Current Upperclassman at Carnegie Mellon: ASK ME ANYTHING!

Student Lounge
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Hello @janu2481! Yes, computational biology is a major offered within the School of Computer Science. Here’s more information about it: [url = http://www.cbd.cmu.edu/about-us/] Computational Biology , but it’s essentially the application of computational methods to biological questions, like genome sequencing!

In terms of transferring, you would need to transfer to the School of Computer Science first. Here is specific information on transferring: [url =http://www.cbd.cmu.edu/education/bs-in-computational-biology/guidelines-for-transfer/] Transfer into Comp Bio . Unfortunately, transferring has rather high GPA requirements in some rather tough SCS classes (at least a 3.6!), so the transfer rate into SCS is pretty low.

As an alternative, you can also double major in Comp Bio, which would not require you to transfer into SCS and it has a lower GPA requirement (3.0). Information here: [url = http://www.cbd.cmu.edu/education/bs-in-computational-biology/additional-major-in-computational-biology/] Comp Bio Additional Major .

Transfers and additional majors aren’t guaranteed depending on resources available, but don’t let this discourage you from applying! (I think that comp bio is really really cool.) :slight_smile:

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@HSquared2 Hello and thanks so much for doing this! I’ve got two primary questions.

First, the prevailing narrative about CMU students is that they’re overworked and drained by the sheer academic pressure and rigor of the school. Do you feel as though that stereotype is true? Even if it isn’t completely true, what aspects of it have manifested in your path and the path of your peers? I want my college experience to be mentally freeing enough to be both fun and allow time for reflection/introspection.

Second, do you think that the school is conducive to double majoring? I’d like to double major in Politics and Statistics, both of which are at Dietrich. Is that a feasible and manageable path? How have you fared with your majors?

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Hi! I am a current junior in high school and I am looking to do the same type of majors as you. Are there any tips that you have to boost my application for CMU? My school doesn’t have too many competitive academic activities like math olympiad and such. Anything would be greatly appreciated. Thank You!

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Hi @stuffedyoda! I think the part that hit me the most was getting used to being surrounded by 200 other incredibly smart students (in my class of SCS). You’re suddenly working with the brightest students all at the top of their class in high school, and I will not be sugarcoating the rigor of SCS. SCS teaches you how to think and is incredibly theory/algorithm heavy which was all new to me - I’ve never done any math competitions, let alone even take a discrete math class!

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@HSquared2 Given your longstanding interest in robotics, what other universities/programs were you considering coming out of high school?

Apart from CS/robotics/math classes, what other classes have you had time to take during your time at CMU?

Have you had time to continue training in/competing in classical dance while at CMU?

Do most CMU CS majors go on to graduate school or do most work in industry after graduation?

What’s the atmosphere at CMU like for entrepreneurship - particularly tech entrepreneurship?

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Hi @mkat2003!

In terms of academics, be sure you’re taking the most rigorous classes you can and continually look for ways to challenge yourself. CMU’s SCS is ** VERY ** rigorous and admissions officers want to make sure that you’ll be able to hold your own; taking difficult classes and having that curiosity and growth mindset will help show that. If your school doesn’t offer such classes, look towards your local colleges and see if you can take classes there (then you can transfer credits!).

For average stats of those admitted into SCS: [url = https://admission.enrollment.cmu.edu/pages/undergraduate-admission-statistics] Undergrad Admissions Stats

For things outside of school, definitely be yourself here. You have a lot more freedom in choosing what you want to do and what you’re passionate about. If your school doesn’t have activities that you’re interested in, why don’t you start one? If you find that competitions aren’t your thing (academic competitions weren’t mine either! I’ve never done a math competition - yes, not even math counts in my life) then go deep into something else. Competitions aren’t the only way to show a university that you’re passionate about something and willing to put your all into it. I’m a huge fan of personal projects; you can be creative and you can build something really cool without the pressure of competition.

In CS terms, it’s way better for you to do a depth first search, rather than a breadth first search in terms of ECs. I personally think that you should take some time to try out a bunch of different activities and clubs, but don’t try to do all of them. It makes you seem scattered, and you end up not being able to do any of them super well. After trying a few, pick 1 or 2 that you ** really ** care about and then go deep into those things. Find ways you can impact your community with those subjects! Don’t do activities because it’ll “look good for colleges” because admissions officers will know that you did this club just for the application and it won’t reflect well.

