<p>Hi Everyone,</p>
<p>I'm currently finishing up my Sophomore year at CMU. I have experience in many areas of study. I'm also involved in a clubs port, fraternity life, various committees on campus and research projects.</p>
<p>My academic experience will be useful to those interested in:
-Computer Science
-Electrical & Computer Engineering
-Physics
-Mathematics
-Computational Finance</p>
<p>Let me know if you have any questions!</p>
<p>Hi,</p>
<p>How difficult is it to get in Computational Finance program? I've read that you can only apply in your sophomore year and that CMU accepts only 10 students per year. What do you need to do to get in?</p>
<p>Simply put: you need good grades in tough courses. This is probably the best program for undergraduate finance there is - and it wants to stay that way by letting in the best.</p>
<p>If you get good grades, that good. It's better if you get good grades in (what they know to be) hard classes. They also take an interview and a letter of intent - so you should have a good reason for wanting to be in comp fi.</p>
<p>wat about the econ program. how prestigious is it. Obviously it isn't as good as UChicago and Harvard, but is it on par with maybe Northwestern?</p>
<p>I posted this in another thread, but...how easy/difficult is it to switch majors after declaring? Can it only be done within the college that you initially enrolled in?</p>
<p>Also...
-How common is double majoring and/or minoring?
-On the acceptance letter, CMU said that electrical engineering isn't offered because I didn't apply for it, but what are the chances of getting transferred into it after getting there (first, second year...)?
-What do students do on weekends?
-Why CMU over your other schools? Or, what are its distinctive qualities?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Ok coffeebean. You can transfer to ECE if you have a 3.xxx I think it's 3.5, but it might be higher/lower... at the end of freshman year. So keep your grades up and you'll be golden. Your chances are good if your determined. Take Intro to ECE and GET AN A!! It's not that hard. expect to spend 6 hours a week, but if you're really cut out for ECE, you'll love every minute of it. well, like 80% of it. :p</p>
<p>People wonder... what will I do besides school? I'm going to tell you right now: college is a whole new world, a world where you're free to do whatever you want and people WILL let you crash and burn if you're going that way. I mean your friends will help you, but there isn't really a parental figure here. Since you asked, I'll tell you what I do on weekends. Tonight, I went out to dinner with some friends, went to a dance party at the Warhol museum, and now I'm chilling out in my room with friends. Tomorrow, I'll do homework during the day and go to a party or watch a movie or at least go out somewhere at night. Sunday will be more homework and some time to relax before I sleep. Other weekends consist of a combination of concerts, parties, movies, dinner at restaurants, frats (kind of got sick of that), some school-sponsored event, exploring Pittsburgh (did a lot of that first semester), and whatever else I feel like doing. Like any college, some people choose to do drugs or drink alcohol, but you'll soon realize that there is plenty to do with or without substances, so they won't really have an effect on your social life, whatever you choose to do or not do. I know a lot of my friends play video games on weekends in addition to the above, but I don't. </p>
<p>Why CMU? Well, first you'll get a world-class education and the reputation it carries. CMU seems to have decent international rep. Don't get discouraged by the fact that none of your classmates know where CMU is; employers know what's up. CMU has a really <em>independent</em> feel. I got the impression that the Ivys, like Harvard are more cult-like, and state schools are kind of Chaotic, but CMU is in the middle. I don't feel obligated to do a favor for a fellow CMU'er, but I do have respect for them. CMU feels like that school that wasn't born with a silver spoon but fought its way to the top. I like that flair about this school.</p>
<p>There are more guys than girls. There is a subset of students that seem to never go out. The drama kids are kind of elitist. People help each other out with schoolwork. Orientation is full of parties. Yes, there are pretty girls, but people tend to be more introverted than average here. The meal plan sort of sucks; get the red plan. Housing isn't bad; every house/building has pluses and minuses. ECE is sweet, just like the rest of CIT. You have easy access to all of Pittsburgh. Crime is minimal. Free bus! Lots of job fairs and stuff like that. Just come to CMU. You know you want to. It's the perfect place to pave a way for your future.</p>
<p>steve338: The Economics program at CMU is very quant based. Employers know this. I'm not sure about rankings (because, frankly, they mean nothing). </p>
<p>coffeebean:</p>
<p>cmonyuk is completely wrong about the "ECE cutoff GPA."</p>
