Actually that’s not what I’m saying, I was trying to dispel the notion that the evil dude who got in per the OP prevented someone else from getting in that Harvard wanted to admit, but couldn’t, due to the OP guy getting in and now the school was “full”, as there are no set limits to how many students can be admitted each year, AFAIK. And yes, the qualifications for admittance are subjective as we know. 
Where do you get off insulting text messages like that? I’ll have you know at least mine are (usually) completely reasonably written.
Doesn’t the existence of a wait list show that the one guy getting in prevented some other guy from going? If legacy dude decides not to go, someone on the wait list will get in. If he does go to Harvard, that wait listed kid won’t.
Well, CMU ought to be a good place for you. AFAIK it’s well regarded and not thought of as a “safety” school, though it might have been in your case.
What is the awesome school in California?
I am glad that you aren’t letting him get to you. There are always a few characters like that and if you only have one to contend with right now you should count your blessings.
I am happy to congratulate a fellow (maybe) Tartan. Though let me be the first to say that California weather kicks the crap out of Pittsburgh winters. It is cold and gray for most of the school year. If you decide to come out here to the burgh feel free to ask me any questions that you may have about Carnegie.
spectre: Harvey Mudd. Frosted Glass: I know comp sci, engineering, and a couple other programs are world renowned, but what about other areas? Are they still great, mediocre, painful…? And how would you describe the typical student? Would they be nerdy, worldly, jockish, or just so diverse as to make the question meaningless?
Heh, yeah. He’s wanting to minor, perhaps, in computer science. CMU is one of the best in the world in computer science, and has a worldwide reputation in that field.
No because the school can take one from the waiting list each year, or 100- their choice. Its not like they admit X number of students per year, period.
They’re not going to admit more students than they can fit in the dorms, so there is an upper limit.
I beg to differ. The Cornell campus is beautiful, as is the entire area. Yes, it does snow in the winter, but if someone wants palm trees there is always Florida. 
Actually, it’s exactly like they admit X number of students per year, period. Harvard has room for about 1600 new students each year, and that’s how many they admit. As a first-year student, it’s bunk beds and 15-20 people to a bathroom. Squeeze in any more and you’d start violating fire codes.
About, or exactly? They admit 1600 students per year, every year- what if one year they only think 1100 are worthy- they let in 500 unworthy ones?
I’m not trying to nitpick, but the point of the OP was this bad seeds presence kept another worthy student (maybe him, maybe not) from getting in.
The Software Engineering Institute is there…almost all my textbooks for the program I’m in are published by them. Even John Nash went there when it was still known as Carnegie Institute of Technology.
They tell the kids on the wait list “we will admit you if not enough people that we have admitted chose to attend” So presumably if they hadn’t admitted those people, they would have admitted the top of the wait list, instead.
They never don’t have enough qualified applicants. It just doesn’t happen.
About, but the variation from year to year is closer to 10 students than 500.
The standards are high, but not so high that there are only 1000 students in the world who could possibly meet them.
The schools of Design, Drama and Music are some of the top programs in the nation. This gives the school an interesting blend between the arts and sciences. Recently they have added some courses that take advantage of these diverse strengths.
The typical student here is difficult to describe. On the whole, you can accurately say that everyone works very hard all the time (or they do not last for long) and people are mostly friendly. People like to joke about the nerds being nerds and the jocks being nerds too. The student body is so diverse that it is difficult to pin down the majority with a standard label. We have a large international student population and people come from all over the country to attend school here, which lends to the diverse makeup of the student body.