CMU not even ranked in chemical or biomedical engineering? I know they do offer chemical engineering as a major.
@oniongrass agreed. that and even for grants and scholarships in the running, you gotta have those grades at a point at least.
“Are you strong enough in the area for a science major at CMU?” depends on the student, the specific courses take, the professor, the circumstances during the class… so that differs, on many more factors than the intelligence of the student IMO.
“CMU not even ranked in chemical or biomedical engineering? I know they do offer chemical engineering as a major.” Chem US NEWS or TopUniversities … im sure its there. CMU is known for its sciences… less than CS and Comp Engg… bu well… very renowned.
For anybody who was wondering, admissions said there is around 1000 people on the PWL this year for an expected 30 spots. Essentially it is 5 times harder to get off the waitlist than to get in… not going to waste my time writing the essay on Thursday…
don’t they admit by which college you are in?
my understanding is that the openings on the waitlist are targeted to specific colleges/programs. So potentially not everyone on the waitlist will be notified to do the supplemental essay, only those applying to programs that have space. That’s part of why they don’t release the prompt ahead of time so that kids don’t spend a lot of time working if there isn’t any space in their programs.
It depends on the enrollment of each school. some schools may be under-enrolled and have some spots available. some may be over-enrolled… and will not take any from WL…
Did you email the admission office?
@Xenonite: Direct transfer from CMU’s CFA to other Schools (e.g. MCS, CIT or SCS) is very rare. Using the BXA as a “stepping stone” for accomplishing this (e.g. transfer from CFA → BXA → MCS) is strongly discouraged, as the BXA program is specifically intended for students with hybrid interests.
@pdxtigermom: For what it’s worth, transfer from BFA to BCSA is routine; indeed, about 80% of CMU’s BCSA students are internal transfers. (That’s why the distribution of BCSA students appears the way it does, e.g. mostly juniors and seniors, here: https://www.cmu.edu/interdisciplinary/people/bcsa-students.html). Very few students are rejected for the transfer, and those few that are declined (perhaps 1 in 15) generally accomplish it on their second try.
The Director of BCSA was correct when she said that it’s simply necessary to achieve B’s or better in the first few CS foundation classes in order to effect the BFA-to-BCSA transfer. (No, I’m not her.) CMU’s general advice to students seeking BFA-to-BCSA internal transfer is that, if they can’t achieve that level of performance, then the BCSA is probably not the best option anyway, and other options (CS minor, for example) might make more sense. The BCSA degree offers great opportunities for getting a balanced education (“both sides of the brain”) and for exploring hybrid fields (computer music, machine listening, etc.). If that’s not your son’s interest, or if he has well-founded reasons to be anxious about performing below a B average in CS at CMU, then it’s true that he may be happier elsewhere.
@CmuBcsaExpert thanks for the information. At this point, CMU is probably out of the picture. My son is a strong candidate for Computer Science. He has a Direct Admit to Computer Science major at University of Washington as an OOS student. He’s going to pursue dual degree at UW, BS in Computer Science and BM in Violin Performance. If he decides on UW, then I’ll move to Seattle and establish residency and he’ll be considered in state from his sophomore year. He also has a large amount of scholarships from USC. He’ll be a Viola Performance major at Thornton School of Music and Thornton is very supportive of his dual-degree pursuit and his academic advisor will help him mapping out his course plan for both. It wouldn’t be any problem for my son to get As for all the CS courses in any of the schools. He’s not interested in computer music or music making. He’s a top viola/violin student in our state. He received $30,000 grant at CMU even though we are not quite qualified for need based financial aid. His scholarships from USC are all merit based. What’s your suggestions? I’ll show my son your insightful message.
Does everyone on the priority WL get an email by the end of the week, or only those accepted?
has anyone received the email yet?
@redcloud17 Not everyone. Just those they selected. For example, if they have 5 opening, they may invite 10 to submit the essay.
so have emails been sent?
@anyarhea @ElvaChennn
I haven’t heard of anyone who has gotten an email yet, but that doesn’t mean nobody has gotten an email. I DO know that some other colleges have sent broad emails saying that they weren’t going to accept anybody off the waitlist…so I feel like we’re going to have to wait a few days to hear anything.
@redcloud17, what are the other colleges that sent out emails saying “Not accepting anybody off the waitlist”, you mean some colleges in CMU did that?
UVA kind of said that … http://uvaapplication.blogspot.com/
If you do not get the email by the end of tomorrow, you may need to move on. It is possible, but highly unlikely, that every school has reached/surpassed their goals.
@oilclash No, I mean other universities. Like The George Washington University.
I have heard someone else getting an email, has anyone else gotten one yet?