<p>I will explain how to get into ECE:
For those of you who are unaware, CMU has a cap of around 150 students for their ECE program. They do this for a number of reasons, one of them being to keep their highly ranked program highly ranked. </p>
<p>Approximately 150~180 incoming freshmen were "accepted" into the ECE program, the rest of CIT freshmen are "restricted," which means they can freely major in MechE, ChemE, Materials Science or CivE - but not ECE. If you are a "restricted" student, you can still apply to get into ECE later.</p>
<p>At the end of your freshman year, CIT will ask all the "accepted" ECE students what their intended major is. Many of them do not stay as ECE students. Let's say only 100 of them say ECE and the rest of them go to other majors. This leaves 50 spots open in the ECE program.</p>
<p>Next, CIT will ask "restricted" students if they want to change to ECE (at the end of freshman year). Let's say 100 restricted students decided they want to change to ECE. Since there are only 50 spots open in the ECE program, CIT will choose the top 50 GPAs out of the 100 to join the ECE program. </p>
<p>To give you an idea, for the past 3 years any restricted student who wanted to transfer into the ECE program has been allowed to do so. </p>
<p>As for double majoring/minoring - it's very common and widely accepted. </p>
<p>On the weekends there is much to do. cmonyuk covered many bases. If you're into greek life or on a sport's team there are always parties open for you to go to. Otherwise, there are things going on around campus like free movies, concerts, etc.</p>
<p>Why CMU over other schools? The main reason I came to CMU was because it is a research university. If you want to do research as an undergrad, it's very easy to do so. Why else? CMU is probably the biggest supporter of interdisciplinary studies. In my eyes, there will be no innovation without the collaboration of experts from a breadth of studies. CMU knows this and fosters the mentality. If you're worried about getting a job, read Newsweek and you'll see that they have consistently ranked CMU as the #1 place to get a job. </p>
<p>Hope this helps</p>
<p>Abstraction, I know you are in engineering but can you comment on CMU as a pre-med college. CMU is well known for its engineering but I was not too sure about the pre-med program.</p>
<p>thanks to both cmonyuk and abstraction...your responses gave me a much better/more concrete picture of CMU</p>
<p>another question: How easily can I switch majors that are not in the same school? I also applied to H&SS and Tepper, so does that mean I can only major in a subject offered by these three schools (including CIT)?</p>
<p>Yes, Abstraction is right about ECE spots, and I was wrong.</p>
<p>Generally, you have to apply to every college and certain programs that you want to major in. For example, if you decide to pick up a physics major, you're going to need to apply to MCS (College of Sciences). I'm not certain as to how this process works, but it's simpler than applying to CMU as a HS senior. I don't think you are ever restricted from being a student in multiple colleges and programs. However, some of your classes may or may not double-count for requirements.</p>
<p>Like if you want to do ECE and CS, there is a special rule that says you can only have X number of units double count (since you can take a lot of architecture-based CS classes and a lot of software-based ECE classes that count for the other program).</p>
<p>I know nothing of pre-med. But if you want to do Med school and you're in CIT, I recommend you go for a Bio-Med Engineering double major, in addition to some regular CIT major.</p>
<p>You have to declare a primary school when you accept your acceptance- that is who will be in charge of you for your first year. In spring of your freshman year, you're allowed to apply for transfers to anywhere. It will be sort of like you were never accepted to the two schools you're not a part of, although they might consider you more highly because of a previous acceptance- I'm not sure of that part.</p>
<p>Mathson is deciding between Carnegie Mellon SCS and Harvard. CM seems to have more of a set series of courses to take (he'll start pretty far along in the sequence) and there's the requirement to have a minor. He was surprised you guys start with Java instead of Scheme. Of course your grad school ranking is great. But OTOH Harvard is Harvard. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>How good is the physics program here, and is it possible to double major in physics and economics (if it helps I got into the Science and Humanities scholars program)?</p>
<p>It surprises me that you mention that CMU has a set series of coures to take. While there is a core of CS classes, there's quite a bit of freedom and empty space to take classes in whatever you want outside of that. Especially compared to schools where CS falls into the engineering department, there's more freedom- no requirement to take physics, for example. I'm not at all familiar with Harvard's CS program, though.</p>
