Hi @Nitmom! SCS students are given so so many opportunities in the industry to do paid internships/Co-Ops! (Definitely a perk of going to SCS- companies know that SCS students are the best!)
For instance, I worked at Facebook last summer (it was a blast!) and I’ll be going to Google DeepMind to further pursue robotics.
In fact around 40-50% of the freshman class of SCS get internship offers and finding internships definitely gets much easier as you go through the years of college.
Tech internships pay really well and many companies do provide corporate housing/free meals (especially the big tech ones). Even if a company doesn’t, they usually make up for it with a housing stipend or increased salary to offset living expenses.
I really want to go to CMU but my parents are concerned about cost. They want me to go to this really small (1500 students) private school in a very small town but the cost would by $23K compared to CMU’s $77k. I still want to attend though. Any advice on how to convince my parents to let me attend? What makes CMU stand out so much? As far as I know, being in a bigger city, attending a bigger school means more job/internship opportunities.
What’s the social life at CMU like? What do you do on the weekends/in your free time for fun? I heard from some friends that CMU is pretty intense – do you feel a lot of pressure to spend all your time on classes and grades?
Hi! I believe that you determine what your social life is like here; I know that there are often stigmas that CMU kids don’t have time to do anything (especially SCS) but the truth is, there are so so many things to do. You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink!
I’m personally involved in Greek Life (yes some CS kids do go to parties!), Dancer’s Symposium, Women@SCS, Robotics Research, CMU Splash, and a fellowship, to name a few. I also am a strong believer that if you manage your time well, you will have enough time to go out on weekends (and weekdays) and enjoy your college time.
On my weekends, I enjoy sleeping in, going to brunch, finding a new cafe to catch up on homework, grabbing dinner with friends in the heart of downtown Pitt, and playing card games (Avalon is a favorite!) until (sometimes) late hours.
I won’t sugar coat the rigor here in terms of course work and that there does exist a stress culture. I think freshman year I felt more pressure to spend all of my time on classes and grades because I wasn’t used to not getting all As anymore (it’s what happens when you’re with some of the smartest kids in the nation!), but SCS provides incredible support and helps you get through it. Now I focus more on the relationships I’m building with people and enjoying the college experience (although of course, schoolwork is still majorly important; I’d still like to graduate!).
One of the best things about SCS culture is that we have so so many research opportunities, especially for undergraduates. From SURF/SURGE grants to just cold emailing professors, the faculty here are passionate about what they do and love others that want to help and have matching interests.
I’m an undergrad and I’ve been doing research since freshman year (with a paper hopefully coming out this summer!) and I’m completely in love with it. My research involves implementing autonomous path planning for a soil sampling robot. It is able to go into hazardous regions and take soil samples for contaminants, but it has to plan its path autonomously (as you can imagine there are regions you want to sample, and obstacles [trees!] that you want to avoid).
I didn’t have research experience in high school, which goes to show that experience isn’t necessary at all. What professors are looking for is your ability to learn and pick things up quickly, as well as passion for what you’re researching.
@HSquared2 Hi! I recently got accepted from the waitlist, and need some help making a decision. I want to go to med school, but is CMU the best option to do that? They’re not really known for their pre-med program right? I’m a bio major btw.
Thanks so much @HSquared2 for taking the time to answer questions. You sound so happy to be at CMU!
To piggyback on @friscosm 's question, other than stellar stats (not asking you to disclose), what do you think was special about your application that stood out to the admissions committee?
You said you did not do research in high school, did you participate in CS activities? Could you also share how many APs you took and what math and science you took in hs?
Hi @ChezCurie! To be honest, I’m not really sure how I got in. ?Since being here, I’ve met so many people with so many incredible backgrounds; I wasn’t the kid that won all of these math competitions (in fact, I’ve never participated in ** any ** math competition in my life), or started a nonprofit, or won any Intel science fairs or any of that. I simply did what I really enjoyed (namely, robotics) and I think that really shone through in my application. I suggest that prospective students completely throw themselves into something they’re passionate about (even if it’s not relevant to your major; I was also a competitive classical ballet dancer!), and not let the focus of getting into a specific college drive that. If they’re passionate about something and they sink their time and energy into it, colleges will naturally notice.
