Hey guys I am a rising senior and I was thinking about applying ED to CMU’s School of Computer Science but I am not sure if I have any chance at all. If you have gotten into SCS can you post some of your stats, extracurriculars, honors, and anything that was relevant? Thank you <3
One thing I noticed from SCS students is that they all did something significant the summer of their Junior year. Of the people I know, the summer of their junior year, they either worked at a company (either internship or HS program) or did research.
My son applied a long time ago. 2007
97 UW GPA, 103+ W GPA
APs: Comp Sci AB, Calc BC, Biology, Chemistry, Physics C, US History, Econ with 5’s on all of them
He took Linear Algebra as a senior.
800 CR, 770 Math SAT
800 on all his subject tests, Physics, US History, Math 2
State level medals in Science Olympiad - maybe 5th place in physics?
His academic team made it to Nationals
He worked for a company that provides IT services and interactive solutions for higher education, publishing, not-for-profit, and healthcare. He got a recommendation from the president of the company.
He did some unpaid volunteer work for a Med School professor involving writing a program to help analyze proteins. He was mentioned in the acknowledgements of that paper and he got a rave recommendation from the professor.
One summer he helped out at the local Senior Center. He mostly helped grandmas play solitaire and get the hang of double clicking, but he also helped write a program to schedule their shuttle buses more efficiently.
He taught himself a bunch of stuff with MIT opencourseware.
He got an award from Games Magazine for a mod to Civ 4.
His essay was charitably good for an engineer, but nothing special.
He got into Harvard, CMU, RPI and WPI. The latter two with merit money.
He got waitlisted at Harvey Mudd.
He got rejected by MIT, Stanford and Caltech. (MIT and Caltech did defer him from EA, so I assume he was in the running.)
I think CMU and all these colleges have just gotten even harder to get into. Find some safeties you like!
I’m sure there are a wide variety of stories for those who get into CMU SCS. Some are very advanced in CS or math, but I didn’t get the impression at the accepted students event that all were. They said that they can teach CS to students so long as they have shown they can excel in math.
My son was on the winning team of a hacking competition hosted by CMU (and other hacking awards). That was probably the biggest factor for him, but he also did physics research starting in 10th including being part of the team on 2 papers. He attended the SSP summer astrophysics program the summer after junior year. Other stuff included USACO gold, placing at science bowl regionals, and NMSF.
He ended up with 14 APs total (11 5s). AP CS was in 8th grade
College math courses during HS through multivariable, linear alg, and discrete math
College CS courses during HS in digital logic and automata/formal languages
Accepted to Caltech, CMU SCS, 5 UCs, others
Waitlisted at Stanford, Harvard, UChicago, Mudd, Cornell
Rejected by MIT (deferred), Princeton, Yale
Attending Caltech
@Ynotgo Hi! Does your son like Caltech? My son is in 9th grade and he is very advanced in CS (he has been attending a CS institute since 5th grade). I am starting to look at possible colleges to visit.
@“Cariño” Yes, he likes Caltech quite a bit. But, it is a lot of work. He is a physics major (which is why he chose Caltech over CMU). But all majors take significant amounts of math and physics. So, it might not be a good fit for someone who is focused on CS but not so much on math and physics and other sciences. The CS is fairly theoretical, also, but not as much as some people might tell you from years past.
@Ynotgo Thanks! Actually, my son is very strong in all STEM subjects. We will definitely visit Caltech.
Caltech’s CS department is a fraction of CMU’s SCS, so it doesn’t spread itself thin to delve into every single area of CS. However, in areas it does choose to get involved, it’s second to none. For example, Caltech’s CS program offers a quantum computing “track” (Ph/CS 219abc) for its CS undergrads, combining its strength in both physics and computer science. There’s no comparable course at CMU (33-658/758 is much more cursory and less advanced). This is the same philosophy that guides Caltech in other areas of science.
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