<p>I'm very, very, very undecided, as far as college majors go but these days i am seriously considering international relations.. or something similar to that. I know CMU is great for future engineers, artists, etc. and i've heard it's not an excellent place for undecided students. (although i must admit, any degree from cmu should be impressive as it is a top 20 school?)</p>
<p>Is anyone in HSS, majoring in something COMPLETELY different from tech/engin./arts and would really recommend their program at CMU?</p>
<p>I applied to several other schools and carnegie mellon is certainly one of my top choices.. I fell in love with the school but I want to know if it's really where I belong. Thanks all =)</p>
<p>I’d say CMU is pretty solid in a lot of the H&SS fields, but what I think you really have to ask yourself is: Are you willing to pay the same steep CMU tuition for a degree that is less valuable than one of the other degrees offered?</p>
<p>I wholeheartedly believe you should do what you enjoy… but when considering CMU that makes it one expensive hobby.</p>
<p>My double major is in HCI in SCS, but my primary major is creative writing in H&SS. A lot of students seem to look at CMU and go, “Oh, it’s a tech school. You’re an idiot if you want to study humanities there.” But our pre-law, history, psych, creative writing, econ, and decision sciences programs are some of the best in the nation. For international relations, you’d either want to study History, Ethics and Public Policy or Global Politics. Both are highly integrated majors with a lot of support in the department.</p>
<p>weirdly enough there is a list posted outside my Shakespeare classroom of where various students were sent on to study law in grad school, so I was looking at it this morning. A great deal of them went to top ten law programs (HYP, Columbia, Cornell, UMich, Pitt) and all of the rest but for a couple went to schools similar in academic caliber to CMU. </p>
<p>As for internships-- I don’t know for sure. I don’t think HSS does too much along the lines of hooking you up with internships during the year-- during the summer is a different matter. I’m sure if you talk to Ray Mizgorski or one of the career advisors they’d be more than happy to look for you, and there’s always TartanTrak, our school database of open internship positions.</p>
<p>If you apply and are accepted to HSS, can you take classes in the other schools at CMU? Also, if you change your mind after freshman year and decide, for example, that you want to transfer into one of the other CMU schools, how difficult is it to do that?</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Yes. To take classes in some majors (like design) you would have to show a portfolio to prove that you have the basic knowledge required to take the class, but 90% of the classes at CMU are completely open to H&SS kids.</p></li>
<li><p>You can transfer to a different college, but the difficulty depends on the school. For example, it wouldn’t be too difficult to transfer into CIT or MCS. For Tepper, SCS, or CFA it might be a little more difficult. It’s not the difficulty of the process, though-- just proving that you have the talent to be in that college. If you do, chances are they’ll welcome you.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>completelykate - we were told that double majoring in cs and creative writing would be very, very tough because of the requirements. What’s your experience been?</p>
<p>I personally did International Relations and Politics for a while and realized I absolutely hate international relations. I find it boring and all of the people in the major are stuck up rich kids whose parents are ambassadors or work for other big companies that have lived for years in various different countries and think they are better than everyone else. Though the program is supposed to be quite good and we do have some pretty famous professors. I just switched into statistics and would highly recommend the program. CMU is actually ranked 9th for best stats schools in the nation even though most people don’t know that. I’m also doubling in ethics, history, and public policy and find the classes quite enjoyable though I don’t know what the job field for that major is.</p>
<p>the social and decision sciences department is ranked one of the best in the nation. i once read the following comment somewhere, probably in fiske guide but i can’t remember, and find it quite worth considering: there’s a reason why cmu could be ranked 20+ in the country even with the absence of a medical school. it means each and every of its 7 colleges and schools must be well-rounded and up to the standard.</p>
<p>plus you can always transfer to another college or program even if you came in as an HSS student.</p>