Is Carnegie Mellon a Good School?

We got a hand-me-down shirt from my parents with “Carnegie Mellon” emblazoned on the front. It was a little too big for me, and a little too small for Bill.

So I called Dylan in to try it on. It fit him perfectly.

“Is Carnegie Mellon a good school?” he asked.

“One of the best in the country,” I told him.

“Then how did you get this shirt?” he asked, as if I were some slouch.

“Granddad used to work there,” I told him. My dad was a superstar vice president at Carnegie Mellon, if truth be told, for more than a decade.

“Oh,” he said. “Okay, I’ll keep it.” He meant the shirt, not the school, but he only accepted the shirt because the school’s a good one.

“Do you want to know what Carnegie Mellon is famous for?” I asked.

“What?”

“Engineering, drama, music and computers,” I told him.

“Okay!” he exclaimed. “Then I want to go there!”

“That sounds awesome,” I told him. “It’s one of the hardest schools in the world to get into, but we can take a look at it.”

Whichever way Dylan leans, I start leaning with him. When he wanted to go to MIT, I figured it was worth a try. Now, if he wants to go to Carnegie Mellon, it’s worth a try. He’s only in 8th grade, after all, and there’s a chance he could get through high school with an amazing resume, spectacular grades and awesome test scores.

By next year at this time, it should be easier to see how it will all play out. Meanwhile, I am reading a great book about liberal arts colleges that are much lesser known.

I’m learning that there are small colleges across the country that are experiential, offering hands-on learning in place of written tests. There are places that specifically enhance their teaching with semester-long projects, internships and study abroad – and offer substantially fewer classroom-based courses.

There are places that offer a full year of transitional “thinking” classes before students have a choice of subject-based classes. There are also colleges that offer a ton of different subject requirements before students have a choice of major-based classes.

For many parents, this might mean, Yes! My child can get in somewhere! 

But for me, I’m so excited to look at the schools. I want to learn more about them, find out the real deal, get a feel for the campus. I want to wander the country looking at colleges – and can hardly wait (although I will!) to do it.

I don’t care where Dylan ends up going to college – as long as it’s a great fit for him. I just want him to know that there’s more to life – and that there are more choices – than the big-name places, or the big state places that everyone knows.

But we’ve started with Carnegie Mellon – a place that might be an exceptional fit, if he decides to self-advocate and become a champion of his own stuff.

And if he goes to Carnegie Mellon, great. As long as he knows, when he makes a decision, that there are thousands of other choices.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *