I recently applied to Purdue’s CS and got rejected but was offered a choice to choose up to 3 new majors at the university. I was just wondering how competitive it was because all my friends got into Purdue (applied to FYE instead of CS) and got in and Purdue honestly was one of my safety schools with a 60% acceptance rate. Also, I’m the first person who got rejected from my school in at least 3 years lol. I was told that “space limitations” was the reason i got rejected. I don’t know if Purdue is rolling or not because Purdue’s website states that it was early action but doesn’t mention rolling admissions at all, so I applied the day before the deadline. However, many websites, including Naviance and a simple google search will tell you that it is rolling. I just don’t know if I got rejected because I applied too late and the spots were all full. I assumed that because Purdue had deadlines for EA and a date when decisions were released that it wasn’t rolling because i believe rolling would imply they would have sent the decision letters as soon as the decisions were made and not on a specified date. If the spots filled up before I applied, I understand why I got rejected, but I feel like i would have been more than qualified to have been accepted. I’m just really worried that there was a hole in my app or something that I did wrong. I checked my commonapp and everything seemed fine but I want to make sure i can fix any errors Purdue might have saw that I didn’t for other apps i sent out.
Also, could you tell me what scores/gpa’s/other things they look for in students who apply to CS because Purdue only publishes stats for the whole school and not for specific departments.
The deadline to apply for Comp Sci at Purdue is November 1 because it’s so competitive. What they told us when we visited last summer is that they have way more applicants than “spots” available. Now, I noticed the other day the major isn’t listed as “closed” at Purdue, which surprised me, so maybe they take some late applicants?
I hope it works out for you. But it might be good to find a few other schools to apply to unless you’re interested in changing your major to get into a different program at Purdue.
hey i was unable to make it to purdue for CS but given choice for alt major. It is still possible that I take Undeclared Major in engineering and go for CODO in first yr or semester ? the major is not in the list provided in the alt major form.
That’s an all too common practice that flagship schools use to weed out students they don’t really care about. UT-Austin is notorious for this. They let you in, but turn the good majors into an academic version of the Hunger Games. You’re left deciding to major in a useless Sociology degree or transfer out. My advice as a computer professional is that you don’t need Purdue to have a successful career in programming. CS degrees are very employable out of college and it largely doesn’t matter where you go to school. If you want to study CS, then study it and give Purdue the middle finger instead.
They used to be rolling but not this year, they changed to EA and RD. In the accepted thread are stats for those accepted to CS. You don’t list yours in this thread but you can compare to those accepted. I don’t know enough about Changing majors to advise you. However, being impacted, I would not count on switching into it. Only go there if you are happy in another major.
@httghttg I don’t think undeclared engineering is even an option. It wasn’t for my D that was rejected for CS. We simply chose to waitlist even knowing it is technically a zero chance. We have pretty much taken Purdue off our list (as well as UMN that she has the same situation). I don’t know how easy or hard it is to transfer to CS, but I know it is nearly impossible with U of I which has a similar competitive CS program. The number of applications for Purdue and acceptances this year seem similar from what I read here in CC…so I would be careful with the risk of not being able to transfer. Unless Purdue degree matters more than a CS degree, if there are other reasonable alternate CS offers, I would recommend doing CS else where.
CS across the country is exploding. The spots available are limited by a shortage of CS faculty. The quality of applicants for these limited spots has been exploding as well. My high stats son ( 36 ACT, 4.0 UW gpa, NMSF,many APs with all 5 on AP tests so far) has applied to many programs across the country so he and I have done extensive research over the last 2 years. I have been told by admissions people at several top universities this is the most competitive year for CS they have ever seen. For an idea on stats often needed to get in for example at the CS programs in the US News list (for lack of a better metric) you likely will need 35-36 ACT with near perfect GPA for top 10 programs and 34+ ACT with 3.8+ uw with a rigorous high school curriculum to get in the next 10-15 schools of the top 25 where I would put Purdue. Now if you are looking for merit scholarships that’s another story. Of course there are exceptions for special ECs or hooks at certain schools but I think that’s a fair assessment. If you get deferred or rejected at any top 40 CS program don’t be discouraged as you are likely very talented and will succeed elsewhere and have a great career outlook. Good luck to you and all those others interested in CS.
Something to consider is that programs that aren’t capping the number of CS students are also having issues with providing enough sections of classes for students to graduate on time and/or having HUGE class sizes. Top 10/20 schools like Purdue and UT cap their programs (Purdue about 350 and UT 400) which makes them more competitive to get into but I think is more responsible to the students in the long run. By all means pursue a CS degree if that’s your passion, but we wary or careful about large univerisities that take unlimited numbers and that then weed out.
@COMom09 Good point! Thanks for the reminder. The comp sci recruiter at Purdue told me they have a “four and out the door” philosophy…get 'em out in four years, do your internships in the summers. (He said in the engineering school, because of co-ops, students may be more likely to graduate in five years.)
