<p>I know I'm a humanities person, but I'm also interested in looking into computer science (haven't really had the chance in high school). If I ended up at CMU, took a class in the subject, and decided I liked it, how difficult would it be for me to double major with it- say, with Creative Writing or History? I'm not talking about the workload- just the administrative part of it, as in actually getting to do the double major.</p>
<p>HO HO HO, MORTAL. ONE DOES NOT SIMPLY WALK INTO SCS. </p>
<p>… Okay. Seriously: </p>
<p>If you’re planning to get into HSS and then double major in CS, you’ll need to take a few weeder classes such as Concepts of Mathematics in order to “prove” that you can handle the CS coursework. These classes are typical fodder for freshman year CS students. If you do well, you can talk to the CS advisor and declare as a double major. It is one of the top three CS schools in the country, so it’s not a cakewalk. </p>
<p>However, since you didn’t have the chance in high school to learn much CS and are planning to major in creative writing, I would heavily, heavily advise you to take Intro (15-110) or Data Structures (15-121) your freshman year and see how you fare, especially if you’ve had no previous programming experience. You may think “ar har har CS no big deal I can do that” but it’s crazy theoretical stuff and a lot of people sink rather than swim. I’m a CW major and I took a year of programming in high school, and also had some scripting languages under my belt. After taking 15-121 I basically fled the notion of getting a CS minor. I’m way too right brain to manage it. </p>
<p>In terms of getting all units completed, it wouldn’t be easy but it’s not impossible or insane by any means. CS already requires you to have a minor outside CS, so there is allotted room for that in the course schedule, and I know a few CS/CW double majors. They seem to enjoy it quite a bit. </p>
<p>Why CW/CS, though? What is your career plan there?</p>
<p>…THERE IS AN EVIL THERE THAT PULLS MANY ALL-NIGHTERS?</p>
<p>I don’t know quite how to phrase that, but thank you for the advice! 
I didn’t expect someone who sounds similar to me to answer, so thanks HUGELY for that.</p>
<p>I’d be doing creative writing because I love it. Computer science, on the other hand, sounds like it could be very interesting, but also a lot easier to get a job and support myself in. It’s a little embarrassing to admit, but I’m mostly and greatly interested in game design.</p>
<p>…actually, I just realized that I only assumed that Computer Science would be the major you’d do for game design. Would Human-Computer Interaction, or something else, work just as well or better? Or should it really be Computer Science I’m looking into?</p>
<p>Mostly what I was wondering, though, was if there were any administrative barriers to double-majoring across schools. They’ll let you declare a second major in SCS even if you’re in HSS? (Without great difficulties?)</p>
<p>Excuse the interruption, but what is a ‘weeder class’?</p>
<p>A weeder class is typically a very difficult class aimed at “weeding out” the people that aren’t able to complete the more difficult coursework that’ll be required at higher levels. They tend to be graded pretty harshly and wind up being the most difficult classes you take since they’re often not very interesting classes in the first place.</p>
<p>wulfran, I don’t think you need any particular major for game design. If you get involved on your own free time designing games and working on creating them you’ll be fine. One of my friends in undergrad at CMU was in ECE, wrote some of his own games and was somewhat involved with the game creation club at CMU. He got a job offer at a small gaming company that made a series of very well received games for the PS2 (and I think a few for the triple).</p>
<p>I remember seeing an article in one of the CMU newsletters on how World of Goo came out of a class at CMU, so you might want to try looking up the background on that game and what sort of stuff the guys that wrote that did during their undergrad career.</p>
<p>^Correct me If I’m wrong, but I believe there is a club for game design? Maybe the OP can get involved with that!</p>
<p>Yeah, there is. When I was at CMU I remember them having higher-ups from Microsoft and Bungie (to name a few) come in and talk about game design and the industry. I think they also do group projects with making games and that sort of stuff.</p>
<p>Here’s the link to GCS - my son was involved his first couple of years.</p>
<p>[Game</a> Creation Society](<a href=“http://www.gamecreation.org/]Game”>http://www.gamecreation.org/)</p>
<p>I agree with RacinReaver that the best way to enter the industry is to actually have created games, not to have a specific degree. I also agree with Kate that the CS major, especially as a double major, is extremely challenging and time consuming even for those with some background courses. But it is possible.</p>
<p>There are zillions of high school students thinking it would be way cool to go to college, study CS, and become video game designers. If that is a serious interest that you want to pursue as a college academic program, you should research which colleges have strong programs. There have been many threads in CC on the subject - try searching around. I think at CMU it really comes into play in the post-graduate years, such as the ETC. [Carnegie</a> Mellon’s Entertainment Technology Center](<a href=“http://www.etc.cmu.edu/]Carnegie”>http://www.etc.cmu.edu/) The undergrad CS program doesn’t have much to support gaming per se.</p>
<p>Certainly CMU has peripheral benefits for students who love gaming because of the connections with major companies.</p>
<p>Yep, GCS is the way to go for game design. That’s my intended career field as well. In fact, I might be one of the club officers if you come to campus next year 
</p>
<p>Creative Writing-HCI is more practical with regards to game design and is an extremely popular route. However, CS would be just as useful in other ways. What area of the field do you intend to work in? If you want to be a lead designer or creative director you’d probably want to go HCI, whereas with programming you’d go CS. It just depends on what you want in a salary tier and job prospects.</p>
