<p>How much does being recruited weigh in the admissions decisions, especially with regards to SCS?</p>
<p>SCS is one of, if not the hardest, schools to get into in CMU. What stats do you have?</p>
<p>I donât want to do an entire chances post, but my SAT scores are all in the mid 700âs, Iâll have 12 APs by graduation, and my GPA is solid (an A- in Calc AB and PreCalc along with straight Aâs). I havenât taken any subject tests yet.</p>
<p>Straight Aâs? Youâve got very very good chances⊠I canât imagine why they wouldnât take you.</p>
<p>One reason may be AP Physics C. I am enrolled in it this year and am struggling (I am the only student in my class who has not taken any form of Physics beforehand). If I end up with a B+, will this kill/severely hurt my chances?</p>
1 Like
<p>Absolutely not.</p>
<p>SCS will not hold a spot for a recruited athlete - -there are too few spots for the number 1 school in the US for CS.</p>
<p>Your application will be reviewed on its merits-- the sports will not impact things.
SCS handles admissions a bit differentlyâŠit goes past the Admissions staff, but ultimately, a faculty pool selects the lucky group offered a spot.</p>
<p>^It wonât officially hold a spot but if youâre a recruited athlete youâve shown that you can succeed even after allotting a substantial amount of time to the sport⊠and achieved straight-Aâs.</p>
<p>Yes, I donât expect to succeed simply on the basis of being an athlete - I just see it as a helpful boost to the rest of my application. I realize that SCS is extremely competitive why I created this thread. Thank you everyone for your clarification in this matter.</p>
<p>My friend was an EDII applicant scsâŠand rejected.
He reapplied to CIT -ECE and was rejected again⊠Got a B mid year in Physics C. That was the only B grade ever.
Just one story-- but I share it. GC told him that Physics and Calc BC grades are really important for Engineering applicants.
Get a tutor if you can.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice. Iâll try to do that.</p>
<p>Eh, sports do have some pull. Not officially, of course - weâre D3, so weâre not exactly USC Football - but they do. Ask the coach who recruited you to help you out if youâre on emailing/phone terms (but phrase it more like âI would love your advice or assistance on anything related to admission where you feel appropriate to provide itâ.) He or she will probably at least talk to admissions. Some of my best friends are on sports and they say that the coaches pulled some tricks for them, although they (like you) also had excellent grades, et cetera.</p>
<p>So youâre not in for sure, but it will definitely help to be recruited. Thatâs the whole idea of recruitment in the first place - you scratch our back (play for us,) we scratch yours (get you in). Especially since CMU doesnât offer sports scholarships.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I had considerably more Bs than that and had no problem getting into CMU (including ECE) with some merit scholarships. CMU really cares a lot about outside activities now, and if youâre heavily involved in sports I think it can work to your favor. Especially with how they try to âdiversifyâ the classes being an athlete would certainly set you apart from the typical CS applicant.</p>
<p>Edit: Just be aware of the drawbacks of attending a DIII school as an athlete. Classes always come first, and you rarely get exceptions/extensions just because youâve got an away game in the upcoming weekend.</p>
<p>eh yeah just to kind of add to what racinreaver said, you may find it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to succeed in CS here and still have time for a sport (and not be miserable). you may be 1337 cs pro or whatever, but it sounds more similar to what i had⊠straight aâs, 2200 sat, 2+ semesters worth of ap credit. I was not recruited, as my h.s. is in Arizona and I never approached the coaches, but my sprint times were more than enough to make the track team here. However, when 2nd semester 1st year cs came around (15-251 + 15-213) there was just no way it was gonna happen.</p>
<p>It is entirely possible that youâll be able to manage the workload, but from what iâve seen, youâll more than likely just have to cut corners and deal with worse performance on all fronts. But if you can pull it off, by all means. I found it more manageable to join a fraternity and play IMâs + push buggy</p>
<p>School is always my first priority. If it truly becomes a problem then Iâd have to drop the sport as undesirable as this may be. For all of you SCSers out there - how much time per week would you say is spent doing homework for your CS classes?</p>
<p>Ha!
How much time you ask�
Not nearly enough!..but I think thatâs my choice. Iâm not yet working 50 hours and probably should be! I need to kick myself in the butt.</p>
<p>I have Concepts, 122 programming (the class you take if you had AP credit), 3d Calc, a Foreign language and another p/f seminar for fun. I also turned my foreign language class into Pass/fail third week b/c it was a 12 unit time sucker â but I still wanted to take the class. I didnât want freshman english this semester and in hindsight maybe should have taken an ECE class â who knows. With only three classes for a grade-- I still have only managed to get two Bs and one B+ on my mid term grades. I will be happy to hold them for the semester overall and thrilled if one becomes an A.<br>
But Iâm having loads of fun, joined clubs â but didnât have time for a regular music or sports commitment â even though these were a huge part of life in high school.
I love it here-- but I know how much harder itâs going to be in the Spring with 251 and either 211 or 213 (havenât decided yet-- any thoughts â 211 (new 150) or 213? â or could I take both of those at the same time?) Plus Iâll have English, another math class (probably linear aleg. on top of that mix).</p>
<p>So reality-- Iâm guessing 60 hours per week would be expected minimumâŠbut I am not yet working that many hours yet⊠I goof off most of the early part of the weekend to unwind.</p>
<p>that sounds pretty typical for first semester⊠honestly itâs not that hard to do well and still have a lot of fun / free time. 2nd semester youâll be fâed though. finding time to goof off at the start of the weekend becomes quite a bit harder to find. </p>
<p>donât take 211 213 and 251 all at once. especially donât do it if you take linear instead of matrix algebra. If you value free time iâd suggest taking matrix rather than linear.</p>
<p>1st semester i probably spent about what my units suggested: ~50 hrs / week and I managed a 4.0
2nd semester it went to probably ~60-70 hrs / week
this semester is ridiculous 70-90+ hrs / week mostly due to O.S.</p>
<p>@ BCO â I heard Linear is harder than Matrix, but L is required for the minor in Discrete math but thereâs a choice of L or M in the regular math minor. I might take the Discrete Math minor-- so want my options open.</p>
<p>How would you compare workload and difficulty of L and M relative to Concepts and relative to 3D?</p>
<p>Do you have to take the classes 211, 212 and 213 in that order or can you move them around? (and the new cs degree actually has 150, 210 and 213)
Is 213 better with Kesden in the Spring than Bryant and Halloran in the Fall-- or both equal for teaching and workload? I heard Kesden was tough but really helpful and you learned tons with him.</p>
<p>So Spring: 1) 251, 2) (211 or 213) (rather than both), 3) (Matrix or Linear), 4) English Plus one more- Do you Suggest math (301 or 484 or something else) , stats or another GE?
Which stats class has the least workload and which one is most useful for CS? Choice of 5 of them on the list.
What did you take freshman spring?</p>
<p>If a coach is encouraging me to apply HSS undecided to get in, is there a chance that if I was wanted badly that they might be able to get me into Tepper?
I am concerned that it may be difficult to transfer into Tepper.</p>
<p>Unlikely. If the coach is pushing for HSS undecided, thatâs probably about what they can manage for you. There is an enormous gap between âHSS undecidedâ (relatively easy to get into) and Tepper, which has very few open spots. However, itâs always worth mentioning to the coach that youâd like to apply secondarily to Tepper but that you arenât sure whether youâll get in. Maybe he knows a guy who knows a guy.</p>