The easiest route of acceptance?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Carnegie Mellon University
1

<p>Is it easier to get accepted as "undecided", computer science, or art?</p>

<p>I really want the BCSA degree (i'm a junior in high school.) its like.. my dream. lol</p>

<p>so my current GPA is 3.72 and i haven't taken the SATs yet. my last interim had all As and one B, so i'm expecting my GPA to rise after junior year.</p>

<p>would it be safer to do ED under either art, computer sci, or undecided?
and then once i'm in, transfer to BCSA program?</p>

<p>or would it be safer to do regular application, apply to the college of comp sci & art or undecided, and then attend under whatever i can get, and then transfer to BCSA program?</p>

<p>& how difficult is it to transfer?</p>

2

<p>According to the CMU Admissions page you have to be admitted to BOTH the CFA and SCS. Here is a link to the info: [BXA</a> Intercollege Degree Programs - Incoming Freshmen](<a href=“First-Year - BXA Intercollege Degree Programs - Carnegie Mellon University”>First-Year - BXA Intercollege Degree Programs - Carnegie Mellon University)</p>

3

<p>ED to Art is your best chance if you have a good portfolio. Otherwise, applying to BCSA directly is your second best bet. They don’t have many candidates and they are extremely selective so if you have what it takes then they will recognize that and accept you.</p>

<p>I have two friends who both have been trying to apply to BCSA for two/three years, respectively, and still haven’t gotten in. If you don’t immediately have the level of talent they’re looking for, you can always reapply and wait until they accept you - and keep taking BCSA coursework in the meantime.</p>

<p>It is much harder to go from Art —> CS than it is to go from CS –> Art. The CS department, according to my BCSA friends and my own experience, is pretty wary of non-technical applicants who don’t have a math background suddenly picking up a CS degree, with good reason. Most art/liberal arts kids just don’t know what they’re getting into.</p>

4

<p>BCSA is a really hard program to get into. It can also be hard to transfer into later, from what I’ve heard. If I were you, I don’t think I’d bother trying to game the system, but instead would apply to both CFA/SCS and for BCSA. I know a number of people who applied for BCSA but only got into SCS or only got into CFA. If that happens to you, you can decide to take them up on the offer and see if you can transfer later, or decide you’re not interested. That would probably get you the same outcome as if you decide to just apply to one and try to transfer later. Of course, if you’re much more interested in SCS than CFA or vice versa, than I guess you might want to maximize your chances of getting into that specific college by applying directly to it.</p>

5

<p>ooh alright thanks for your inputs!
what about applying RD as undecided? is that harder?</p>

6

<p>The only college you can apply to undecided is H&SS, and that offers neither art nor CS.</p>

7

<p>Internal transfers from CFA to BCSA, or from SCS to BCSA, are both possible but <em>not</em> guaranteed.</p>

<p>The School of Art does accept students with slightly lower GPA/SAT scores than the School of Computer Science – but it has a very selective portfolio review. </p>

<p>As completelykate mentioned, there is no “Undecided” option that works for BCSA at CMU.</p>