<p>15-212 is in ML, so while we don't start in Scheme (like MIT and Rice, among other schools), we do cover functional programming. 312, which follows, is a somewhat popular elective, and is about type theory.</p>
<p>Since you're "mathmom," I would guess your son is interested in math. He can double major/minor in math as the minor, which might be something he'd want to do even if it's not required. The math minor is something like 3 or 4 courses on top of what CS majors have to take. A major generally involves the analyis/math studies sequence.</p>
<p>If your son has strong interests outside of areas that CMU isn't known for, he might be happier with the quality of classes at Harvard. For instance, we don't even have an classics classes.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Mathson is deciding between Carnegie Mellon SCS and Harvard. CM seems to have more of a set series of courses to take (he'll start pretty far along in the sequence) and there's the requirement to have a minor. He was surprised you guys start with Java instead of Scheme. Of course your grad school ranking is great. But OTOH Harvard is Harvard. Any thoughts?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Of course, Harvard is Harvard. However, Harvard is not a particularly strong school for Computer Science (at least, not nearly as strong as CMU). If your son is pretty sure he wants to major in CS, I'd recommend attending CMU. If, however, he's thinking about switching to pure/applied math or is looking for a more well-rounded liberal-arts-type education, I'd suggest going to Harvard.</p>
<p>He's definitely a computer science type, really more than pure math. He doesn't particularly want to be well rounded though his parents might like it. :) At any rate he'll definitely visit both places before any final decisions are made.</p>
<p>On PreMed:</p>
<p>While we don't have a defined premed track, I personally have a handful of friends who are taking premed courses. They major in one of the following (usually):
-Chemistry
-Chemical Physics (track in Physics dept).
-Biology
-Biomedical Engineering
-Chemical Engineering</p>
<p>CMU does place students in high-end medical schools.</p>
<p>mathmom:
I entered CMU as an ECE student. After taking a course called "Concept of Mathematics" with one of the best lecturers at CMU (John Mackey), I knew that I needed more theory. The amount of theory taught at CMU is astounding. If math is what your son wants, math is what he'll get. There are many students who double major in Computer Science and "Discrete Math and Logic" (a track in the math department). They get a well grounded education in theory and are well ahead of their peers in graduate school. Keep in mind that the CS department doesn't let kids graduate without knowing to program (so don't be afriad! your son will get a job). </p>
<p>Whether your son wants to learn how to program, or just wants to know the theory - CMU has it. I, personally, love the theory and CMU complements my love. </p>
<p>The best part about CMU is how easy it is to take classes from different departments. The CS major is relatively small. Here are some minors my friends are getting with their CS degree:
-Cognitive Science (artificial intelligence, etc)
-Robotics (only offered at CMU)
-Mathematics (discrete math, or pure math)</p>
<p>Let me know if you have any more questions</p>
<p>And if he does suddenly decide to be well rounded, he can minor in, say, Japanese (reasonably popular among CS majors) or history (can't say I know any history minors in the CS department, but there's got to be one somewhere). FYI, Cognitive Science is actually a double major, but with the double counting it has with Computer Science, it's fewer additional classes than some minors. </p>
<p>The advisors may try to convince him not to take only technical courses, especially if he doesn't have to take many humanities classes because of AP credits, but ultimately the advisors won't block someone from doing something, just recommend doing otherwise.</p>
<p>The CS core sort of requires one to be well rounded with in CS- some systems courses, some theory courses- but if you want to focus on something, you can take the easy options in things that you don't like and take all your CS electives (and random free classes) in what you do like. And if you have the background/pre-requisites for it, you can enroll in graduate level classes.</p>
<p>Hi, </p>
<p>How many units do people usually take in the first semester of a freshman year? For example, suggested course sequence for computational finance is</p>
<p>15-100 Introductory/Intermediate Programming 10
21-120 Differential and Integral Calculus 10
76-101 Interpretation and Argument 9
99-101 Computing Skills Workshop 3
xx-xxx Science Core 9-12 </p>
<p>Is it just right or too little? What is the reasonabe, but challenging number of units?</p>
<p>what are ivy league schools?
and what's the difference between ivy league's and other schools?</p>