STUDENT STORY: Making the Final College Choice

We recently caught up with Gabriel, a high school senior, who will be attending Carnegie Mellon in the fall to ask about how he made his final college decision.

You were admitted to more than a handful of schools and you narrowed your choices down to two finalists, ultimately deciding on Carnegie Mellon. What did you find helpful in narrowing down to the final two? 

I already had a general sense of tiers for the schools I was applying to which were based on how each school could help me achieve my career goals. This was a culmination of the city the college is in, how strong their CS/data science/AI programs are, and how business-minded/entrepreneurial the student body seemed. Johns Hopkins and Carnegie Mellon were my top two schools across these categories.

How did you go about the process of making your final decision?

I’ve spoken to many students from each school in varying departments to understand the social scene, how engaged professors are with their students, and how going to that particular school has opened up opportunities. There was an opportunity for me to add CS as a major at CMU, so I called the Information Systems program director to see how feasible this path really was. How confident I feel about being able to double major in CS and IS at CMU helped determine my decision.

What was it about Carnegie Mellon and Johns Hopkins that interested you most? 

At Johns Hopkins, courses/majors are extremely flexible, the biotech startup community is quite strong, and the whole school has a strong reputation. Carnegie Mellon has one of the strongest STEM programs in the world, and they are especially rigorous in the CS department. Both campuses are centered in cities, so I wasn’t worried about running out of activities to do outside of school.

What are you planning to major in? 

I will double major in CS and Information Systems. 

After May 1, hopefully, life gets a little less stressful. What do you do for fun? 

I enjoy almost anything outside with my friends. I like playing basketball, camping, and swimming. But what I'm looking forward to most this summer is traveling!