Carnegie Mellon University Top Questions

In order to determine what school is a good fit you really need to visit the school and talk to people who go there because simply looking at a website will not be very informative. Also think about how hard you are prepared to work in college and if you think taht paying for a private school vs public school education will make a big difference.

Do what you want with your education. If you aren't interested in learning, then it's not for you.

On finding the right college, take in all the advice, campus tours, testimonials, and opinions you get from others, but at the end of the day take everything you hear with a grain of salt and form your own opinion. Encourage your child to apply to a few colleges that he or she likes but feels he might not get into because you never know, he might just get accepted. Once you're at college your experience there depends largely on you; make the most of it by getting involved, experiencing new things, and eventually finding your niche.

Imagine what your ideal college would be like, and then go out and find it. There are enough universities that something will match your description perfectly.

I would have your student visit the school first. If I weren't able to fit into my school this much, I don't think that I would be enjoying my college experience. Also, consult a college counselor. Mine was very helpful whne it was time for me to apply to different colleges.

Even if you don't get into your number one choice school, you'll learn to like the school you attend.

Don't limit yourself, apply to many schools regular decision so you have a lot of options.

Don't let the money aspect scare you off. I was the first to attend college in my family, and when we saw tuition costs I cried for about a week and was convinced I simply wasn't going, even if I did manage to pass my SATs and get in to my dream school. I somehow made it through, applied, and got in. I have a distinct memory of literally jumping for joy at the sight of the "big" envelope from my dream school, and then the sinking feeling when I realized I would have to turn them down because I couldn't afford it. However, once I actually opened the envelope, I saw my financial aid package, which was much better than I could have imagined. Now I'm a sophomore and I absolutely love my school, it's a perfect fit. My biggest advice would be to never let the numbers deter you from at least applying, you could be pleasantly surprised.

Finding the right college requires that students consider more than the school's prestige and recognition. A school's prestige does not guarantee that a student will recieve the right education for his career goals and have enough opportunities to pursue internships and jobs in his area of study. It is also extremely important to consider the school environment. The majority of college students' complaints are not about the institution or academics but about the weather, public transportation, demographics, and social life on campus. Most colleges will be academically challenging so it is wise to choose an environment that not only alleviates stress from school-related work but can also accomodate a student's lifestyle apart from school.

Go on campus tours and actually ask those " on " tough questions to the student, students. How much drinking drug abuse in on this campus? Give me at least 5 club activites you think are worth joining. How is the academic workload for your major etc. The questions that official administration will gloss over and give you absolutes is what you want to inquire about.

The best school for you coiuld be one that gives you a good feeling the minute you step on it. But don't rely solely on feeling! Unbiasedly scrutinize that school as you would others. If something makes you uncomfortable, don't rule it out but keep looking. You might find a school you like more. Once you've found schools you like, visit some classes. If the professors and facilities are lackluster, you'll probably have trouble learning as much as you could. Don't go for the name/money. A name doesn't always mean anything. Many schools guarantee financial aid so pick one you like. This is precious time to explore new experiences. At school, join fun-looking clubs. Don't be afraid of ones you are unfamiliar with. You might discover something great and can always drop the club if you don't like it. If you need help with your schoolwork, don't be afraid to ask your professors or classmates (unless expressly prohibitied). If you want to learn more about something, research it at the library. The librarian might have some good suggestions. If you're overloaded, you should cut back on classes/clubs.

The most important thing is to decide, as a student, what you want out of your life. Don't go into college expecting to meander your way through. Find what you want, and strive to get it with everything you have. Parents need to let the student get a feel for the college without putting in their own opinions. What the parent and the student want could be, and often are, completely different. The other important thing to do is to go to the college. Take a few hours away from the tour, away from the information sessions, away from all of the school's propoganda. Wander the halls, get lost, and see the school as it really is. If it is the school for you, you will feel as though you had always been there, as though you were meant to be at the school. If, as you wander the halls, you feel distracted, concerned, cramped or simply uncomfortable, then leave and do not go back. Overall, you simply need to find out for yourself. Ratings, surveys, and books are all well and good, but you have to decide what is it that you want out of college.

Finding the right college is all about the student. Parents need to take their students to their desired universities to get a feel for the setting and the people there. The best colleges seem to be the ones with the highest diversity of programs offered to help entice different people to attend that school. To make the most out of any college experience is to get involved and remember that college is not just about learning in the classroom, but learning life lessons. By being involved in clubs and organizations, you enjoy your time in college, build friendships, and learn lessons far beyond academic learnings. By building good relationships, not just with friends but with professors, one can create a network that will be extremely valuable in the future. After all, networking is one key to success, and college provides an excellent opportunity to do just that. The connections you make with professors, students, business professionals, whoever, will prove to assist you and help you assist others throughout your own careers. Even the networking skills you obtain in learning HOW to network are great lessons to learn. My advice: have fun, meet people, make good impressions, be successful!