<p>There is also a game design minor which a couple of us are trying to pass through the administration right now. They are open to it, and we are in negotiations with them and the ETC, so with any luck the minor will become official before next year. Here’s the current iteration: <a href=“http://www.notranslation.com/minor.pdf[/url]”>http://www.notranslation.com/minor.pdf</a></p>
<p>It is a mistaken belief that getting a game design major, such as those offered at GIT or DigiPen, is the way to go. In reality it’ll make you look exceedingly one dimensional, and recruiters have said over and over again (check out Kotaku and Gamasutra) that getting a non-game-design degree and taking diverse, interesting coursework is the most useful thing you can do to get in the field. Additionally, should the market ever go bad, you won’t be stuck with a Game Design degree you can’t use. The ETC has luckily opened their doors to undergrads (I am taking two of my classes there next semester) and so CMU offers a way for you to get a traditional undergrad degree while also taking career-related courses in a grad environment. It’s challenging but exceedingly rewarding.</p>
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<p>Correct. EA was just here a week-ish ago soliciting resumes from the GCS club. I and several other members received first-round interviews and we are waiting to hear back. Our club’s projects have enormous respect, recruiters have said directly, largely because they are not part of class coursework; we make games in our spare time. It’s our passion.</p>
<p>This is fantastic. Thanks for all the advice! :D</p>
<p>^ I do want to be a designer, not a programmer, so I’ll look closely at HCI. (And re: the link for the game design minor- “Game Design for Artists, Mavericks, and Troublemakers”? That sounds AMAZING.)</p>
<p>It’s interesting that you mentioned EA, though. I noticed a while back that none of the brag-mail I was getting from colleges mentioned students being employed with them, and I’ve been looking for somewhere to list them ever since. I haven’t had any luck yet, so it’s immensely encouraging to see them mentioned here. :D</p>
<p>Thank you for answering my questions, especially since you’re a creative writing major. I hadn’t thought I’d find that.</p>
<p>While HCI is a hot major-- keep in mind, there are exceedingly few spots available and the likelihood of garnering any of those spots is exacerbated by the need to have an exceptionally high GPA while at CMU.</p>
<p>So not to be discouraging- but doubling in HCI–not that easy–too few spots and competition is fierce.</p>
<p>[Applying</a> to the Undergraduate Major | Human-Computer Interaction Institute](<a href=“http://www.hcii.cmu.edu/applying-undergraduate-major]Applying”>http://www.hcii.cmu.edu/applying-undergraduate-major)</p>
<p>fwiw. DS went thru HCI from CIT, mechanical. He’s listed as an HCI alum from CSE. </p>
<p>He has a interactive art hobby that requires mechanical, and computer science.</p>
<p>"ikelihood of garnering any of those spots is exacerbated by the need to have an exceptionally high GPA while at CMU.</p>
<p>So not to be discouraging- but doubling in HCI–not that easy–too few spots and competition is fierce."</p>
<p>Yes and No. If your an Information Systems major then yes, it is almost impossible to get into HCI. This is because everyone who applies to that program is an IS major and the program reserves spots for different majors. If your not an IS major its not super hard to get into.</p>
<p>@wulfran: If you do end up coming to campus for a visit or something this Spring, hit me up via email or PM and I’ll introduce you to some other game designer-y kids on campus if you’d like. I am now an officer for the club so I could also probably bring you to one of our meetings. </p>
<p>As testudo said, it’s not overwhelmingly difficult to get into HCI if you’re in a non-traditional major like Creative Writing, which is what wulfran is looking at. It’s mostly IS, CS and Design kids who compete for HCI spots.</p>
<p>@completelykate: Just found this again, so I’m sorry for the late reply! I’ll shoot you a PM if/when I get to visit. Seeing a club meeting would be really awesome. :)</p>
<p>Game Design interest</p>
<p>Hello, Forum. </p>
<p>Like Wulfram I also am interested in Game Design, particularly in the screenwriting area but I’ll be majoring in CS (accepted ED to SCS) and was thinking to minor in CW or cinematography. I’m thrilled to find this thread and am very excited to see the prospect of a Game Design minor. I too would be interested in attending a GCS meeting when I visit CMU if that wouldn’t be a bother. 
Is GCS open to freshmen?? (I don’t think I have any skills with which to contribute. YET. XD)</p>
<p>GCS is open to anyone and everyone. The club is very heavily CS, so you’ll fit right in.</p>
<p>Many freshmen start off not knowing anything about game programming when they come to the club. Programming for games is very different from, say, writing a shell or a dynamic storage allocator, which are things you’ll be doing in your regular CS courses. The club tends to put mentors on freshman teams who know what they are doing (experienced programmers/CS students) and who can help show you the ropes of how things work. The club is really about collaborative learning and having fun in a team. :)</p>
<p>I answered your visitor message and would be glad to show you around when you come to visit campus. Just let me know ahead of time and I’ll get one of the other officers (Probably the president or director of development, who are both cool guys) to come help me show you around.</p>
<p>You can also play some of this semester’s games already (we are slowly getting builds up) plus a bunch of the last years’ games here: <a href=“http://www.gamecreation.org/games[/url]”>http://www.gamecreation.org/games</a></p>
<p>hey guys…i got admitted to MCS under the math department recently under ED I…would CMU let me double major in SCS easily? or will they bug me and say i cant…?</p>
<p>I’m interested in business and computer science so I was wondering, would it be possible to major in both of these ? If so, how hard would it be?</p>
<p>Possible, yes. It would be a lot of work, although it’s definitely doable. The thing is — why major in both? Why not just do a minor or otherwise take classes in CS/business? There is virtually no added benefit to your diploma saying “double-major in CS and business”.</p>