MMSS as a transfer student

Colleges and Universities A-Z Northwestern University
1

Hello,

I was admitted to Northwestern as a sophomore to Weinberg CS. However, I stumbled upon the MMSS program a few days ago and had a few questions:

  1. Is it possible to start MMSS as a sophomore? If so, would I have to spend an extra year at Northwestern?
  2. Is it difficult to get into the program as a sophomore?
  3. I know that the major is really rigorous, but is it too rigorous to do a double major in CS along with it?
  4. I come from a community college, and although our math courses weren't easy, they weren't very rigorous either. Is the math an exponential jump? I've completed my entire calc sequence if that makes any difference.
  5. The course descriptions online sound amazing, but can someone give me an idea of what being in the major is like? I don't know if I'm suited for this major.

Thank you!

2

I know a couple kids who transferred into MMSS, and half of each MMSS class start as sophomores, so finishing the program won’t take you a fifth year.

I wouldn’t recommend deciding on an MMSS+CS double major until you’ve taken your first MMSS courses. The math 285 sequence is a big step up from the normal 230/234/240 Calc/LinAlg route, and everyone in your class will be an exceptional math student. If you’ve taken a vector calc class, you’ll have a leg up in 285-2/3, but it’ll still probably be tough, and very different math classes you’ve taken in the past. Furthermore, a CS major won’t help you much in most of the goals MMSS kids aim for (banking/consulting jobs, econ PhDs, etc).

The MMSS social science courses are markedly tougher than similar courses offered through the econ and polisci departments. You will run into midterm and final questions that require complete conceptual understanding (and significant ability to extrapolate on the information given in class), and the rote memorization (or imperfect conceptual understanding) that’ll get you by in econ courses won’t work. Classes are curved to B/B+ (versus B-/B for regular econ), but most of the kids taking MMSS courses would score in the top ~10% of non-MMSS econ classes.

You get a bunch of perks, including great networking and job opportunities, easier access to clubs and consulting groups on campus (if you can interview well), some nice dinners and social events, and a really nice lounge area, but it’s one of the harder academic routes you can take.

3

Thank you @1d51jklad1
I was admitted into the CS major, so I would start off taking CS classes in the fall quarter. Should I try and take a light CS courseload and take the heavy math sequence for MMSS? Also, I’ve read that MMSS is a two year program, so if I enter as a sophomore, probably in the winter quarter, will I have enough time to also do the Kellogg certificate program? I was interested in completing that as well, and I’ve read that a lot of MMSS students also complete the certificate program.

4

There’s a transfer student in MMSS class of 2019.
If you’re interested I highly recommend you reach out to the points of contact at mmss.northwestern.edu. They can put you in touch with the people you need to know regarding MMSS. They can probably also provide you with the contact info of current students in MMSS if you want to talk with some of them