CMU SCS and Tepper chances

Colleges and Universities A-Z Carnegie Mellon University
1

<p>Hey all, I'm thinking about CMU RD:
Tepper Computational Finance or School of Computer Science, Not sure yet.
Thanks!</p>

<p>Scores:</p>

<p>ACT: 34 (36 Reading, 36 Sci, 34 Math, 29 Eng, 12 Essay, 31 E/W)
SAT: 2190 (790M, 690CR, 710W)
SAT II: 800 Math II, 780 Chemistry, 800 US History (should I take math I/physics in Oct if I can study a lot and possibly score double 750+s?)
PSAT: 212 (80M, don't remember others) - Merit Commendation
AP tests so Far: Stat (5) US (5) Physics B (5) English Language (5) World (4)
GPA: 100/100 (Max, Straight As or better)
Rank: Top 5% (School doesn't rank, but this is an estimate, could be better, but not worse).</p>

<p>Senior courseload (one of the hardest in grade, my rigor has always been the hardest available at my school)
AP Us Gov
AP Calc BC
AP Spanish Language
AP English Literature
AP Physics C Mech
AP Physics C E & M
AP Macro Economics
AP Micro Economics
Research (Intel competitor)
Computer Programming</p>

<p>ECs:
-Cornell Summer College (3 credits) - Completed, A in the class, professor recommendation</p>

<p>-Intel Research in economics/political science</p>

<p>-Intern at an institutional investing business in the city over the summer (Over 80 Hours, Paid)</p>

<p>-Debate Team Captain (Forensics) 9-12 (Been to HYP and State tournaments)</p>

<p>-Chess Team President (have a USCF rating and one of the best seniors in my county with 16 teams) 9-12</p>

<p>-Mathletes Officer Position Treasurer 10-12</p>

<p>-Treasurer of local community service extension run by Cornell (just got shut down due to budget cuts, was invited to the state competition in public speaking with this club, I was in it when it first started this year through the end)</p>

<p>-President of Spanish Honor Society (Picked by several teachers out of a group of many other students)</p>

<p>-Member of National Honor Society</p>

<p>-Member of Political Science Club (just started this year)</p>

<p>-Helping a teacher run a new business/website by writing articles about finance (just senior year)</p>

<p>Me
-Male
-White
-New York
-VERY Competitive Public School (Sends dozens of kids to Ivies per year, about 26 got into cornell last year)
-Don't know income bracket, but will apply for financial aid.</p>

2

<p>Scratch that, not tepper, I thought computational finance was for undergrad. I meant the department of mathematical sciences in MCS.</p>

3

<p>[Bachelor</a> of Science in Computation Finance](<a href=“http://www.math.cmu.edu/~bscf/]Bachelor”>Bachelor of Science in Computation Finance)</p>

<p>if you haven’t already seen this…</p>

4

<p>Really. Hmm this school’s site is confusing me!
[Schools</a> & Colleges - Carnegie Mellon University](<a href=“Academics - CMU - Carnegie Mellon University”>Academics - CMU - Carnegie Mellon University)
Computational Finance (MS)
Under Tepper at least it looks like that haha.
Wait jk, you can only do that as a sophomore and up, so I guess chancing still applies to the others. So still looking at the chance for the MCS and SCS haha, MCS mathematical sciences leads up to it so that’s all good.</p>

5

<p>TSB and MCS kids can apply into computational finance 2nd semester of sophomore year and it is EXTREMELY selective. The program is capped at 10 kids but they rarely fill up all 10 slots in one go (the opportunity to reapply is there during junior year).</p>

<p>You’re a decent fit for MCS, and a good application seals the deal. </p>

<p>SCS is a crapshoot for anyone, but you’re competitive. It’s MIT level talent they look for so it’s nothing personal if you’re not admitted.</p>

6

<p>Yeah I getcha, MIT is up there on my list too though, but unfortunately CMU doesn’t have score choice so I have to send everything (I was planning on just ACTs and SAT IIs, the SAT didn’t work out well and the ACT worked out better).
So I was looking at the application stats, and tepper/SCS have the same acceptance rate (or very similar), why do you think that is? Isn’t SCS rated higher than tepper?</p>

7

<p>SCS only attracts a certain kind of student; same with Tepper. If you look closer, the SCS students have higher SATs, ACTs, and GPAs coming out of high school. </p>

<p>SCS has a reputation for being ridiculous, and thus their applicants are the kind of kids willing to commit to study CS at CMU. Look at MIT’s acceptance rate compared to HYP. HYP schools are all much lower, but I wouldn’t say that any of them are “better” than MIT. </p>

<p>Tepper’s applicants are not quite as pedigreed. It doesn’t have the reputation to attract top talent like Wharton or Stern. The admissions committee is still selective enough to cherry pick whoever they want from this pool and maintains quite a low acceptance rate.</p>

<p>tl;dr: different types of kids apply to these programs, and the admissions pools for each school are actually quite varied.</p>

8

<p>Oh that wasn’t too long haha, I see exactly what you’re saying. Choices, choices… I’m thinking MCS or SCS now, so I have a bit to decide, but if I want to study comp. finance, I’d have to do MCS right?
Could I take classes in computer science, because I am really interested in that too?
Do you know anything about the comp finance program? Like difficulty, placement, enjoyment, quality of professors?</p>

<p>Also, thanks a lot for answering my questions!</p>

9

<p>I’m just a sophomore but here’s what I know about Comp Finance:
Anyone can MINOR in it regardless of department; the minor has no application but you have to meet some minimum grade requirements. But to have the MAJOR, you must go through the application process detailed through that site, which is done. spring of your sophomore year. The major is only available to Tepper and MCS undergrads.</p>

<p>Difficulty: Very difficult. It’s a combination of statistics, probability, calculus, and financial theory all rolled up into one.</p>

<p>Placement: Get this major and you get a job. Finish the minor and you have a job. It’s well respected not only on Wall Street but by elite trading shops too. Perfect placement for all majors. They don’t keep track of people who minor but they tend to do quite well, if not just as well as the people who get the major (yup, not getting the major is not the end of the world).</p>

<p>Enjoyment: You have to be a weird kid to love that stuff. From what I’ve heard, it’s not particularly enjoyable, but the rewards are certainly worth the suffering.</p>

<p>Professor quality: Not particularly special, but they get the job done. </p>

<p>As for interests in compsci, yes you can take classes from SCS even if you are MCS… If you get into and choose to attend as a compsci major, keep in mind that you cant apply to the computational finance major.</p>

10

<p>Haha I have to be weird to love that stuff? I have a related internship and it’s really freaking cool lol, it’s very interesting, and I’ve had a love for stat and probability my entire life. But I think it’s worth a shot, I’m gonna apply MCS, thanks a lot for the info, you’ve been really helpful.</p>