I didn’t do research in high school but I did do ** a lot ** of robotics, such as FRC. I also joined my school’s competitive programming team (you can start one if your high school doesn’t have one!) and that was a lot of fun.
I don’t quite remember how many APs I took in high school but it was quite a bit. If CMU SCS is your top school (I know that the 6% acceptance rate is intimidating!), then they want someone who enjoys learning and is willing to push the boundaries of what’s offered. Taking challenging classes should not feel like an obligation or a chore for you, otherwise you’re not going to make it, even if you are admitted to CMU SCS (every class is challenging here). You must really love not only learning how to learn but are curious about digging deeper, without having a fear of failure. For instance, I also did an independent study my senior year of high school because I wanted to go beyond what was currently offered and improve my skills (presenting, leading meetings, public speaking) outside of high school courses.
I also really loved science and math so I took the most challenging courses offered at my high school (all APs). One of the classes I wish I took in high school would be discrete math; CMU has an incredibly theory heavy CS program and writing induction proofs were completely new to me! Another class I wish I took was linear algebra; you’ll be surprised just how many areas in CS require a strong linear algebra background. I’m currently working on computer vision and computer graphics in my internship, and rendering something from 3D space to a 2D space requires a series of complicated linear algebra transforms!
I’m within the published ranges in terms of ACT score and GPA for SCS. Stats won’t differentiate you from all of the other top candidates also applying.
I applied RD to CMU SCS and throughout high school I really focused on my love for robotics; from participating in FRC to building personal projects to starting, leading, and mentoring other robotics programs, it was pretty obvious that robots were my thing. (What other university has a dedicated and separate robotics institute, not to mention a robotics major? Also, Boston Dynamics was actually started in a CMU legged robotics lab!) Outside of robotics, I loved to dance classical ballet, and won ballet competitions. I also really enjoyed drawing and painting, also winning competitions in this sector. I think it’s well worth it to focus on a few passions and go really deep into those passions (or if you will, perform a depth first search ;))
I’m interested in potentially double majoring, with one of the majors being robotics. HS rising junior at the moment.
I’ve been competing in VEX robotics since middle school (7th grade to be specific). Robotics is definitely my strongest EC; my team and I had a strong hand in rebuilding our school’s program and made it to Worlds twice. However, my freshman and sophomore seasons were not so successful due to funding/teacher issues, so we hardly competed, despite my peers and I doing our best to facilitate the program’s growth. We were set to come back this year with strong prospects in terms of fundraising/recruiting and generally, but COVID has vanished most of those into thin air, as my state will likely be remote learning and we don’t know what will happen to ECs yet. In all likelihood, they’ll be cancelled. I’ve had leadership roles throughout my years in VEX (team captain, club president in HS, etc) and am president of my school’s TSA, but aside from trying to get VEX certifications on V5, trying to build our TSA/robotics team, and continuing to learn as much as possible in preparation, I’m not sure what to do, since snagging a state title at minimum was how I was planning to dispel any doubts that the aforementioned two-year slump could cast on my ability. What do you think I should do?
Do you have any recommendations when it comes to knocking out Gen Ed requirements in high school for the robotics major? Just curious as to whether I should do dual enrollment and get some out of the way.
Do you know anyone double majoring in music and robotics/another STEM major? What are the odds of getting in if you do that? Was there anything in particular you emphasized in your app because you wanted to double major?
