"THE" CMU 2015 CHANCE Thread-- Please STOP creating New chance Threads

Colleges & Universities Carnegie Mellon University
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<p>Hispanic students should go through the hispanic student forum for a reality check. There is a myth that being hispanic automatically ratchets up your appeal to schools. This is so, not so. There are enough gifted, high scoring hispanic seniors to fill Harvard’s freshman class many times over not to mention Carnegie Mellon’s. If you go to a private school, have well-educated parents, have great grades and scores you will be treated similar to your peers of all colors. If you have all these advantages but have not taken a rigorous course load and your test scores are mediocre, you may easily be on the wait list or rejected. There are dozens more like you out there applying so do not take acceptance as a given. We live in a good school district where about 35% of kids are hispanic but from all types of economic backgrounds. The only kids I have seen get into HPY are truly exceptional on all levels–black, white and hispanic kids. Kids who get into CMU are strong students, have taken hard classes, have test scores to show potential and basically demonstrate they can handle the coursework at CMU. </p>

<p>Now, being a recruited athlete with really good stats is a different matter. If CMU thinks you will succeed academically AND contribute to their athletic programs you may well have a leg up. My sense is that, no matter what your situation, they want kids who will succeed (finish in 4-5 years) at whichever program they enter. If you have something to offer CMU (top athletic ability) then you may have an edge. Being a hispanic student from a privileged background will not contribute to the university; CMU doesn’t have to worry about having “enough” hispanic students.</p>

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<p>School average: 94% in 9, 10,11 and 12 grades
School Rank: 4/ 419
SAT: CR:730 Math: 800 Writing: 760
SAT II: Math II: 800 Chemistry: 780 Physics: 780</p>

<p>Senior classes: Maths A, Maths B, Physics , Chemistry, English, French</p>

<p>EC’s:
Internship at manufacturing company
Volunteer work at hospital-300 hrs
Camps for population awareness-100 hrs
Organized a awareness program for hemophilia patients
Varsity Cricket- 4 years( captain of team for last 2 years)
Guitar- 2years
Global Awareness Program
Karate- 3 years
Programing course in C++ ( wrote my own program also)
Science fair
Intensive IIT program for 2 years</p>

<p>Academic Awards/honors:
Distinctions in National Math and science olympiad
97 percentile in AITS
99 percentile in AISSE
Certificates for Academic excellence every year
75%- merit based scolarship for senior school due to good performance in enterance exam
Gold medals for MAths and IT in Board exam</p>

<p>Major: Mechanical Engineering
Ethnicity: Indian( International applicant)</p>

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<p>^Accepted by any means</p>

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<p>I’m an international application applying to CIT.
SAT 1 : 740 reading; 760 math; 700 writing.
SAT 2 : 800 math level 2; 750 Physics
Recommendations : Very good
Essay : good
EC’s : Good but nothing extraordinary.
TOEFL : 113</p>

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<p>Chances to CIT? </p>

<p>Major: MSE</p>

<p>SAT: 800 math, 740 reading, 710 writing (2250)
SAT 2: 800 math 2, 720 Chem
Rank: 170/1390 (top 12%)
GPA: 3.5 UW, 3.99 W
AP scores: 5 Chem, 5 Calc BC, 5 US His, 5 Hum Geo, 4 Psych, 3 Eng Lang
Taking: AP Physics C, AP Macroecon, AP US gov, AP Eng Lit, AP Art history</p>

<p>ECs: Boy Scouts: Eagle Scout
Quiz Bowl: 7th place national competition
Academic Decathlon
National Honor Society: Service Coordinator
Sci Fair: honorable mention in studies on autistic children
Summer Interning in plasma tech lab
Played guitar 3 years</p>

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<p>oops i posted a separate chance thread. chances at HSS?</p>

<p>Stats:
-Race: White
-Gender: Female
-High School-Public (very affluent, but barely sends any kids to Ivies)</p>

<p>Academic:
-SAT: 2030 (first time taking with little studying, hoping for a 2150+ with hardcore studying)
-SATII-Haven’t taken. Will take Chem and US History
-GPA-94.5 UW/99 W
-Rank-1st Decile</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:</p>