@MFHP96 Yes, the recruiter also told us with our son’s dual enrollment courses and APs he could graduate in CS in 3 years and they would help him do that. They seem to be about what’s best for the student, not about the tuition. I like that. But, we’ll have to see about honors and $.
I did a little reading on the CS site of Purdue. They have something called CODO - which I couldn’t find the exact definition for, but from context, I believe it is a change of major. So they are instituting new rules for the class of 2018. You can go read it. It tells you how people will be evaluated to get into CS once a student at Purdue and it tells you what classes are required to be taken, grades attained, etc.
@COMom09 May I ask how many AP your son has to be able to do that? In looking at the AP credits on the Purdue site, it appears they are not as generous with credit as some other schools I’ve seen. Also, many classes are sequenced. Just curious. We only have access to 4 AP, and one is Environmental Science, which is useless, imo, for a CS major. So best case is we get credit for English, Calc. I, and two History classes - so 12-15 credits, I guess.
They have an extensive web site talking about Co-op and internships, so the comment above is interesting. We are visiting in April, so hopefully will learn more.
@CoMom09 We didn’t dig into that too much yet. Our son will have graduate with 14 AP courses, and a two-year degree from a community college/dual enrollment. I HOPE some of those AP classes fit into the CS curriculum…assumed the comm college wouldn’t transfer since we’re OOS, but we’ll have to learn more about that! He signed up for Admitted Student day on Feb 19, so that’s on his list to ask about. We have fingers crossed for honors & merit, too. Let’s hope they surprise us and make the “mid Feb” notification come earlier.
@ChattaChia My son doesn’t have a lot of APs that he will get credit for, just AP Lang and he took the test for AP Comp Sci A which will place him out of the beginning CS class. Most of his credits are from taking classes at the community college and the state university so he will have fulfilled most of the math requirements. He took Calc 1, 2, 3 and Discrete Math, and Intro to CS and is currently taking Intermediate Java Programming. He is in a program that allowed students to take these courses as a dual enrolled high school student so he enters Purdue as a freshman, not a transfer student. @MFHP96 Don’t assume CC courses don’t transfer because they are out of state, actually our experience with the large state universities in asking about OOS credit is that they will transfer. Beause really math is math wherever you take it, shouldn’t be much deviation in calculus courses. Elective type classes might be another matter. Our son will also be at Purdue on 2/19 and we are hoping to have heard about honors and merit by then as well. I think I read that merit could be released after 2/1 and by mid-Feb so yes, let’s hope they are early. Here’s the link that will tell you what credit you get for what AP scores: https://www.admissions.purdue.edu/transfercredit/collegeboardap.php and here’s a link to their new transfer credit guide that may give you info specific to where your son took his CC classes https://www.admissions.purdue.edu/transfercredit/index.php#check-transfer
@COMom09 Thanks, are you in state? Dang, I’m bummed that we are going to the April 2nd program. Having never been there and not being a winter person myself, I really wasn’t sure about walking around campus in February.
We also messed up in not applying to honors. Didn’t realize the tight turn around from Nov. 1 and the email went to spam. By the time we found it, it was past the deadline.
@ChattaChia We are out of state and I agree about the cold weather in Feb, so I’m not going just my husband and son-lol. We visited 2 summers ago, so I decided to pass this time. The recuiter we met with actually said not many CS students do the honors program so I don’t think your student will feel left out. There is a capped number accepted from each college, so a set number for College of Science and then a smaller number of CS students are in the mix. My impression is there is a good community for the CS students with the living learning communities so it isn’t essential for getting connnected. Our son found the honors humanities course topics really interesting, i.e a class on Da Vinci, the rise of social media, some cool history topics, etc so he decided to apply.
My S is a 1st year at Purdue for CS in College of Science. I believe it is competitive and challenging. When he visited for the CS accepted student day my husband was impressed. They indicated that 350 were taken into the program. Also, they said that if you were lucky enough to get a scholarship, you should be happy. My S is not in honors and I don’t believe he has any issue with that. We are OOS and he received $5000/yr. CS also has an additional approx. $2500/yr cost. This is something to consider and look into at schools. He is in a learning community and went in early for the Summer. Can’t remember the program name but, he went in around July 31st and took a CS programming class for two weeks. I would highly recommend it. The teacher for the class is the same one who teaches the Freshman CS class that they all have to take. It is a weed out class and difficult if you do not have a lot of programming experience. Even with the Summer class, the CS class was challenging. The summer program was around $600 for the 2 weeks. There are about 40-50 students and after a week in one dorm together (after Summer school ends) the students help each other move into their REAL rooms. They feed them and have some planned activities. We went back for he “real” move in weekend and he was all situated. We brought some of his big items but he was all moved in. Good luck to all!