I hope this is helpful! Apologies if it’s a little vague; I can give more tailored advice if you want to DM me with more details. :slight_smile:

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Hi, My son will be applying to CMU RD this year. He has been extremely interested in Materials Science and Chemistry throughout High school. He has done extremely well in Chemistry Olympiads and has worked summers at University battery labs and co authored a paper in a journal.
He would like to have the option to explore other fields of study while at University.
I understand switching majors to Comp Science is impossible at CMU. What about switching to other majors/other colleges within the University ?
tks

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Hello @VK2003! Huge congratulations to your son - those sound like incredible achievements and I’m sure you’re very proud of him. :slight_smile:

It is very difficult to switch into CS (you’re probably better off double majoring), here are the criteria for switching into SCS: [url = https://csd.cmu.edu/guidelines-transfer-dual-degree-minor-and-additional-major-cs]SCS Transfer Guidelines .

In my opinion, it’s easier to switch to other majors/colleges (with possibly the exception of the school of drama) - is there something specific you’re looking for?

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Hi! I’m a junior in high school and I just feel so much anxiety around extracurriculars and building my resume. I go to a competitive high school and it seems as if everyone around me is starting non profits or going to national sports tournaments.

I have adhd and my main interests are medicine and I love art/writing, but throughout freshman and sophomore year I did so many random things (from political jsa conferences to being a tour guide to hundreds of hours volunteering at a science museum to working at a bakery to being in stem clubs).

Right now the main ECs I have are that I’m president of HOSA, Girls Who Code, and Creative Writing Club at my school. I also founded a literary magazine for my school and am xc varsity captain. I have some awards from Scholastics Art & Writing as well. I just feel like I don’t have a cohesive story and I’m out of time. Over the summer I had lots of plans (a girls who code internship for example—because I’m also interested in compsci) but they were cancelled because of corona. This past year has been really difficult for me (my mom battled cancer twice) but now my life is finally getting better and I’m filled with motivation—I just don’t know what I should do to build my resume and create a theme for when I apply. Do I have to have a theme? Any advice?

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Hi @ap68ple! Thank you so much for reaching out and posting :slight_smile: be sure you’re taking time for yourself and your family; I hope your mom is doing better and you’re doing something fun together. This year has honestly been the absolute worst and my thoughts are with you and your family.

Breathe. Colleges will know that this year was a complete mess and you have had way more important things to worry about than an electronic application.

Also for the record, I’ve not started any nonprofit, or done any national sports tournaments, or done a single math competition (yeah the whole USAMO or whatever haha) in my life, and I’m still kicking it at CMU SCS. A lot of my friends are similar in this way - so I promise you don’t have to do those things to be admitted.

I think it’s totally fine freshman and sophomore year to just explore - you don’t have to know immediately what you want to do! Exploring is totally fine and I highly encourage it.

When you’re applying for college, it’s nice to be “well rounded” but not so well rounded that it makes you seem scattered. So depending on where you’re applying, maybe tailor your app to that school. My common app essay was actually about classical ballet and how similar it is to CS and math in the precision and discipline it taught me. At CMU we love the interdisciplinary of technical and artistic so it might be something fun to explore for you!

That’s so interesting because I was also in HOSA in high school and did Girls Who Code so feel free to PM me if you want to talk further. :slight_smile:

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CS and robotics are a natural fit. OP, do you gave any friends who are double majoring in robotics and something in the liberal arts field ( non Stem?) Are these kids also doing internships?
Also, why did you chose CMU for your college? I know many undergraduate robotics programs aren’t robust and few offer hands in learning until Junior/Senior years or Grad school. Can you comment on the undergrad robotics program with this in mind?
How do kids coming from strong robotics backgrounds where they have done or programs for many years compare to kids who have taken a single class in high school. Can kids test out or chose more advanced topics ir is it sequential with mostly fixed classes?
Who teaches most of the robotics classes? TA’s or prof? What size are they? How many involve on site learning/visual learning in a lab v. Lectures?