<p>Athletic:
-Track&Field(Pole Vaulting, on track to get scholarship, got injured)-9,10
-Tennis-JV 9,10/V 11,12 (Captain)
-Black Belt Tae Kwon Do-8,9,10,11,12
Academic:
-Debate Team-JV 9/V-10,11,12 (Captain)
-Chinese Club(Treasurer)-11, 12
-School Lit Mag-published 9,10,11-magazine won award 9th
-Chem Olympics-11,12
-Barnard Pre-College Program-10,11
Volunteer
-Assistent teacher Hebrew-2 years/2 hrs/wk
-Hebrew Tutor-for children with special needs-4 years 3 hrs/wk
-Volunteer trip-worked in New Orleans Head Start/Rebuilt house in 9th Ward
Work:
-Counselor-10,11,12-counselor for children with behavioral/emotional problems.
-Instructor-Tae Kwon Do-10,11,12</p>

<p>Courses:
Hardest Courseload available:
-4 AP’s by senior year
-6 years of foreign language (Chinese+Spanish)</p>

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<p>Did not fill up preapplication form .
Will they consider me?</p>

<p>Sent it with the regular application.</p>

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<p>Chances of me getting into CIT for mechanical engineering?</p>

<p>Scores and Whatnot
ACT: 34
SAT: 2190 both times, but if you take my best scores in each category it’s 2240. (Reading: 800, Math: 690, Writing: 750.)
SAT Math II: 660
SAT Chemistry: 680 (I know these scores are horrid :confused: Suffice to say it wasn’t a good day and I hadn’t studied at all. And I couldn’t re-take it in time since it was the December 4th test.)
AP: I got 5s on U.S. History, Biology, Lang, Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, and Chemistry; I’m taking the Calc, Lit, Physics, and Human Geography tests at the end of this year.
GPA: 4.19 weighted
Rank: 9 out of 460</p>

<p>Extracurriculars
Taekwondo: 1-12, 3rd degree black belt, 2010 state sparring champion, assistant instructor
Debate: 7-12, captain, letter
Track and Field: 6-11, letters in 100 and 300 meter hurdles
Robotics Club: 12
Research (zooplankton behavioral toxicology): 12
Guitarist/vocalist for two bands: 10-12
People to People student ambassador (Italy/France/Spain): 9</p>

<p>Work
Candy store (shut up, I know): 10-12
Self-employed photographer: 10-12</p>

<p>Awards
National Merit Semifinalist 12
Presidential Scholar 9
AP Scholar with distinction 11 and 12
Student of the Semester 9 and 12</p>

<p>Oh, and I’m a white female.</p>

<p>Thoughts?</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>Not really. There are several examples of legacy and URM kids who get into HPY and are far from “exceptional”. Conversely, there are several academically gifted students (perfect SAT scores, 10+ AP courses, etc.) who are rejected.</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>You also have a 790 in SAT II math and a 7 in IB math HL. Those are much better and more reliable indicators of advanced math skills (of the type needed in college) than your SAT I score. Of course that would be crystal clear ** if ** admissions were run by academics (i.e college professors). Unfortunately, since undergraduate admissions in the US are run instead by low-level bureaucrats (whose own math skills probably don’t go beyond HS algebra), all bets are off !</p>

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<p>someone chance me?</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>Maybe at other colleges this is true, but at CMU each college has its own individual admissions committee comprised of professors. I know of a couple on the CFA committee and at least three on the HSS committee.</p>

<p>I’d say you are a match, tasinari, but there are no guarantees in admissions.</p>

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<p>Are these professors separate from the “teaching professors”? I’m curious because at my info session for SCS, Prof Sutner said that the faculty aren’t involved in admissions at all, and said that it’s all “black magic” to him.</p>

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<p>It is possible that in the tech departments they use researching faculty rather than undergrad professors to look at student applicants - it seems like that would make sense. Of the examples I am aware, all are teaching professors, but two are in Fine Art and the others are in English/BHA, so SCS could very easily be different.</p>

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<p>HannaB…since you are shooting for HSS and seem to have diverse interests you may want to try taking a moc ACT and see if that test is better for you. The SAT scores you have are putting you at the low end of the applicant pool…BUT…you are still a junior and test scores aren’t everything. Talk to your guidance counselor about how kids from your school have faired applying to CMU. If few or no kids have applied, then you really need to strengthen the test scores because CMU won’t really know much about how well students from your school do with CMU curriculum and will rely more heavily on your test scores. My kids’ high school always has 5-6 applicants and they usually are all IB/AP students (8-12 ap classes) with good grades so CMU usually admits most or all applicants even though test scores vary quite a bit among these students. It seems that CMU knows the school, knows the curriculum and is not too focused on the test scores. If 4 APs is the hardest curriculum for your school, this is not held against you but again…the test scores, unfortunately, are going to matter a lot. Your strengths are your languages and ECs and precollege experience which may give CMU some ideas about how you will do at CMU. Congrats on the black belt!</p>

