IS or CS

I was wondering if someone can give their feedback and suggestion

My daughter is applying to CMU with ACT 34 and subject maths score of 680.

She like CS but she does not have any strong background in CS. Hence not a technical candidate. So a degree in CS or IS is to get a basic degree and take it from there.

Questions we have are

  1. will she even have a remote chance in getting into CMU (subject math results 680)

  2. is it better with her profile (basic understanding of CS apply for IS or CS

  3. what are the main differences between CS and IS.

  4. if not CMU, are there other colleges that might be a better fit.

Truly appreciate any feedback and suggestions.

Thank you

Pls review this: https://admission.enrollment.cmu.edu/pages/undergraduate-admission-statistics

Did you look at Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences , Machine learning course ?

Will look at your suggestion.

Thank you for the admission stats. Very helpful.

Also they allow you to apply/select upto 3 colleges (so, you can apply to IS, SCS and DC). However I suspect, they give preference to first selection and less importance to second and third selection.

I was trying to find the equivalent of the admission stats that you provided for CMU. Very useful as they give the average for admittances. Not many colleges provide them to the level of individual majors. CMU is one

Is that correct? Or am i not looking at the right places.

Thank you once again

@Blueocean19 CMU is unusual in having 6 undergraduate schools with separate admission. Many schools have one or two - often engineering and fine arts/drama may be separate from arts & science school. So colleges won’t report acceptance rates in the same way because they aren’t collected.

Ah…thank you. Much appreciated.

That data sheet gives us a very good ideal on whether there is a shot at the college or not. Which is not, but at least we can strike that out .

Without knowing what her GPA is, I would say that the odds in general are extremely low for SCS and very low for IS. Other schools, better chances. Applying ED will help the odds. The math subject score probably is going to be a problem.

In the tech world, prestige is pretty much useless. I’ve worked with programmers that were literature majors and college dropouts. If she doesn’t get into CMU, then I promise, all is NOT lost. She can get a good degree from most any reasonable school and find a good entry level job. CS is also a very popular, and a very overrated degree, in my opinion. A degree in IS is more than sufficient.

The difference between IS and CS is the specialty. CS deals with scientific algorithmic programming. IS is a business degree that focuses on corporate technology solutions. Both are sought after degrees and there’s really not one that’s more employable than the other, as long as you come out with some proficiency in a programming language. IS is very useful in the corporate world. CS is very useful in the scientific/engineering world. There’s a lot of overlap. In fact, most CS graduates end up working IS jobs and spend an entire career never looking at a math problem.

Thank you. Very useful and good insights.

My daughter has started her process.

She thanks everyone who has given their inputs. Many thanks.

Information systems is a program in the Humanities and Social sciences college at CMU, so that is Dietrich
which is much easier for admissions than Engineering or Mellon School of Science, or the Business college.
https://www.cmu.edu/information-systems/

There is also a machine learning and statistics program in the Humanities and Social sciences college at CMU,
because really so many students need computer skills today and CMU recognizes this, and make two extra majors,
Machine learning and information systems inside the easier to get into College, Dietrich.

I have seen girls get into Dietrich with lower stats than OP. Its not at all impossible for a girl
to get into College of Computing, in fact, but a 36 in math helps anyone. Girls get in much much easier
than boys at Carnegie Mellon still, they really are pushing to get to 50% girls in the technical majors.

for theatre the opposite may be true, boys may get in a little easier than girls, but its very competitive, at CMU
with an audition.

@Coloradomama – IS may be in Dietrich, but applicants apply directly to the program, not Dietrich. It had a 6% acceptance rate for this year’s incoming class.

Source: https://admission.enrollment.cmu.edu/pages/undergraduate-admission-statistics

And IS accepts very few transfer students since the program size is capped and highly structured. So there are long odds in applying to Dietrich in hopes of transferring into IS.

Yes. I did hear about the difficulty of transferring if needed.

Thank you Coloradomama and SkepticalOfAll for giving me your inputs. Definitely a lot wiser and so grateful for this forum.