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Hi @Happytimes2001! My apologies for the late response - finished up the last of my finals so now I’m free for the next month and a half. :slight_smile:

I do have friends majoring in CS and anything from psychology to business - as a CS major we are required to have a concentration, or a minor, or a double major so feel free to do whatever you want here (we’re encouraged to explore other things outside of CS). Same thing goes for robotics, since robotics is an additional double major/minor only, you can have a primary major in whatever you want! CMU is known as a top robotics school, and so companies do take notice and we do quite a few internships - Hebi Robotics for instance, was founded here and there’s a reason Uber ATG, Aurora, Argo AI, Google, and even Facebook, have offices so close to us in Pitt.

I chose CMU primarily for their level of education in CS and robotics - my two primary passions. We are at the very top in terms of ranking for CS as well as robotics; very few other universities are able to offer a PhD program in robotics, let alone an additional major for undergrads!

Our undergrad robotics program is incredibly rigorous and hands on right off the bat - Introduction to Robotics (course number 16-311) is a course that students start off with and is famous for not only the amount of coverage we do about robotics topics (from reinforcement learning to kinematics to odometry and controls, etc.) but also the pretty high workload (think 20-30 + hours a week, just for one class!). The reason students end up putting in so much work for this class is because it’s so hands on - you’re graded on a physical demonstration of your robot working in each of the labs, so if something goes wrong the day of your demo, it’s directly reflected in your grade. Thus, students spend hours testing, and retesting with their robot just to try to get some level of consistency.

I think that’s what’s so unique about CMU’s Robotics Institute, is that we know that the only way to truly learn robotics is for students to get their hands dirty and to do robotics. It’s the best part of our classes in my opinion and you learn so much just be experiencing it first hand.

You can’t really test out of robotics classes (I also highly suggest you don’t) and the intro level robo courses level the playing field - we introduce topics that even kids with strong robotics backgrounds haven’t seen before. Here’s more info on the robotics major/minor: Robotics Curriculum

Professors teach all of the robotics classes but TA’s are available to help during any lab periods. Sizes really depend on the course - around 40 students for 16-311.

All of them involve onsite learning because like I’ve said before- the best way to learn about robotics is to actually do it, so the classes are always full of demos and fun visuals. In the labs, the students are given more freedom to do what they want in order to complete the lab/ homework.

Hopefully this was helpful - let me know if you have other questions. :slight_smile:

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Thanks for your detailed response. Good to hear that it’s not TA’s teaching. Also, yes, undergraduate robotics courses should ideally be hands on. One cannot really learn robotics otherwise. I’ll tell my kid about this. We knew CMU was good for robotics but wasn’t sure how double majoring worked.
My kid sees the 20-30 hours for a class as a normal robotics type thing. Hanging out and figuring out. Unlike some other majors but I think most kids who like robotics are “wired” this way. Also, you mentioned that the basic courses average out and get everyone up to speed. That doesn’t sound great to a kid whose done advanced things for a long time. But kids could ideally use that time to focus on the second major or go deeper. I was thinking more that some schools might have a more rigid curriculum around very basic stuff and that’s certainly not of interest. There is one school that works that way and would not be interesting to my kid. The courses you linked to at CMU looked pretty robust according to my spouse. I also like that a student can chose courses which are of interest to them since robotics is a vast field.
I know that CMU is well known in robotics. I’m sure you will have lots of options. Thank you for your insight!

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The stereotype is completely true and there is no time for introspection or reflection. You are on the hamster wheel 7 days a week and there is no opportunity to socialize if you are in SCS, nor do professors care to help you. Everything is left to TA’s, who are also overworked students. Worst decision I made in my life.

I’ve seen some people double major, but very very rarely in Computer Science.

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I’m sorry but you are completely sugarcoating it.

It is completely a stress culture and professors very rarely want to help. All large required classes have a bunch of TA’s who pick up the work of answering questions, but often Office Hours are an hour and there are hundreds of students queued up to get help, so you hang in the queue for 55 minutes and get 5 minutes of help. There is VERY LITTLE actual support from TA’s and professors and the academic integrity policy is so strict that few students want to even study together because they’re afraid to be disciplined.

Honestly, you sound like a professor masquerading as a student.