<p>I'm pretty worried about the 2.7 average GPA at Cornell's COE.. I can't afford to get that GPA when paying 50k a year when my state school is a top 10 CS school. It would end up being a terrible decision on my part to go to Cornell if I were to end up with such a GPA.</p>
<p>Is it possible to make the CS major easy (as in less difficult) by strategically choosing your classes? I heard it's one of the most time-consuming majors as well. Does it really involve all-night coding and head-banging?</p>
<p>I don't really want to resort to ORE if i choose to go to Cornell...</p>
<p>If your state school is top 10 in CS why would you expect to get better grades there? In any case, where did you get the number 2.7? I’ve heard that the average for ENG is 3.1…</p>
<p>Yes you can make the major easier but only insofar that you pick the classes that are interesting to you. None of the concentrations are considerably “easier” than the others and the generally known “hard courses” like 3110 are usually required.</p>
<p>If you get a good head start on projects you will most definitely not have to pull all-nighters. That said, I know very few people who actually do this so it’s not surprising to walk into Duffield or Upson and overhear four separate groups of people working on the Algorithms project that’s due in six hours.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that this is coming from a CS minor (I’m ECE) though I have quite a few friends in CS.</p>
<p>Thanks for the response, I’ve seen the 2.7 stated a lot here, probably implying that most engineering classes are curved to a B-. Also, I’m 100% sure my state school’s easier in everything including CS: less & easier required classes, less competition and better curves.</p>
<p>First point of this thread was that I didn’t want to waste money doing CS at Cornell and suffering from the grade deflation. Not that I was scared of hard CS classes. Reading threads like “is this effing degree worth it” really changed my perspective on whether it’s worth it to attend. I am willing to take a few easy electives/concentration to save my GPA.</p>
<p>Anyway… how hard would it be to pull off a 3.5+ GPA in CS?</p>
<p>If you weren’t scared then you’d be confident of succeeding. Let me put it this way, people who can confidently pull off 3.5+ here don’t worry about their GPAs. If you’re not willing to challenge yourself, learn about interesting things (and there’s nothing interesting in CS that isn’t also difficult), and put in ungodly hours to produce something cool without obsessing with “saving your GPA”, don’t bother.</p>