Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The school was initially founded in 1900 as Carnegie Technical Schools and has a little over 7,000 undergraduates. The school also has degree-granting campuses in Silicon Valley and Qatar, among others. CMU has a 15% acceptance rate. Their Common App has three supplemental questions, which we gotta say, aren bad.
Weve covered Carnegie Mellon before, and the questions haven changed from last year. Because weve helped so many students master these essays before, we are confident our guide for Carnegie Mellon will help you too. Let get to it!
Most students choose their intended major or area of study based on a passion or inspiration that developed over time what passion or inspiration led you to choose this area of study? (300 word maximum)
This essay is essentially asking for your origin storywhy do you want to study what you want to study? You need to identify a major for this essay, even if youre personally not sure what you want to do. Work backwards from the major youve picked and think of a story that highlights thislike, if youre interested in biomedical engineering, maybe it because your grandfather had a heart attack and got the fanciest, newest, most technologically advanced splint available and that fascinated you. If you want to study computer science, maybe you started teaching yourself to code at an early age.
After youve decided on your major, head on over to the and look up the program youre interested in. Youre trying to tell Carnegie Mellon why you want to have your successful college experience at their school. So, find a professor that has a research area youre drawn to -- like maybe Professor Jonathan Aldrich, whose research into Programming Languages is just too cool. Then youre gonna head on over to the and find an upper-level course in your major, for example, 15-414, Bug Catching: Automated Program Verification, because it just seems so interesting. Don pick something like Introduction to Data Structures, or another entry-level course, since all colleges with a Computer Science program will have these classes. You want to pick something only Carnegie Mellon can offer you. Weave all of this together to keep telling the story beyond the origin story.
Many students pursue college for a specific degree, career opportunity or personal goal. Whichever it may be, learning will be critical to achieve your ultimate goal. As you think ahead to the process of learning during your college years, how will you define a successful college experience? (300 word maximum)
Carnegie Mellon doesn just want to make sure youre an academic fit for their collegethey want to see that youre a cultural fit too. This prompt requires some research too, so start looking into what CMU offers that is a good cultural fit for you. Theyve underlined process of learning, so that lets us know they're interested in the weeds of how you learn too. What about CMU research is interesting to you? Are there special programs you want to take part in? CMU has a ton of study abroad opportunitiesdoes this appeal to you? Is the competitive nature of the school important to you? You really want to identify what about their academic programs and campus culture speaks to you. Talk about how you see yourself interacting with professors, or how you want to collaborate with other students. Be genuine and sincere.
Consider your application as a whole. What do you personally want to emphasize about your application for the admission committee consideration? Highlight something that important to you or something you haven had a chance to share. Tell us, don show us (no websites please).(300 word maximum)
We love this questionmostly because this is what we encourage kids to do in almost every essay. Think of this almost as a mini Common App essay. Tell them about something they don already know about you from your application, and tell them a story about yourself. Maybe youre really brave and are always trying to cook adventurous new foods for your family. Maybe youre the friend everyone comes to when they have a problem they need solved. Maybe youre passionate about healthcare, or the environment, or labor rights, and youve helped organize protests or charity drives or litter clean-ups. Maybe youve coded websites for free for a small business in your neighborhood. Maybe you love to paint! Or draw! Or dance! There is something youre interested in that isn in your application, so this is the place to share it. Tell a singular story about one of these interests. Perhaps it's the time you helped a friend solve a hard problem or the time you arranged a protest over environmental concerns. Tell a story that highlights this interest or a trait or value you have, and fill it with details that make the reader feel like theyre in the room with you. Like all good stories, utilize a distinct beginning, middle, and end, and make sure the story is a good foil for what you want to show off about yourself.
Once youve finished these three essays, youll want to proofread and edit. Your first drafts might be longer than 300 words, so cut down to the most important parts. You got this.
If youre struggling with your supplemental essays or the Common App on the whole, TKG is available to provide one-on-one help with the process. Feel free to contact us here.