When thinking about choosing the right school, actually, physically, do sit down and make a pros and cons list. This may sound silly, or it may sound like something you can do fairly well in your head-- but sitting down and committing to paper the benefits and negative attributes of all the schools you are considering can potentially give you clarity about your choices in a way simply being "blinded" by the flash of the schools' websites and/or college tours-- their way of marketing-- will not. Think of the school's ability to give you a valuable education vis-a-vis the dollar value the school would be demanding of you. But most importantly, consider what you are really looking to do in college. Would your best fit be a place where you can focus on training for a specific field, or ripening as a person, a citizen of earth? Could the community around the college be an important aspect of your time on and off campus? Give the facts a chance by seeing them unfold in front of you in an actual list. And choose with both your head and your heart!

Visit the schools you are applying to before you decide, and make sure you pick the school that's right for you. Remember that college is a great time and you can have a lot of fun in these four years, but your schoolwork is the reason that you're here. Make sure you get your work done before you have fun.

Choosing a college is a though process. This is a time where being a bit thin-earred can pay off. Get advice from people around you and do your research. If you do that, a college that you may not have even thought about may pop up into your list of potential colleges. Also, don't limit yourself to only the "name-brand" schools. There are hundreds of universities throughout the country and perhaps a less known one may be the perfect fit for you. Once you get into college, try and meet as many new people as possible. Not only can those relationships bloom into full friendships that can last a lifetime, it can also expand you views and perceptions of the world around you. And it never hurt to have more friends.

Do all of your homework before deciding on a school and make sure that your heart is really into going to that scool.

Make the best decision for you...not pigeon hole yourself my applying to very specific schools or programs. College is the best time in your life to grow and find out who you are so take advantage of that opportunity and choose the institution that best suits your needs.

Take them to go see a couple schools and have them talk to students at those schools, freshmen and seniors. That way they can get a younger perspective, closer to their own, and an older perspective of someone who has been through 3 years.

Most students who go into college feel like they know what their career choices will be. However, a lot of times the workload in college makes them re-think their career choices/majors. Therefore when choosing a college, prospective students should choose a school that excels in the general area of study that interests them - such as business, humanities, science, etc. - so should they choose to change their major, they are still getting a great education in something that they are interested in. Its also important to remember that having balance is key to succeeding. Make sure that you are able to access things that you enjoy, such as sports, video game clubs, volunteer organizations, sororities/fraternities, etc. I think it is also important to get a sense of how comfortable you are on your campus. You will be there for four years and most likely away from home, so it is absolutely necessary to be yourself because if you have to conform to what others want you to be, you will find yourself very unhappy. If you feel that you satisfy these criteria at a school that fits your budget, its probably the right fit for you. Good Luck!

Come visit!

School environment is an important thing to consider.

Look into the tuition of the college...that will determine where your future paychck goes.

There isn't necessarily a perfect fit for everyone. Make the best with what you find and make an effort to be social. Students have a tendency to stay cooped up in their dorm at Carnegie Mellon, but I would advise them to find a club or activity to branch out and find their niche. Most importantly, however, I would suggest that you work hard and make the best of your resources; professors are there for a reason and readily available to help anytime. Good luck.

Don't stop looking until you find a college that makes you feel excited about what you're doing, and allows you to become a valuable asset within your feild. College is a place where you learn about yourself, what you want, what makes you tick, what keeps you up all hours of the night in joyful anticipation. College is the place where you become the person you will be for the rest of your life-- choose wisely, but don't ignore that feeling that tells you "this is the place for me". When you get on campus, be an active advocate for your own growth-- when people realize you are serious, intelligent, and driven, innumerable doors will open. Most importantly, consciously evaluate what you want, and act on those ambitions. Those who succeed are those who know what they want and never stop until it's theirs.

Try to talk to students that are in the program you want to pursue candidly, not setup through a professor (that can be a skewed image of real student life). Try to do sleeping bag weekends and use them to get an actual feel for daily life, not just partying or what the campus looks like, etc.

Meet with professors, advisors, deans, and their sister. But also be sure to see what the students have to say about the school and its campus. I would STRONGLY recommend that the prospective student take a few days out of the school year and stay with a current student and attend a few freshmen level and upperlevel classes. I would STRONGLY recommend that the prospective student considers the various activities and social/academic clubs that are on campus. I would put together a list of survey questions and go around asking students walking by if they could give a little bit of their time to answer your questions. But most importantly, I would STRONGLY recommend that the prospective student eat the food first before deciding anything - and first impressions are everything. No joke. Without a meal plan that is healthy, delicious, convenient, and stable the prospective student can struggle to function as a student and as a member of society.

For finding the right school, make sure you pick one that when you visit you feel comfortable with. One where you can see yourself going. Don't go to school so close to home that it is easy to run home every weekend, but don't pick one so far away that it is difficult to spend holidays with the family. Make sure that the school is large enough that if you change your mind about what you want to major in you don't have to change schools in order to do so. And pick one in a good sized town, so that you don't spend all your time on campus. Take a class every semester simply becasue it sounds interesting and not becasue it is related to your major. Join a club or play sports, something that you enjoy and that isn't related to class work. Get an on-campus job, even if you don't need the money. Explore the town outside your campus. Make sure you leave campus and do something totally fun at least once a week. At least once a day, go outside and look at the sky and be a kid.

