Carnegie Mellon University Top Questions

Keep on doing what you are doing. Never give up.

Prepare ahead of time and pay attention to how high school teachers enforce different types of learning, and figure out which style of learning works best for you.

Avoid the mistake of trying to find the "best" college--it doesn't exist. Instead, find the college that will "fit" the best. When chosing between several colleges, investigate what each has to offer in terms or organizations, academics, extracurriculars, and campus life. Imagine what a typical week at each school might be like. When visiting a school, don't be afraid to approach professors and current students with questions. When talking with students on campus, it's a good idea to ask why they chose the school and if they wish they'd gone somewhere else. Once you've decided, prepare to open your mind to as many new experiences as possible. The great thing about college is that you can be truly independent. You're free to try anything--so do it! Now is the time to learn from experience and gain long-lasting wisdom. Don't let people fool you into believing that college is all about school work. Studying and doing well is important, but chances are the most important lessons you'll learn at college won't be in a classroom. Follow your dreams and grow!

Even if you aren't accepted to your dream college, don't close your mind to the college you decide to go to. How you feel going into college will reflect what you get out of it. Make the most of your opportunities.

Make sure that you actually spend time on campus on your own, no tour guide, and try to find your way around and feel comfortable. Try to spend a night there as well and talk to the students who go there who aren't paid to take you ona tour for an honest opinion of the college. Sit in on a class related to a major you might want to pursue. Most importantly of all, take the time once you get there to take advantage of all the different things they tell you about during orientation regarding the different activities and clubs there are.

Determine what is most important to you (being close to family, city life, academics) and choose you're university accordingly. Don't go to a college that you can't affored because you won't be able to concentrate on doing well academically and socially.

To students-- Don't start or continue to compare yourself to your peers. This really is your decision and your decision only. It's not about what college is ranked the highest or "sounds" the best based on other peoples' experiences. In the end, it really is what you make of your own college experience that counts anyway. Attend the college you want to go to not only for your future but for yourself-- you'll appreciate it as time goes on. To parents-- This is one of the toughest decisions a kid has to make, as I'm sure many of you already know. Be supportive, don't make demands, and try not to set limits. It breaks a kid's heart to be accepted into a school and not be able to go because of financial issues, overprotective parents, or just plain close-mindedness. (By the way, I meant to select the 18-20 age range on the survey, not 28 and over.)

Junior year of high school I began applying to colleges; but to be honest, I had no idea what type of school I wanted to attend. Big? Small? Urban? I had no clue. I ended up applying to any and every school my test scores matched. By the end of senior year, I had a much better sense of myself and what type of environment I could flourish in. I was only a year older, but during senior year I was able to talk to my peers and discuss the pros and cons of different types of campuses. Then the acceptance (and rejection!) letters started pouring in around march and april. Luckily, I had plenty of choices because I had applied to so many schools. My best advice to anyone applying to college is to give yourself options and variety. You many change your mind and decide a smaller, or bigger, or closer or whatever type of school is what you really want. But if you've only applied to one type of school (say, small liberal arts schools) you may regret it. So be open to different types of schools and don't limit your future!

No one really knows what they want to do with the rest of their lives. Even those who were born with the mindset of becoming a doctor realize the very real possibility of change. In regards to picking the right college, you should find a school that resonates true to you. It could be a social aspect, or their extra-curricular activities, or the mascot, or even the way the name sounds. Any decent college will give you a solid education; so what really matters is your interests. You have to realize that college is a stepping stone for your adulthood, which may or may not deal with a lot of academics. Some students come out of college with a BS and apply to a fine arts graduate school. It is those small interests that really stick and may possibly turn into a career.

Choosing the right school is hard, but in the end it has to be a choice for you. A lot of people will give you advice, some of it good, most of it bad. What they have to say is beneficial, but more beneficial is what you think about it. Don't let other people make your decision for you, because ultimately you're the one who'll be spending four years at the school you choose. When I applied to college, I had only one goal: go out-of-state. I like that my search was so open-ended; I got to visit a lot of places and see what I liked and what I didn't. My choice was made as soon as I walked onto my school's campus. It was the first place I felt at home; the first place whose paths I could see myself walking to class. It had all the right qualities: lots of extracurriculars, good class sizes, well-known professors, and it was away from home. That's what college becomes: a home away from home. It just has to be somewhere you can be comfortable.