<p>I've heard that CMU supposedly has a great creative writing program (thinking of double majoring in business in Tepper and in creative writing). Is this true? Is the H&SS curriculum challenging at all? I'm also wondering about the psychology program. It seems like as a college, CMU would fit me well. I like the size and the location, and I don't really need things like a huge athletic or Greek life in college. I don't mind working hard. Is it worth it, though, when the school seems like it's mostly for engineering students? I've also heard that H&SS gets crap from the engineering schools (H & Less Stress, etc). Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Also, what is a typical required H&SS curriculum for the first two years?</p>
<p>Bump. I’ve also been wondering about this myself. I love CMU and I want to go into business. I’m not big on economics but I stand a better chance getting into HSS than I do Tepper. Either way i would double major in Chinese and something business related. I’m just worried about not graduating (if I can’t transfer) from a business school. Can someone who has “been there done that” give me some perspective and answer mjaffe94’s questions??</p>
<p>Oh, bleh. I meant to answer this when it was originally posted and forgot. </p>
<p>Long story short: Yes, H&SS is worth it, and if you have any doubts then come visit and see for yourself.</p>
<p>Ironically, many people will argue that Tepper is as easy (if not easier than) Econ in some ways (though certainly not all). The reason H&SS gets so much crap is because Carnegie Mellon is, overall, just a tough school. There are no real easy classes here. H&SS operates at about the workload of a normal university of its caliber (see: most Ivy Leagues barring Cornell) and the other colleges operate on super-ultra-mega workloads; therefore, H&SS looks easy by comparison.</p>
<p>Do we really have less work? Yes. We do. Most of my H&SS classes will ask for a few essays or projects per semester; nothing too demanding. Most of my tech classes, on the other hand, have giant projects due every week. That’s just how CMU tends to work. However, H&SS’s creative writing and econ departments command a lot of respect from employers, and they both will hook you up to job opportunities enormously.</p>
<p>That said, the same isn’t true of every H&SS department. For example, Decision Science, Econ, the Writing majors and the Language majors are serious business, but Psych is a little bit on the… well, the easy end. I live with multiple psych majors and I’ve barely seen any of them have homework, and they’re taking core major classes. They might have one assignment per week. Additionally, majors like History, Philosophy, and English Literature (not a writing major) tend to be much lighter in workload as well. That is true of humanities at almost any university, though.</p>
<p>Thanks that makes me feel a little bit better. I’ve already visited twice but when I went I didn’t look at hss 
but this gave me some perspective :)</p>
<p>I’m CIT, so I can’t say much about it, but as completelykate said, there are definitely certain majors in HSS that are quite rigorous and really worth pursuing. A lot of the math based ones (econ, etc.) are great, because they really play to CMU’s strengths in math/CS/and so on. And certain other ones that don’t have to do with math are awesome as well.</p>
<p>Having said that, this is my second semester taking Chinese here (non-native speaker, but took it in high school and placed into an intermediate level), and I can’t say I’ve been impressed. While I love my professor, the curriculum we follow is really not to great, and I don’t think our textbook is the best either (written by a CMU professor). The class is fine for keeping my Chinese skills up to date, but in all honesty, the caliber/quality of the class (I don’t really want to say the instructor, because there are no problems there) does not really come close to matching that of my other classes. </p>
<p>Now obviously, ^ that’s just one person’s experience, so it doesn’t mean that’s true universally for Chinese, languages, or HSS at CMU. But I would just point out that humanities are not CMU’s strongest point, and there are definitely some departments that are lacking in rigor. But there are also many wonderful ones, and I would not discount HSS at all in terms of quality. </p>
<p>Workload, that’s another story… 
Signed, a bitter CIT student (kidding, I love my classes and CMU/CIT, but talking about who has more work is something I try to avoid around here :D)</p>
<p>I was wondering this too, I’m applying to H&SS next year, but I’m a bit confused about it. It it as difficult as the rest of the school, both in terms of acceptance and coursework? Also, would I be allowed to take classes at another college, like MCS, for if I want to go to med school?</p>
<p>^You can definitely take classes in MCS. It’s possible there are a few restrictions (not sure), and there may be times when you don’t get priority, but you are in no way limited to taking classes within your college.</p>
<p>The way CMU works is that you apply to one of the various individual colleges - HSS, MCS, CIT, SCS, Tepper, CFA…they all have different requirements, and varying degrees of difficulty in terms of admissions and I suppose rigor of the classes as well. It can be difficult in some cases (or flat out not allowed with certain CFA and maybe other classes), but you can certainly take classes not in your college.</p>
<p>I wiLl admit that when I sat in on a Chinese class my tones were already better than those of the students, I could tell I knew more characters, and I was able to talk to the teacher in Chinese and I’m a fourth-year non-native speaker ( and I also spent my junior year abroad studying Chinese I’m Beijing…) moving on.
Good question CaliforniaDancer b/c even if I don’t get onto Tepper they are classes that I would love take to give me more of the type of background I’m looking for outside of my required courses.</p>
<p>Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I’m glad to hear that CMU is active regarding job opportunities- that’s obviously something I was worrying about with creative writing as a potential major. I would like to know, though: as a freshman in the creative writing program, what would be the core classes you would be required to take (math, science, etc.)?</p>
<p>CW freshmen are required to take 4 classes in their first year, plus one joke online class:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Computing @ Carnegie Mellon (not even really a class. You have to go twice. It lasts half a semester. This is the ‘joke’ class.)</p></li>
<li><p>Intro to World History (there’s some new name for it this year, but that’s basically what it is.)</p></li>
<li><p>Interpretation & Argument (basic writing class. if you can write an essay, you win.)</p></li>
<li><p>Intro to Statistics (ditto but with statistics)</p></li>
<li><p>Freshman Seminar (this class rocks. You get to pick your topic, it’s a 10 to 15 person class where you sit around and talk about whatever the topic is. Mine was the Philosophy of Science Fiction. It was awesome.)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>The other courses are your choice.</p>
<p>If anyone here is relying (<- emphasis here) on HSS as a back door for the other programs in the school you should honestly reconsider whether or not you’d be a fit in the first place in terms of rigor. Admissions already does a decent job of letting kids in who can handle the curriculum.</p>
<p>If after introspection and evaluation you still feel like you can do it, more power to you.</p>
<p>I’m just wondering, I know that SCS is top tier, but in terms of selectivity, what is H&SS on par with? Ivies, top tiers like Tufts, UChicago, a bit lower like BU, NYU, Tulane, or what? I know its not a back door at all, I’m just wondering for application purposes.</p>