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

Colleges & Universities Carnegie Mellon University
61

<p>Hi Eagles,
CMU is very interested in students with a demonstrated passion(s). If you have the stats and frankly so likely will 20000 out of the other 25000 applicants,.the key will be to demonstrate why you are an interesting person adding to the broadly defined “diverse” class of 2015 they seek to build.</p>

<p>Show in those essays and in the interview (optional) that you aren’t just a tech geek-- but a also a geek that really helps the campus build an ecletic student body and a set of future leaders. Lots of people lead their robotics club, have high AMC math scores, yadaa yadaa…but those who did independent research and/or and/or genuine community service and/or play an instrument and/or do a sport and/or something quirkly catch their attention.</p>

<p>I’m convinced an interview is a tipping factor . Interview on campus- not with the alumni around the country. A few students I know received an absolutely glowing letter from the admissions director AFTER their interview with an admissions staff. These letters weren’t a form letter - they were unique and captured something said during that interview which touched the adcom…I’ve seen about 4 of these. I know these are just anecdotes-- but it jives with everything on their webpages.</p>

<p>Common Ap is up July 1-- CMU supplement application about that time as well…don’t duplicate your story in those two essays-- pull something unique from your list of ECs to share in both essays. Think outside the box-- ECs are not just limited to those sponsored by the high school. eg. if you have built a 4000+ Marvel Comic Book collection – heck - that’s an EC and you should share that on the common ap and in an essay. ECs are very broadly defined-- I tell that to all high school students applying anywhere-- but at CMU-- they are really interested in hearing about those!</p>

<p>Current students - you agree? </p>

<p>Best of luck!</p>

62

<p>Hi Guys, international intend to apply to Tepper at CMU RD
Race: Asian-Vietnamese-International School type: Public, upper middle band, do A levels
Year1: AABB/BA Year2: Expected AAAB/B A Predicted Grade: AAAA/BA Rank: Top 10%
SAT I: 2130/2400 – 1460/1600 (CR: 700 M: 760 W: 670)
SAT II: MathIIC: 800 Chemistry:740</p>

<p>Academic Awards:
Agency for Science, Technology and Research full scholarship studying in 4 years in Singapore
Singapore Math Olympiad Silver (2010)/Honorable Mention (2009)
American Math Competition Distinction->invited to AIME
Australian Math Competition Distinction
Sun Microsystem Java Certified Programmer
University of Natural Science Computer Certification of Distinction in C++ Programming (Vietnam)
Principal Honor Roll Math/ Physics/Chemistry for 2 years
USNW International Science Competition 2008 - Credit
USNW International English Competition 2008 - Distinction
The Examination for the Certificate of Proficiency in English (ECPE) by University of Michigan Ann Arbor-youngest Vietnamese in country (7th grade) to get the cert- I was in several national news to share about English learning experience.</p>

<p>Extracurricular activities:
Class committee: Physics Representative (2009), Geography Representative (2010)</p>

<p>Math and Science Related
Nanyang Research Program: Research with Nanyang Technological University professors during summer
Shell Singapore Youth Science Festival Finalist
Math and Physics Talent Development Program (9,10)
Logistic leader of Math Society (9,10)
Co Overall in charge of Science Honors Society Camp for Secondary school students.
Crime Scene Investigation 3rd (School competition)
Fastest Graphics Calculators Solving Problems 3rd (School Competition)
National University of Singapore Math Camp</p>

<p>Dance
Perform for Singapore Youths Festival Presents, Chinese New Year, Teacher’s Day
Stage/ Costume Manager for 3rd Dance Concert
Project leader in dance fundraising-over 1000 dollars
Singapore Best Dance Crew 2nd Place (External dance group co-founder)</p>

<p>Volunteer/Leadership/Activist
Nominated as Global Scholar representing Vietnam at 2007 Global Young Leaders Conference
Founded an organization for volunteers to promote volunteer by Vietnamese overseas student in Vietnam with website in collaboration with Vietnam Red Cross=>raise over 15,000 USD dollars in charity
Project leader Outward Bound Singapore
YMCA executive project leader:
+Project leader for Y-Recycling and fund raises amount to 1100 dollar
+Project leader for Y-Confidence for delinquent rehabilitation
+Project leader/ organizing committee for Singapore book records-support Youth Olympics Games
+Project leader for Secondary school Enrichment
Saint John’s Ambulance Brigade:
+Senior Sergeant Officer Leader
+Station leader in Sports Heat, National Day Parade, Uniform Group Parade
+Saint John Ambulance First Aid Certificate
Volunteering Awards
Singapore Kindness Movement Gold Award
National Youth Achievement Award Silver</p>

<p>Internship
Singapore Law Academy-job shadowing at Singapore’s biggest local law firm Allen&Gledhill
Work at VOSA corporation-maritime transport company for 2 years
hope u guys can help :D</p>

63

<p>What does this mean…“Year1: AABB/BA Year2: Expected AAAB/B A Predicted Grade: AAAA/BA”</p>

