<p>hey guys so i just got admitted to CMU (hss, cognitive science) and i was wondering from the below list of schools which ones would be considered a peer instution so that I can ask CMU to match that offer? btw im OOS (VA) if that matters…</p>
<p>Georgia Tech (accepted)
UVA (Accepted)
George Washington University (accepted)
University of Pittsburgh (accepted, and total FA package was 20K with 10K being grant)
Virginia Tech (accepted)
William and Mary (waiting on decision)</p>
<p>CMU’s official peer institutions from their website
[Peer</a> Institutions-Institutional Research & Analysis - Carnegie Mellon University](<a href=“http://www.cmu.edu/ira/infox/external/peer.html]Peer”>Peer Institutions - Institutional Research and Analysis - Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Planning - Carnegie Mellon University)</p>
<p>California Institute of Technology
Cornell University
Duke University
Emory University
Georgia Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Northwestern University
Princeton University
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Rice University
Stanford University
University of Pennsylvania
Washington University in St. Louis</p>
<p>Georgia T, Virginia T and UPitt will probably work if you are planning on negotiating FA</p>
<p>Would they match scholarships from the school (such as RPI)?</p>
<p>Yeah, if they match FA from RPI that would be amazing…</p>
<p>Yeah I know right! Doesn’t hurt to try. Does the financial aid package come with the big, fat letter or does it come separately?</p>
<p>The list of peer schools they’ve matched aid from includes schools not on the official list. </p>
<p>They would likely bump up FA after seeing an award from RPI. It’s worth a shot, go ahead and ask. </p>
<p>U Pitt aid is less likely. U Pitt is a much easier school to get into, and is less rigorous academically by a long shot. Of course, it’s always worthwhile to mention your offer from them, but don’t count on your aid being increased because of your U Pitt offer.</p>
<p>I’ll add that they don’t often bargain for HSS-- the bargaining goes on for SCS, CIT and MCS and for women in general-- as they have been steadily raising the percentage of women the past few years.</p>
<p>I was told quite specifically by the Director of Admissions that state schools are never considered peer institutions.</p>
<p>I was able to use Syracuse as a peer institution and bargain (and got five grand out of it) SU generally does not compare to CMU in terms of academic workload or prestige, so it was a nice surprise.</p>
<p>It does, however, have the second best program for architecture (which is what I applied to) so that might have affected something.</p>
<p>Also, I doubt they will match financial aid from most public schools. This is probably because most publics are much cheaper to begin with and CMU recognizes they can’t always compete with that.</p>
<p>Good Luck! It’s AWLAYS worth a shot</p>
<p>how exactly would i go about asking for this? </p>
<p>Do i send an email? or visit the financial aid office and talk personally?</p>
<p>Cool, glad to see RPI on that list (though it seems that many CMU admits would get a nice merit package from RPI). Worth a shot. </p>
<p>@mom2012and14 - Why does the financial aid office consider the specific college at CMU you were admitted to, out of curiosity?</p>
<p>Go to Pitt and take classes at CMU. A student can take one CMU course per semester while enrolled at Pitt.</p>
<p>@EAGELS
There’s a form on the HUB or in your package or on their fin aid webpage which you can submit.
You can simply start by writing/faxing- they will need to see the other offers on official letter head.
Emphasize how CMU is your first choice , you’re honored to have been admitted (blah blah blah). These are formally called Financial Aid Re-evaluation requests. All schools have them-- but CMU really sets these out on the front table and openly will bargain.
You can start by calling and asking what process is being followed this year-- they will likely email you the forms they want completed.</p>
<p>@Jogo
The reason this differs by schools is b/c of the yields and quality of the applicant pool. For what it’s worth and no insult intended, the average gpa, test scores “academic” applicant profile for HSS is significantly lower than SCS, CIT, MCS, Arch. There will be more money thrown at a female in SCS than one in HSS-- since there is no shortage of qualified females in HSS. Yes, it’s need blind admissions- but it is NOT need blind financial aid-- meaning, the school has been and is very open about the fact that they don’t meet unmet need- they put their $ where they want to put it. It’s all on their website and in some of my previous posts.
So what that means for bargaining- HSS has less power to bargain than SCS on average. Always exceptions of course.</p>
<p>Bargain ASAP-- the faster you do so, the faster you scoop up what little is likely left after the packages were sent out.</p>
<p>Last year my son used Syracuse, Tulane and Lehigh as a bargaining chip and they matched the lower of the three, which was an improvement of 6 grand over their original Carnegie scholarship they offered. This was merit, as we did not recieve financial aid. This is something that CMU is really wonderful about and the process is quite easy.</p>
<p>What about a competitive LAC like Oberlin? It’s not a tech school, but it is still a reputable institution and is similar in admissions and price</p>
<p>should i email admissions? or is there a financial aid office email id?</p>
<p>Do they match Univ of Alabama’s $31,500 scholarship offer? That would be sweet.</p>