, there are a lot of different factors, and those factors are different for different people.</p>