64

<p>Those are the grades she/he received.</p>

65

<p>General Transcript
Rank: Not sent (around 2-4 out of 200 - top 1/2%)
GPA: Not sent/given (4.0UW, 4.4/4.85W depending on if the college uses the 4.5 or 5 scale for weighted)
AP/IB: Full IB candidate (IB only school) - predicted 41/42 (7s in Economics HL, Physics HL, English SL, Spanish SL and Philosophy SL, with a 6 in Math HL)
SAT I: 2270 (720CR, 800M, 750W (10))
SAT II: 800 Math II, 800 Physics
Supplements: Abstract of Extended Essay in Economics (got an A - very hard to get)</p>

<p>Achievements and Awards
**UKMT<a href=“International%20Maths%20Competition”>/b</a> - Gold - 1 year (11)
AMC12 - 2 marks off AIME, 4th in school - 1 year (11)
**Sunlife Scholarship Competition<a href=“International%20Maths%20Competition”>/b</a> - 1 mark off Distinction - 1 year (11)
**Euclid Scholarship Competition<a href=“International%20Maths%20Competition”>/b</a> - Distinction, 7 marks off recognition on official website - 1 year (11)
**Elected Student Council Representative<a href=“School%20Position”>/b</a> - 2 years (9,10)
**Economics Commendation<a href=“School%20Award”>/b</a> - 1 year (10)
**Media Studies Commendation<a href=“School%20Award”>/b</a> - 1 year (10)
**Spanish Award<a href=“School%20Award”>/b</a> - 1 year (11)
**Economics Commendation<a href=“School%20Award”>/b</a> - 1 year (11)
**Physics Award<a href=“School%20Award”>/b</a> - 1 year (11)
**Henley National Virtual Stock Exchange Competition<a href=“National%20Competition”>/b</a> – 5th place nationally and 1st in school - 1 year (12)
**Maths Commendation<a href=“School%20Award”>/b</a> – 1 year (12)
**UK Olympiad Candidate<a href=“6,8”>/b</a></p>

<p>Work Experience
Summerbridge Hong Kong

  • 400 hours (7 weeks) Community Service - ranked top 10 by Princeton Review</p>

<p>Languages
Trilingual (fluent in Spanish, Hindi and English)
Proficient in French</p>

<p>Leadership and ECs
Revision Club

  • Founder/President
  • Increase grades of students by at least 2 (e.g. C to A)
  • 120 hours/year, 2 years (240 hours by application time - counts as community service)
    Guitar Club
  • Founder/President
  • One of the most popular student led clubs in school
  • Free guitar education to students; competes with another club that charges 300USD for 9 lessons
  • 80 hours/year, 2 years (160 hours by application time - counts as community service)
    Business
  • Co-Founder/Chief Financial Officer (essentially)
  • Create household appliances out of glass because there are no mainstream glass recyclers in the city
  • Won a national design competition with our product and advertised the product on an international level during a fully funded trip to an international exposition
  • 250 hours/year, 2 years (500 hours by application time - counts as community service)
    Cloud Chamber
  • Organizer/Leader
  • Build a miniature cloud chamber
  • 60 hours
    Linear Particle Accelerator
  • Organizer/Leader
  • Build a miniature particle accelerator
  • 80 hours
    Student Council
  • Elected two consecutive years
    Summerbridge
  • Teacher
  • Teach English to 10 local students with no adult assistance for 7 weeks
  • 400 hours (counts as Community service)
    Varsity Golf
  • 150 hours/year, 2 years (300 hours)
    Trip to Xiamen
  • Group leader
  • Traveled to rural China to teach English to 30 students who had not encountered the language before, for a week
    Community service
  • 100 hours in other minor activities, with 1300 hours from previously listed ECs (~1400 hours by application time)
    MUN
  • Member
    Debating
  • Member
    Gym
  • 12 hours/week, ~600 hours/year, 2 years
  • 2000 hours by application time</p>

<p>Personal
Nationality: Indian
High school: Private High school (Competitive)
Essays: Good
Recommendations: Great (one says that I was the best student he has ever had)
Financial Aid: No</p>

<p>Intended Major: Economics/Business</p>

<p>Question: Should I mention MUN, Debating or Gym on my application under ECs?</p>

<p>Applying to Tepper RD.</p>

66

<p>@JebarPolsky: Dude, you’re pretty much fine for Tepper RD =p I’m guessing you’re also aiming for top bschools like Wharton, Ross, and Stern too</p>

67

<p>Yup, I am applying ED to Wharton and EA to Ross. I am not sure about Stern - I haven’t heard many good things about it from an academic standpoint or a enjoyability aspect.</p>

68

<p>I’m just an incoming freshman to Tepper, so don’t take my advice too seriously =p</p>

<p>Stern is GREAT if you know you want to work in investment banking. Unfortunately, it has no campus and you have a relatively large pool of similar candidates fighting for internships. Other disciplines, while great, don’t get as much attention as the finance kids. Statistically, its admitted student score breakdown is very competitive relative to the rest of NYU, which leads me to believe that its academics are nothing to frown upon.</p>

<p>Tepper’s quantitative curriculum makes it lean towards the trading side of finance (the CMU computational finance program is amazing!), but investment banking opportunites are still there.</p>