@dragon5151draw ,@janu2481 My son was accepted to CMU for Chemistry and Music in 2019. Valedictorian of his class, perfect stats… zero merit aid. Full pay family. CMU would have cost us 75K+ a year. He did receive a very large merit scholarship from the large public university down the street and accepted it. Pitt and CMU collaborate on a ton of majors and research. And with A LOT of the medical based research projects it’s Pitt taking the lead. You can also cross register at any college in Pittsburgh, including CMU, because of the Pittsburgh Council of Higher Education Consortium. A great opportunity to take classes at 10 participating colleges. So my son took 2 classes at CMU at Pitt prices this year. (but in fact they were free because of his Pitt scholarship) These 2 classes happened to be full at Pitt when he registered so he cross-registered for them at CMU. If the 75K sticker price isn’t appealing to your parents perhaps you can go somewhere where you can get a good merit scholarship undergrad and try for a graduate assistant scholarship at CMU for your graduate studies. (if they still have them) My son will now have zero debt from medical school because of his undergraduate scholarship. Just an idea.
What’s your experience as a girl in a male dominated department? A lot of engineering-heavy schools (Berkeley, Purdue, GTech) are known for sexism, so I’m curious about CMU.
@plundergraduate Hi! CMU is pretty unique in that we have a completely separate, dedicated department just for robotics: [url = https://www.ri.cmu.edu/] Robotics Institute , not to mention the ability to double major in robotics.
I didn’t do VEX, but I did FIRST all throughout middle school and high school and I understand where you’re coming from in terms of the administrative issues hindering the actual robotics (this also happened to my team)! You sound like you’ve done everything you can to get it running again and you should be proud of that; there are a lot of factors outside of your control, and I doubt this will cast much of anything in terms of your ability (as long as you explain that because of administrative issues, the team took a 2 year hiatus). I’m also so happy to hear that you’re taking on leadership roles; it’s no easy feat running a team and coordinating but it shows that you care a lot and are willing to take initiative. I know it’s a bummer that COVID ruined so much, but colleges will understand that this year is very abnormal and will take whatever you can do this year into account.
That being said:
[ol]
[] I don’t think winning competitions is the only way to showcase your passion for robotics. It’s certainly helpful to have these awards, but it’s not the only way to showcase that you have drive for a subject. In my opinion, competitions are just one facet to show that you’re super interested in the subject and you’re willing to work hard and do really well in it. Colleges are looking that you have the grit required to not only do well, but to push the boundaries of whatever you’re passionate about, even if it’s difficult. It sounds like you’ve faced no shortage of adversity in robotics, and sticking with it will only showcase your love for this field more. There are a lot of other ways to show this: I personally started programs and offered mentorship in robotics to middle schools and even elementary schools (such as mentoring other FIRST teams, and helping rookie teams hit the ground running), and learned a great deal of not only how to do robotics well, but how to run a robotics team well.
[] You can still do plenty of robotics related things in quarantine. My favorite would be personal projects. I’m not sure exactly what in robotics you’re most interested in, but it was incredibly mind blowing to me when I personally experimented with different computer vision refinement techniques (segmenting, thresholding, etc.) to see which one would help our ball launcher (shooter) best. Another close friend of mine implemented different control methods (if you’ve heard of them: PID, model predictive control, linear–quadratic regulator, etc.) to a self balancing robot they built from scratch to try to gain a more complete understanding. This, is the coolest part of robotics that you can definitely do at home! I think this shows your ability more than the two year slump and that despite everything happening in the world, you’ve still found a way to learn and explore robotics.
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I never did dual enrollment and I went for APs (both are accepted at CMU) but you’ll notice that just from the requirements alone, there aren’t really any gen eds. What I love about CMU is that we throw you into this major and only ask you to take the relevant courses! In terms of high school, you could start fulfilling the prerequisites, if these courses are offered at your high school/local college: calculus 3, linear algebra/diff eq, AP computer science, etc.