Choose a school that's good at more programs than just one. You never know what you get interested in once you actually get to the school

Pray. I don't care to whom, or what, but pray and decide who you want to prepare to be. At college you will have choices and choices and more choices, and sometimes all you can do is pray to find the right answer. Trust your gut on where feels right. Try to learn about rankings, scores and required courses early, then forget them. Try to be exited about your future--that's what college is about, your future. Enjoy your friends, keep them, ask them for help and kindness because if you work hard eventually you will fail and will need kindness. But most of all, pray.

Go to many schools and spend more than a few days at each if possible.

Definitely visit the colleges and talk to professors. You'll find that they usually know the type of students that go to the school you're looking at.

Unless you're absolutely sure about what you're future holds, find a school which offers a variety of academic and career opportunities. Digging yourself into a school with no diversity in learning severly limits your growth potential and the potential to find what you really would like to do.

When selecting a college, students are always bombarded with a ton of information from counselors, family, and friends. They are fed Princeton Review after Princeton Review, US News Ranking after US News Ranking, and this makes the process seem intimidating, so hard. The college process shouldn't be hard, because it's not hard - everyone just makes a big deal out of it, and what ends up happening is that students think too hard about their decision. Choosing a college is simple - go to the one you want to. As a college student now, I look back regreting how I chose a college based on a pro-and-con list and rankings, instead of going to one I felt happier in, that my gut wanted me to go to. When you start dealing with numbers, you lose the emotion and spiritual experience that the college process should be about. I remember completely counting out the looks of the physical campus thinking that I wouldn't care what the campus would look like, but those things do affect you. So, visit a lot of colleges before you apply, find yourself, your spirit and your college. It's just school you know?

dont spend too much money

When thinking about college, make sure you do LOTS of research. When I was a junior and senior in high school, I didn't really think about it that much and ended up at a school that is definitely not right for me. Make sure you find schools that are in areas that you would want to live in. If you love warm weather, it probably won't be a good idea to apply to schools that are up north. If you love city life, don't go to somewhere in the middle of nowhere (although that's a lot better than you might think unless you REALLY love cities). Try to find schools that not only have good programs for what you would like to study but also give you the opportunity to have fun. If you're into sports, apply to schools that have a lot of school spirit and that actually care about their sports. Definitely make sure you visit schools that you're interested in. Every school has its advantages and disadvantages; you just need to do enough research to know which schools are right for YOU.

The college decision process is definitley a very tricky stage in a seniors life. The major problem that arises is the inability for prospective students to accurately "feel out" the school in their short visit there. Even if a student and their parents visits a school campus, it is still quite the challenge to understand how exactly you will fit in there. My advice to students would be to pick a school based mostly on the school's academic rigor. In the end this is what you as parents and a student are paying for. As long as the school is sufficiently large, you will find a niche where you truly feel welcome if you are willing to spend the time meeting people. Most schools will offer enough extra-curriculur and sports programs to make sure anyone has enough to do outside of class for people with any kinds of interests. Everyone's main reason for paying for higher level education is to receive a level of academic instruction impossible to achieve at the secondary school level. My advice is to choose the school that fits you best academically and everything else will fall into place once you get there.

Look around when you visit to see if there are smiling faces.

Find the college that fits your interest of study, social activities, and personality. It really matters.

First of all, know what you want in a university. The university that you choose will determine if you make the most out of your college expirences. I wanted a high powered engineering school, and that narrowed down my focus very quickly. Other factors to consider are the size of the campus, if it's urban or rural, and whether it has the sort of atmosphere that you want. I love the geeky atmosphere at my school, and the large amount of opertunities offered by a medium sized campus. Once you're there, figure out your priorities. At my school, you don't have to try and make school a priority, the high pressure atmosphere makes it be one. People here have to work to make their social lives a priority, otherwise they live in computer clusters and labs and don't enjoy college. At other schools, it can be the opposite, and you have to work to make sure you stay on top of school. Either way, make sure you are making time for the things that are important to you, and that you know what you can give up in order to keep them on top.

Find your niche.

The most important thing is for the student to feel like they couldn't picture going to school anywhere else. The school has to fit your priorities, whether it be money, future career plans, or the general atmosphere. I wouldn't base your choice off of how pretty the campus is or how cool the surrounding city is, but rather on what kind of education you want to receive and whether you think the workload might be too much or too little for you. My big tip is to go off of the meal plan as soon as you can, the cafeteria food is usually gross and cooking for yourself is easy and SO much healthier!

Do not to settle on a college because it is the closest to home or all of your friends go there. It is important to select a college that will best prepare you for where you want to go in life. While money is certainly important, there are many ways of earning the money you need to pay for the education you deserve. Make sure that you visit different schools and talk with the financial advisors at the school about the ways in which students are assisted. The best advice I can give about selecting the right school is to choose a school that you feel comfortable with to commit to for the next few years. Once you find a school that fits your needs, your education becomes what you make of it. Going to class and learning the material is certainly part of school and is important, but you should become active and meet new people. If you become active in the campus community, you will learn life skills that cannot be taught in the classroom. These skills will build the foundation for your career and help to mold you into the person you want to become.