<p>Although Tepper’s acceptance rate is rather low, it almost looks like a safety for you. I got in with 2250 SAT and not nearly as many EC’s, and while applying I thought of it as one of my safer schools. Good luck with the rest of your schools!</p>

69

<p>Think I’ll be majoring in Information Science/Technology - which is CIT, I guess.</p>

<p>WGPA: 4.56/5.4 (Vals usually get 4.9 in my school)
Rank: 6/400
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: Asian</p>

<p>SAT I: 2100 (W 650, M 740, CR 710). Might retake once more, aiming for 2150…
SAT II: Math II 730, USH 770 (gonna take Latin)</p>

<p>APs: APUSH
Taking upcoming year: AP Eng, AP Calculus, AP Statistics (maybe), AP Gov’t</p>

<p>ECs:
Uplift (10-11) - afterschool / summer program for elementary kids, logged around 250 hours there</p>

<p>Science Olympiad (11) - New club at our school. Starter for the team. Placed 21/40 in state competition, best among rookies.</p>

<p>Thomas Jefferson Forum (11) - Volunteering club</p>

<p>AFJROTC (9-11) - Participated in numerous optional community services, logged about 50 hours. </p>

<ul>
<li>Academic Team (10-11) - Like drill team, a competition within JROTC.Helped form it 2 years ago, was starter both years. Reached 2nd round both times.</li>
</ul>

<p>Some other smaller volunteer hours elsewhere</p>

<p>Hooks: First generation college student</p>

<p>Awards:
National Latin Exam: 9th grade: Gold, 10th grade: Bronze, 11th grade: Silver</p>

<p>Book Award: Awarded to top 6 of my class.</p>

<p>Profiles in Courage: Nation wide essay, my essay placed in the top 150 out of about 1800 essays</p>

<p>I might be missing some smaller things, but this is all I’ve got off the top of my head. First time I’ve really put together a resume…</p>

70

<p>Your rank is great, though I believe you might have made a typo. I think your weighted GPA is out of 5.0, though feel free to correct me if I am wrong. Either way, you won’t get rejected/deferred because of your rank/GPA because it is right where you need it to be. If you can get it higher, then great, otherwise don’t worry about it.</p>

<p>Your SATs are average for such a school and you are in a fortunate position, somewhat, because Writing is your lowest score, and it is the section that is usually factored the least. If you work on your essay and your grammar you can easily pull it up close to 720 and above. Furthermore, you have a 740 in Math, which essentially means 2 wrong. From that position it is not that hard to work really hard to eliminate those last 2 errors and get a 800. If you could do those you really may be above 2200, which would put you in a VERY strong position for CMU.</p>

<p>You may want to increase your SAT II Math score for CIT. Don’t worry about Latin because CMU only needs 2 SAT IIs and your 770 USH is good enough.</p>

<p>You really do need more leadership though as well as awards.</p>

<p>Your hook is strong and, if you are able to pull your SAT up, get some leadership, and increase the number of awards you have, you should have CMU has a mid to high match.</p>

71

<p>CIT requires a chemistry or physics subject test. And it’s a pretty strong requirement from what the admissions people have told me.</p>

72

<p>Wow I feel like I have absolutely no chance compared to mostly everyone here…</p>

<p>White, male, Catholic school NYC
97 GPA, Top 5% out of ~650</p>

<p>ACT- 35 (35, 33, 35, 36) writing not available yet
SAT IIs (horrible)
Math 1 670, Bio 680, Math II 720, Chem 680</p>

<p>A few honors each year, no AP till…
Senior year courses include- AP Calc, AP Chem, AP Psych, also Physics honors</p>

<p>NHS, Math HS, Science HS, Spanish HS
Tutoring in and out of school, a lot of in school service
Laboratory assistant, Peer counselor to incoming freshmen
Math Team 9-11
Greek Club 9-12 president 12th</p>

<p>Boy Scouts 9-12
Baseball in a league 9,10
Greek Orthodox Youth association 9-12</p>

73

<p>dude, that ACT is EPIC</p>

<p>SCS is risky</p>

<p>Tepper is almost a safety</p>

<p>every other program is pretty much in the bag for you with that score…just write well and interview</p>

74

<p>I’d be applying to CIT and/or MCS</p>

75

<p>I guess with the 35 ACT i will be sending 720 Math II and 680 Chem. Will those SAT 2s kill me in the admission process?</p>

76

<p>SAT IIs are kinda just “checkmarks” and only there to raise red flags…those are “eh” scores but not terrible. I’d retake, but that 35 ACT massively outshines any crappy SAT IIs. Admissions might think it was a bad day or something =p</p>

77

<p>

</p>

<p>This is not a safe assumption, as Subject Tests are completely different from the ACT and SAT.</p>

78

<p>with 35 act and excellent GPA, I don’t think it’s necessary to re-take the test unless you have time to study and sure you will get better scores. GPA is always more important than test scores.</p>

79

<p>During the info session, they said the admission office will not re-calculate your GPA.<br>
Is that true?</p>

80

<p>I don’t think they would lie to you.</p>