Carnegie Mellon University is a school many people have never heard of, but it’s one of the nation’s top research universities and the alma mater of six Nobel Laureates.  The computer science department alone can attract more than $100 million a year in research grants, many from the Department of Defense and National Science Foundation.  It’s peer institutions include Cal Tech, Cornell, Duke, MIT, Princeton and Stanford.  Like all those schools, Carnegie Mellon is extremely selective – fewer than one in three applicants are admitted – but CWA senior Rafael McCauley is one of the lucky ones.

Rafael moved to Tacoma in fourth grade and enrolled at CWA.  In Middle and Upper School he has excelled in academics, athletics and the arts.  He’s taking three Advanced Placement courses this year, chemistry, physics and calculus, and already has AP U.S. history and computer science under his belt.  He ranked in the top 1% of African American test takers on the PSAT and was recently named a National Merit Achiever Finalist.  He plays football, earning all-league honors as second team defensive back, and varsity soccer.  He directs one acts for the spring festival, plays competitive chess for the school club, studies improvisational theater, and holds down a part-time job at Taco Bell.

His junior year, Rafael started seriously looking for the right college.  His strong interest in computer science drew him to Carnegie Mellon right away.  The program is one of the best in the world.  “I’m interested in operating systems right now, but that may change,” says Rafael.  “I like how precise computer science is as a subject.  Some people seem overwhelmed by its complexity and I’d like to find ways to make using computers simpler for other people.”

His interest grew when his college counselor, Marc Janes, also suggested the school.  Because his interests and abilities are so broad, Rafael wanted to find a school that also had strong arts programs.  “I don’t necessarily want to pursue those fields,” he explains, “but I want to be surrounded by people with diverse interests.”  This guided him away from school like MIT and Cal Tech and furthered his interest in Carnegie Mellon.  If his academic focus changes, he’s glad to know Carnegie Mellon has many other strong programs he can consider.  After all, this is the school attended by both Nobel prize-winning mathematician John Nash Jr. and artist Andy Warhol.

After visiting Pittsburg, Rafael felt confident the school would be a good fit.  He liked the size and location of the campus.  There are nearly 6,000 undergrads and the University of Pittsburg is just a few blocks away “so there will never be a shortage of people to meet.”

Rafael also considered the number of students relative to the number of faculty members.  Carnegie Mellon boasts a 10:1 ratio.  “It’s small enough that you can really get to know your professors and that’s especially important to me given my experiences (in small classes) here at Charles Wright,” he says.

He also somewhat sheepishly admits that he really liked the food, especially the meatball sandwiches and Philly cheese steaks.

One consideration that did not strongly factor into his decision making process was the 2,523 miles between Tacoma and Pittsburg.  “The idea of going far away just never really seemed like an issue to me,” he says.

In early December, Rafael turned in his early decision application and was accepted.  He won’t know for a several more weeks what his final scholarship and financial aid package from the school will look like, so he’s been busy applying for scholarships from other organizations as well.  In the month of December alone he wrote 14 unique essays.  “That was pretty terrible,” he acknowledges.

Spring sports began this week so Rafael is now busy with soccer, as well.  He’s also directing his second one act play for the spring festival.  He’s considering turning out for football at some point in college, possibly his sophomore year, so over the summer he plans to continue training.  He’ll also be working at Taco Bell until he leaves for college.