[分享]CMU MBA的一些信息

花了一个星期时间做调研，搜集信息，最后得出的结论居然是放弃！虽然来CD不久，贡献也不多，但是发现我的疑惑没人能真的给出建议和解决方案。有点失望……然而又怀着新的希望，全力以赴投入新的PhD的战斗中 ^_^

1. Tepper的强项就不必多说了吧，60％的学生是engineer出身，22％business,11%economics, International students 35%?, 不太确定，不过据说是仅次于Wharton的比例。

2. 7.5周的mini semester很吸引人，同时也预示着CMU的MBA会很辛苦，7.5周内修4－5门课，决定了可以又很广的学习范围，也决定了不可能学的多么深入。最有吸引力的是它的GAME，感觉可以真的有机会经营一次公司，并接受最挑剔的审查，肯定收获颇丰。

3. Tepper的GMAT分数一直是个让它觉得跟其他top school不能比的。但是它从不过于强调GMAT，因此比起wharton 700+的平均成绩，CMU的680＋实在不高。但是似乎CMU开始强调GMAT的重要性了，因为这个对排名还是有影响的。他们的news里面突出了今年入学的2006MBA有着最高的GMAT平均分。而且——在我把GMAT720＋5.0的成绩寄给他们当天，他们就发信来说可以免掉我$100申请费，尽管我的工作经验填的是less than one yr. 所以我想如果有很高的GMAT（我不是说我的，720无论如何也不算高分），说不定可以成为一个在别的学校未必是优势的优势。

4. CMU让人却步的是financing your MBA，他的学费每年36000，但是不提供不需要co-signer的贷款，奖学金据说包含80％的入学者，但是只有20人以内（去年us+international 17个）能拿到Dean's scholarship，可以免学费和其他费用。大部分人只有几千快的补助，对于巨额的学费来说实在杯水车薪。而且CMU第二年不再审查和发放新的奖学金，虽然能做助教，工作时间也不多，最多可以抵补一部分生活费，没办法付巨额学费的。

5、CMU每年都招10个左右没什么工作经验的人，这是从2003年开始的，也是在top B-school少见的。之前最多招一个，估计肯定是美国人。而且CMU有本科生三年级就可以直接升入MBA班的项目，所以不排除大部分都是这样的情况。

6、pittsburgh, 我现在就住在这个破烂的城市，所以略知一二。Chinese community is not thriving here. But CMU has many Chinese students. There are several Fortune 500 companies  based in Pittsburgh, but overall job market isn't good here. Pittsburgh is facing great finance crisis and the city formed a special team to monitor the funding of the city. Many people have moved to other places in recent years. The environment is not bad, not much pollution as people thought. Living standard is decent, and public transportation is ok.

我本来受到免申请费的诱惑，想试试看MBA的，虽然明知到自己既没足够的工作经验，也没强大的经济实力。经过几翻挣扎，还是决定放弃。想想即使通过艰辛的努力拿到offer没钱去读也挺痛苦的……如果辛辛苦苦读出来发现因为是国际学生又没有技术背景和工作经验而不好找工作，那就更惨了……郁闷

不过“也许放弃，才能更靠近”，所以我会继续努力，去实现其他更可行的梦想 也希望我的信息能给大家点帮助（其实还有很多，只不过体会深刻的是这些罢了，还有一些自己想到的申请CMU的strategy，因为要放弃了，也显得没什么意义了）

祝大家都美梦成真！：）

我也好好看过cmu的主页，到最后的结论和楼主类似。。。从它的post－mba找工作的情况来说，有20%＋的国际学生没有工作，很让人丧气。虽然我之前曾看到报道说，技术类的mba尤其是cmu，工作形式是恢复最好的

当然最让人丧气的是它的finance aid了。

对了，CMU还会对国际学生提供4－5周的语言培训，我在其他学校主页上没见到过。

謝謝你的分享，我都差點決定要申請這一家了呢

Something more for your information~

1. Tepper is good at analytical analysis.  It focuses on quantitative training and combing business problems into analytical solutions.  This is also why most recruiters love to hire students from here.  They think students here are good to be middle managers.

2. Tepper is cutting class size.  Yes. Before 2004, Tepper normally accepted 260 applications.  But for class 2006, it only accepted 160.  eople believe it might be the donation of 55 millions from David A. Tepper.  With so much money, Tepper doesn’t need to gather money from students.

3. Tepper is cutting their international students size.  Because the economy in US is not good and it is always difficult for international students to find jobs in US, the school decides to shrink its international student ratio to 25%.  That is also to say, they care about the your potential to find a job after graduation.

4. Tepper is rich!  They got USD$ 55 millions from Tepper.  That is why they change their name.  They just renovated their classrooms and facilities with highly advanced technologies.  Besides, Bill Gates, Microsoft, recently donated 20 millions to CMU.  Therefore you can see this school has good relationship with technology companies in US.

5. Graduated students hired rate is higher and higher.  Last year, every first year students got internship, except those company sponsored ones who are prohibited to work outside.  It is generally believed that the situation will be better and better as the economy is going up now.

6. Pittsburgh is boring.  Tepper is not.  Almost every Friday, they have beer party, Casino party, seasonal party, and so on.  irate baseball and Stiller football are also famous around the country.  Most students think it is too tired to join so many activities because of the mini semesters exhaust people.  However, in the real life, how can you earn much money without busy?

7. Many companies come to Tepper to recruit MBA.  Tepper is famous for finance, operation, and MIS.  As mentioned before, recruiters love students here with strong analytical skills and problems solving abilities.  Almost every noon and evening, companies come to the campus to make presentation of their firms.  It is a good way for students to learn these companies and to ask questions.

In all, if you are interested in technology industries, finance, supply chain and operation management, computer science and MIS…, Tepper is a good choice for you.  If you don’t know what you want, you better go to work for a while than get into an MBA program.  Most of the classes in MBA are practical.  That is to say you will have more sense if you ever really encounter the problems before.

Good luck!

不提供不需要co-signer

tepper：
对quant的要求很高；
mini1/2简直是地狱；
GMAT720对中国学生不算高；
学费剧贵；没啥奖（中国)；
没工作经验的好像没那么多；
我也觉得痞子堡不咋样（和北京比），但是好多当地人觉得这种规模的城市最好；当地经济具体不了解，反正每年tepper的毕业生里留在本地也不多；
没有工作背景我不知，不是技术背景说不定是好事～技术背景太多了；今年学生里有一个steeler的退役球员和一个专业模特（可惜是男的）
去年的不知，2004夏天的intern中国学生都有offer;

个人感觉：特别喜欢定量分析一类方法解决问题的，就可以考虑一下。

Tepper itself warns that international students, without a background in IT or technical fields, will have difficulty finding a full-time job in the U.S. after graduation. Last year, about 60% international students secured their jobs in the U.S.

I don't think non-technical background will bring you any advantage only because Tepper is eager to make their student body diverse. Tepper is still admitting 60% engineering students. It's eager to strengthen its biggest advantage over other top schools--the analytical and quantative advantage. But what kind of companies do you think will need such abilities? Steelers and model industry surely don't need such advanced skills! So after graduation, you are facing the technical and engineering industries and positions. Take that into consideration when you evaluate your current background.

All in all, it fits best for those in IT and Engineering. Even though it's expensive, it is worth the money and time if you are the right person for Tepper.

BTW: Bill foundation's $20 million is far from enough for CMU's CS. They are planning a new computer science building, which is about to cost $50 million. But indeed, cmu has a good relationship with industries.