Is there a core cirriculum for Carnegie Mellon College of Science?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Carnegie Mellon University
1

<p>I want to know what courses a freshman would take in MCS. I am currently taking AP Chemistry, Calculus BC, Microeconomics, and United States History. I already took AP Biology and got a 5. I know that CMU accepts AP credits if the exam score is high enough. But which AP exams would actually matter help me? For example, if I won't have to take US History as a Freshman, then a 5 on the AP US History test won't help me right? Note that my major would be Biological Sciences.</p>

<p>To carify, is there any mandatory classes that I would have to take at Mellon College of Science? I am asking because I want to focus more on the AP Exams that does give me credit for the mandatory classes and less on those that won't give me credit for optional classes.</p>

2

<p>Your best bet would be to look at the course catalog under the Biology section. It’ll have info on required classes, suggested schedules, and things like that.</p>

3

<p>The College of Science’s AP credit policy is described [here](<a href=“http://www.cmu.edu/mcs/education/edu_ap.html”>http://www.cmu.edu/mcs/education/edu_ap.html&lt;/a&gt;). The course requirements for the B.S in Biological Sciences are on the other hand listed on [this page]( <a href=“http://www.cmu.edu/bio/undergraduate/academics/degrees/bachelor/bs_biosci.shtml”>http://www.cmu.edu/bio/undergraduate/academics/degrees/bachelor/bs_biosci.shtml&lt;/a&gt;).</p>

<p>You may take a History class as part of the [Humanities & Social Sciences and Fine Arts](<a href=“Nontechnical Breadth Requirements - Mellon College of Science - Carnegie Mellon University”>Nontechnical Breadth Requirements - Mellon College of Science - Carnegie Mellon University) core requirements.</p>

4

<p>From what I see, the only required classes are in the categories of Biology, Chemistry, and Math. </p>

<p>So out of my four upcoming APs (Chemistry, Calculus BC, Microeconomics, and US History), only the first two would be the important ones right? I already took AP Biology (got 5). Should I even try to study for US History? It’s highly improbable that I will get a 5, which is the only grade that will give me credit. Also, it is not even required. I will definitely get a 5 on the Microeconomics so does that go towards “history” classes?</p>

<p>Also, why are some classes that CMU awards from AP exams not present in the required list of classes? For example, I got a 5 on Biology so I should get credit for “03-011 AP Biology” but that does not appear on the list of required classes.</p>

5

<p>There are some classes that they don’t want you to test out of and clearly if your major is Biological Sciences, Biology is one of them.
Take whatever you think you can get a 4 or 5 and credit for, even if it is an elective credit.</p>

6

<p>Yeah. I got out of Intro to World History and another history class using my AP US and Euro credit, and only had to take one history class to fulfill my depth requirement in a humanity (and since it was a 300 level class it was actually pretty interesting and not that difficult).</p>

<p>Also, are things different for MCS about history APs? I only got a 4 on both of mine and got placed out of classes.</p>