<p>I'm currently a freshman at Carnegie Mellon. Although I'm studying CS, which CMU is very famous for, I have to stay that this place is far from perfect for me for tons of reasons.</p>
<p>So I'd been thinking about transferring.</p>
<p>I applied to Brown in the regulars but unfortunately I was waitlisted and could not get in because they appearantly over-enrolled and took nobody from the waitlist.</p>
<p>So do you think it is going to be extremely hard for me to transfer there? Does anybody have any information about that?</p>
<p>Also,</p>
<p>My GPA here at Carnegie Mellon is not really stellar, it is merely a 2.8 or something like that right now. (I told you I did not fit in. I am having major psychological problems).</p>
<p>My GPA was 89 in HS. My SAT is 2120, I had fairly good ECs (Very active in MUN, spearheaded a international conference, very active in computing department, designed websites and layouts,)</p>
<p>I'm sorry, but I don't think you will be able to get into Brown with a 2.8 GPA. If you are really having psychological problems though, and have documentation for it, perhaps you should apply for retroactive medical withdrawal from a semester or two if you think it affected your performance. That would put you back a bit, but it would also wipe out your GPA (and your classwork).</p>
<p>I concur with Jmbarr, with a 2.8 it's impossible. Since you're a freshman, Brown scrutinizes your high school credentials quite a bit. Your high school credentials weren't enough to get in you in Brown a year earlier, they won't help you now. If CM is that brutal to your psychological health, I say (A) you take next semester off for your health, (B) transfer to a less prestigious school (WPI, RPI, RIT, VT) there are ton of less prestigious, but good schools that might fit your need. Go there for a year or so, recover your GPA and then apply to Brown as a Junior transfer. If you're going for the prestige, right now is not the time to go for it.</p>
<p>If I was an Brown admission officer looking at your application, I would ask myself:
(A) Did this student exhuasted his/her option at his/her previous institution such as utilizing psychological services offer by the school
(B) Is this student transfer for the prestige? If He/She hates CM that much, they have could easily transfer to another school and earn a good degree, why do they choose Brown and not other?
(C) It's only 4 months into the college year, how much does this person really know his/her campus, should they have given themselves more time to adjust?
(D) Why else would this person want to transfer? If his/her passion is computer programming, and CM is already top notch, why abandon it? Does this person value social atmosphere over academic? If his/her sole reason is social life, then it's not good enough.
(E) With a 2.8 GPA, what reason do I have that assures me that this person will succeed at Brown academically?</p>
<p>If you can't answer all those above questions to the satisfaction of Brown, then you won't get in.</p>
<p>First of all, I'm not sure about my major anymore. Programming is a nice hobby but I don't want to make it my job, I figured that out. I'm much happier doing something like pscyhology, philosophy or cognitive science. Now it is easy to relate those to CS but still, it's not me.</p>
<p>Btw, CS and Computer Programming are hardly the same thing. I am not blaming anyone, i did not know the difference very well myself. CS is more along the lines of Math, as far as I can tell.</p>
<p>CMU is academics. No matter how hard they try to make it sound otherwise, you have to be damn sure about your major and must be extremely passionate, as in you should be content with just studying for the exams and stuff. The rest of the activities on campus are just filler events. At least to me, they don't mean much.</p>
<p>There are all sorts of people here, true. Art school is pretty intense, so is Drama and Business. But the geekiness linger all around the campus and I am pretty much sick of it. Don't get me wrong, I am a geek myself and I know more about computers and stuff than most of the CS majors here (you have to trust me on that) but I have another life. The geeky world is fun but there are some other things in life. </p>
<p>As said, if you are happy with taking intense classes, love what you plan to do, then you will be at home. But if you have other interests, like reading, intellectual conversations, having some quality fun, then you may want to look someplace else.</p>
<p>PM me if you want to learn more.</p>
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<p>Thanks for the replies guys. I fully hear you. I especially thank Reddune and Jmbarr for taking the time to think about the issue.</p>