Carnegie Mellon

Personal Development

The Student Development Office has a strong commitment to offering a rich variety of personal development opportunities.  We continually look for ways to add to our personal development offerings and are eager to meet individually with students to tailor personal experiences.  Currently we support a variety of personal development opportunities, including: Fifth Year Scholars, Student Commencement Speaker and Summit.

Fifth Year Scholars

The fifth year scholars program provides an opportunity for a small group of students to remain at Carnegie Mellon for an addition academic year to pursue coursework outside of the core four year curriculum and to implement a campus impact project.  Scholars are selected based on their previous academic and extracurricular engagement along with the personal and campus impact of their proposed project and academic coursework.  Usually scholars are selected during their junior year and work with advisors to create a well developed and integrated project.  Scholars must have completed all requirements for their major before their fifth year.  The two to four scholars each year are awarded a $7,000 scholarship grant along with free tuition.   

Applications for fifth year scholars are available in November.  There are multiple information sessions in the Spring semester that provide an opportunity to meet current scholars.  More information can be found at the Fifth Year Scholars website.

Summit

Summit provides students an opportunity to explore intellectual and personal interests outside of regular coursework.   The three day smorgasbord of classes and workshops occurs before the start of the Spring Semester.  Specific information about Summit and becoming involved with the program can be found on the Summit website.

JumpStart

JumpStart, formerly known as Winter Orientation, is a series of workshops during the first week of spring semester to help students develop and refine skills and strategies for success. The programs and workshops are designed to build on the critical elements of Orientation, focusing on its themes of academic success, wellness, and community engagement.  First-year students, upperclassmen and graduate students alike can benefit from the JumpStart workshops, all geared toward getting the most out of the Carnegie Mellon experience. More information can be found on the website.