For a student who took studied Physics: Mechanics, Electricity & Magnetism, lots of chemistry(from physical to organic), and up to Integral Calculus and a fair amount of Linear Algebra in high school, and done lot’s of programming from middle school, 1470 on the SAT(with 790 in math)
How hard is to get into the CS major?
I do not have AP credits for these as my country schools don’t have AP, and I didn’t know about APs until recently. I might take them at the end of senior year, but let’s not consider APs.
Is it doable without having to study 24x7 in college? I do not fear these subjects or concepts, I’ve always had a flair for it. But I’m afraid I might slip up in the new atmosphere in another country and miss a few As.
Sounds like you’ll be fine. But just a word of advice, you will have to work extremely hard. This isn’t high school and you can’t assume you’ll do well. I know a lot of people that came in with great grades/scores and didn’t do very well. Do not assume that because you find a subject easy that you will do well on exams or in the class. Otherwise, work hard and you’ll be fine.
My advice is to really be careful to not take on too much, as you most likely will need to be studying a lot to get into your major as soon as you can. You’ll probably be taking the first 2 credit hour class in the engineering sequence, calculus 2/3 (5 credit hours), physics (5 credit hours) and a programming class (3 or 4 credit hours, not exactly sure) your first semester, which is a full load (you can find a bingo sheet on the CSE website that outlines a sample schedule). The exams in calculus and physics can be tricky based on your professor, and you’re engineering class will be the same amount of work as a 5 credit hour class, as it’s all group work (and, more often than not, the more competent group member does the majority of the work if you get lazy group members).
You’ll also most likely have to take the second class in the engineering sequence, along with more math, physics and programming, so another full load your second semester. If the GPA cutoff is still a 3.2 by the time you apply (the GPA cutoff can change at any time), you will have to do very well in your classes.
I’ve seen a LOT of people end up having to take a semester to pad their GPA to get into CSE. Another option is taking a class at a community college; people also do this to avoid taking a hit to their GPA so they can get in. Just study as much as you can, manage your time well, and minimize your stress, and you’ll get into CSE one way or another.