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<p>oh just to add about admissions officers at CMU…for fine arts, it was quite clear that the faculty reviewed the portfolios and gave thumbs up and thumbs down…THEN, the thumbs up applications went to general admissions (or specialised if student applied to another school) and GA looked to see if the student could manage the other CMU requirements thus…and I quote…"getting a C in physics or a 550 math score for a fine arts student will not necessarily result in rejection…the grade/score /curriculum expectations are somewhat lower but not a lot lower than for the other schools with the exception of musical theatre admissions where the audition is 100% of admission criteria and CMU just checks to see if the student graduated from high school (and even that they don’t do very carefully)… "</p>

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<p>divine-- the only red flag and it’s a big one are your standardized math scores - both the sat1 and sat subject tests. I would have said that’s a big problem, but then at the end of your post I see you are a female…so it’s the red flag is now a pink flag (pun intended).</p>

<p>to be blunt…People to people student ambassador isn’t all that impressive since everyone knows this isn’t really a selective program and students pay to attend --the criteria are very low. </p>

<p>As a female applicant-- your chances are above average.
I think your mid year grade in calc and physics are going to be the tipping factor. If you get less than a B- – eh, not so good.</p>

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<p>out of state maryland
Asian male</p>

<p>is my sat too low also?</p>

<p>Ive taken 8 AP classes, 9 Honors classes 9th -12th grade
ap bc calc, ap chem, ap gov, ap ushist, ap lit, ap lang, ap ushist etc…
Unweighted GPA: 3.68 (it would actually be 3.84 in most other counties my county had different and harder grading scale cause 90-94 was a B+ (3.5))
Weighted GPA: 4.06
I kind of did bad freshmen year. but improved
Estimated 1st semester senior year grades weighted GPA:4.20 taking 4 AP classes with an honors class.</p>

<p>SAT:2080
Math 760
Writing:710
Reading:610
(retaking sat in janurary)</p>

<p>Math lvl 2: 740
us hist: 720</p>

<p>Essays:good/strong essays teachers and counselors thought it was great</p>

<p>recommendations: 1 from counselor very good. 2 prly pretty good teacher recs</p>

<p>Extracirruculars: captain of track team 4 years varsity indoor track, 3 years varsity outdoor track. Broke and set school record for 4x200, qualified for districts and regionals track.
varsity cross country 3 years </p>

<p>Club soccer team for division 1 soccer team: 2 second place trophies at state tournament</p>

<p>Researched and internship at langley research center with NASA scientists and engineers and presented that to NASA headquarters, senators
Did an online college level course sponsored by NASA </p>

<p>300+ hours of service hours </p>

<p>Taught mentally and physically challegned children how to play soccer
Treasurer and co-president of two clubs
secretary of nhs</p>

<p>Internship at a hospice and hospital</p>

<p>1st place and 2nd place awards at school science fair
2nd place award at the Regional Science fair competition
organized math tournaments in DC for elementary school kids
nhs and other honor societies</p>

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<p>GPA W/UW: 4.05/3.62
Getting all As for senior year w/ 4 AP courses so it should boost GPA.
SAT: 2120, Math: 760, Writing: 750, Reading: 610
SAT 2: Math 2: 710, Chem: 600, US Hist: 640
Rank: N/A
AP: APUSH (4), AP Lang and Comp (4), AP Calc AB, AP Gov/Econ, AP Lit, AP Enviro Science
School applied to: Tepper</p>

<p>ECs:
-Volunteer program assistin autistic patients, 10-12 (got about 800+ hours and received the President’s volunteer service award from this)
-High School Orchestra (9-12)
-High School tennis team (9-12)
-Red Cross Club (10-12) served as officer (disaster prep coordinator, treasurer) all years
-Boy Scouts (9-12)</p>

<p>I think I wrote decent essays. I was satisfied with them at least.
I hope I have somewhat of a decent chance.
I’m not sure how heavily CMU looks upon 9th grade grades, but if it’s not considered too much my school shows our GPA for 9-12 and for 10-12. My 10-12 GPA W/UW is currently 4.23/3.69.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

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<p>@fineartsmajormom: Thanks for the advice. A few kids apply from my school a year, and the kids accepted from my school actually have lower stats than me. But I’m really worried about how many AP’s I’ve taken, it seems like everyone on these boards has more than me, but at my school taking more than two a year is unheard of. Will I be penalized by colleges on this?</p>