<p>@LFCYNWA</p>
<p>Sunday April 1st @ 8.
[TakeoffCMU</a> | Fasten your seatbelt](<a href=“http://www.takeoffcmu.org/]TakeoffCMU”>http://www.takeoffcmu.org/)</p>
<p>@completelykate Thanks, I was just checking! I don’t plan on having no social life, so it looks like I’ll either go for the honors program or the double major.</p>
<p>Does CMU have an honors program? How do we get it? Is it like after 1st yr or something? </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Have those who were accepted RD received there financial aid packages yet (or can you see them online)? Mine says it is “Not Yet Available” – is this cause for concern?</p>
<p>Some individual programs have honors components. Most of them are invite-only after you have attained a certain GPA in that major. For example, in the English department you are invited to complete a Senior Honors Thesis if you have a GPA of 3.5 or higher.</p>
<p>Other honors programs (such as the Humanities Scholar Program etc) for incoming freshmen are usually invite-only, and you would receive information about being invited with your acceptance letter.</p>
<p>@Quaerens finaid information hasn’t been released yet. Usually that happens a couple of weeks after acceptances are mailed.</p>
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<p>Pretty much the whole college is an honors college by the standards of schools with honors programs, so there’s not a real big need for one.</p>
<p>There are honors diplomas, but I’m kinda annoyed at CMU about it since one of the requirements is to do a full year of research in your senior year. Prior to my senior year I had already done two terms of 9 units worth of research each term. I asked if I could do a full year’s worth of research credit in the fall since I only needed one class to graduate, and I had plenty of room in my schedule. Kurt Larsen is a bit of a dbag, though, and said it was impossible for an undergrad to do that much research in one term. Wound up graduating with well over the GPA requirement, three terms of research, and then having worked full time in a professor’s lab prior to graduation in the spring. Still kinda annoyed I didn’t get that honors diploma. :mad:</p>
<p>Does anyone have any insight into their MSE program?
In terms of level of difficulty, is it manageable, so long as time is well planned?</p>
<p>See to be honest, I’m one of those students who can work extremely hard, but a natural-genius (for lack of a better term) I am not. I’m somewhat fearing engineering, especially because I won’t come graduating high school with an AP Physics level foundation (just regular physics).</p>
<p>My CMU interviewer told me it would be really difficult for me to be in engineering without AP Physics B done, so I’m kind of surprised I got into CIT, haha (and really afraid now too). I dunno, I can devote set hours to studying, just it can take me a lot longer to understand concepts than others.</p>
<p>I’m hoping that if I can succeed, then I could perhaps venture towards chemical engineering as well. :D</p>
<p>I was MSE and loved the program. The professors are really friendly and approachable, the classes are organized pretty decently, and the homework is tough but, for the most part, fair. I’d say I spent 6-12 hours a week per homework assignment per class in MSE, though most of that was spent working with friends having fun in the Mudge Library.</p>
<p>I had a few friends that hadn’t had much experience with physics prior to coming to CMU, but the first Intro to Physics class isn’t bad (I thought it was easier than my AP one from high school, so it was an easy A after somehow managing a 4 on the exam), though a lot of my friends say E&M was brutal (I got a 5 on that one, so I skipped it).</p>
<p>About 1/3 of the people in MSE got a double major in BME, and the rest of us got at least a minor in some other field (ranging from physics (me), to design, to photography, to psychology).</p>
<p>I’d recommend using your two Intro to Engineering courses in MSE and ChemE. About half the people I know started in ChemE, realized it wasn’t for them, and switched to MSE. I’d recommend looking through [url=<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Materials-Science-Engineering-An-Introduction/dp/0470419970/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333249723&sr=8-1]this”>http://www.amazon.com/Materials-Science-Engineering-An-Introduction/dp/0470419970/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333249723&sr=8-1]this</a> book<a href=“use%20Amazon’s%20%22search%20inside%22%20feature”>/url</a> to see if you’re interested in MSE. The chapter headings are basically the titles of courses you can take for sophomore through senior year. Chemical engineering is more about flow in = flow out, reactions, and stuff like that.</p>
<p>@completelykate Thanks!</p>
<p>@RacinReaver,
Thank you so much for the kind and helpful post! 
I will definitely look through that book! I had an internship in MSE the past summer, which is why I applied for it too, but I also enjoy chemistry in general (though I am not good at it, haha).</p>
<p>I just don’t want to be the kid that’s at the very end of the class with the worst grades possible, haha. On the other hand, in the past 4 years, no one from my high school has ever received above a 3 on the physics exam…
I feel like you’re one of those incredible geniuses, hahaha. ;)</p>
<p>I think I’ve heard that MSE is one of the more easier (or was it less paying? Can’t remember) types of engineering, and hopefully hard work will pull me through. I’m thinking I’ll see if I can get like a biochemistry minor though (if that’s possible).</p>
<p>MSE is probably easier compared to ChemE or ECE, but you still have some of the more difficult classes that ChemE students have to suffer through (thermo, transport, and a couple of ones unique to CMU).</p>
<p>As long as you’re willing to put in the work you’ll be fine at CMU. The only people that really didn’t do well were those not willing to put the time need in to do the homework.</p>
<p>How difficult is it to transfer into ECE? I was accepted to CIT but waitlisted to ECE.</p>
<p>Here’s another one for the FAQ pile:</p>
<p>“Can I major in/transfer to/double major in/minor in… ____?”</p>
<p>Yes. Talk to your counselor. The answer is literally always yes, you can.</p>
<p>Double-majoring in engineering/CS and anything else is going to ruin your social life, but is theoretically doable.</p>
<p>Thanks RacinReaver!
Much appreciated! And yes I will put in the work!
Hopefully I can attend CMU (financial reasons prevent me from committing yet, haha).</p>
<p>No one from my school has attended CMU in the last 5 years. I will not have any seniors that I know of. No one seems to be attending this year too (my high school is more geared towards liberal arts students - I am planning on CMU - CIT). Hence, I am feeling uncertain about how I will assimilate into the school (I am not too outgoing as well). How is the support structure at CMU for newcomers…?</p>
<p>All freshmen at CMU will be newcomers, so I imagine there’s a pretty big support system.</p>
<p>@positive: No one from my school has ever been to CMU except me. It worked out fine, I made plenty of friends and CIT has the best freshman orientation night (laser tag). Everyone is really over the top friendly at orientation because they’re all in the exact same situation and don’t know ANYONE. It’s hard to explain, but it’s a really easy atmosphere to make friends. You’ll be just fine. :)</p>
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I struggled to make friends in HS (I was awkward and shy). Then came Orientation, which was one of the best days of my life. No joke. I made SO many friends and now I have no trouble talking to people :). Nothing compares. You’ll see why.</p>