We do have a BCSA (cross between the College of Fine Arts and the School of Computer Science.) program: [url = https://admission.enrollment.cmu.edu/pages/bxa-intercollege-degree-programs] BCSA Program Info. I do know a few people, but I’d say that it’s not too common. The reason being that CS/Robotics is incredibly rigorous at CMU and most students I know want to be able to double count as many courses as they can from their primary major to their additional robotics major. The more related your primary major and your additional robotics major are, the easier it’ll be to double count, and the faster you can complete your degree requirements. However, it’s definitely possible to have an additional major in robotics from any primary major, and you shouldn’t feel discouraged from trying to do so. I’m not too sure what you mean by ‘odds of getting in’ because you won’t be admitted to the robotics institute; robotics is not a standalone major (for good reason) and can only be obtained as an additional major to your primary major. I would look at the admissions statistics for your primary major.
Robotics was actually what got me into CS in the first place, so I wrote a ton about robotics, my involvement in it, where I see it’s going to be in 50 years; I think it really showed not only my interest, but it extended beyond just applying to college: that I was able to think about what our relationship with robots might be in the future.
Hopefully this was helpful! Feel free to PM me or add to this thread if you have any more questions. I know that college apps are such a stressful time, but you’re doing great! Keep pushing through, and it’ll be over before you know it.
I personally think that it’s amazing that CMU SCS is able to harbor a culture of 50/50 girls and guys. I’ve met so many other incredibly talented and capable females crushing it in CS and it’s really empowering and inspiring to me. We aren’t perfect, and stereotypes and micro aggressions regarding the gender gap still exist, but we are pushing to try to change this. We have some incredible female faculty: Kelly Rivers, Mor Harchol-Balter, Jessica Hodgins, Nina Balcan, Carol Frieze, etc. that show that women can code, and can be highly skilled/knowledgeable in it. As a whole, I think we’ve done an awesome job regarding the culture of inclusivity.
I’m not sure what advice you’re looking for here (feel free to PM me if you have anything specific regarding essays) but I think the best advice is to think of it as a way to showcase yourself. You are in the driver’s seat, and it’s up to you to find out how to best tell your story. I really love the advice to not get so caught up in trying to figure out what colleges are specifically looking for, or trying to be so unique that the essay loses a sense of ‘self’ and ‘you’. My favorite piece of advice is if someone picks up the essay and reads it, they would know that you wrote it. Essays are a great way for colleges to get to know you outside of your numbers: grades, GPA, test scores, etc. so treat it as if you were meeting a new friend (like a pen pal!). How would you like to present who you are, and what matters to you?
Let me know if I missed anything, or if you have any more questions. Happy to help!
I am interested in being a CS major, but my ECs don’t really reflect that; I’m very into entrepreneurship, music and sports. How important are major-related ECs into getting accepted to that kind of program?
Hi @shredd! The interesting thing about CMU SCS is that they actually do admit a few students without any CS background at all into our program. Although the majority of those admitted have at least one CS related EC, there are definitely students in SCS with no previous experience in CS (and then SCS helps you build that experience!). So, while it’s certainly helpful to have CS extracurriculars, it is absolutely by no means necessary.
In fact, I remember my freshman year, the assistant dean of SCS told us that the subject that is best able to predict how well a student will perform in CS is actually physics! That’s right, not APCS, not math, none of that. It’s physics.
I believe that a factor that students who succeed at CMU have are their problem solving and critical thinking skills. After all, CS is field tailored for solving problems. If you have top notch problem solving skills, then it doesn’t really matter what your ECs are - if you come to CMU SCS, you will get exposure to CS in and out of academia.
So, my advice for you is to not place as much emphasis on ** needing ** to have the major-related ECs. Go far and deep into whatever you’re passionate about. If you’re really curious about CS, dabble a bit in it and see if you like it. CS is a very broad field, after all: make a website, build a robot, learn about neural nets! There’s a wide variety of possibilities here. Then you can decide if this is really want you want to pursue in college (CMU SCS is very ** very ** rigorous, so you’re going to need to be genuinely interested and willing to work for it to thrive here).
