<p>I'm expecting to get responses telling me this is ill-advised and that I'm being irrational, but what the hey.</p>
<p>I'm a Computer Science major at Pitt, and as nice and helpful as faculty may be, now being a Comp Sci major and being right next to CMU... yeah (again, no fault of the Pitt faculty whatsoever, they're good people, as far as everyone I've met goes). But beyond the name, I do think of the CMU community and how my interests and mindset seem to fit them better than what I can get here. I feel like there's a lot I can offer CMU, and vice versa.</p>
<p>Now, I know CS and CMU are like peanut butter and jelly, so I'm expecting, even with the 4.0 I'll likely have at the end of this semester, that transferring in would be difficult to the max. But beyond that... is it frowned upon for a Pitt student to want to transfer to CMU, given how close the schools are, that Pitt does have the resources needed for someone to make a good living in computer science, and that the schools have a relationship with each other (in other words, are they concerned about stepping on each others' toes)?</p>
<p>Go talk to Jacobo Carrasequel-- freshman advisor at CMU-SCS.</p>
<p>Not sure how far along you are-- but no slam to Pitt, if you’re just a freshman and the high school stats landed you at Pitt-- you probably would not have a good shot at CMU as a freshman transfer. Once you are a Sophomore -high school (at CMU or anywhere) becomes less relevant and the college GPA matters.<br>
Can you cross register and take some of the CMU classes - that would be a huge plus.</p>
<p>Bottom line–high school stats follow you a while. You’d need the level of stats that you read in these threads to get admitted to SCS. How about MCS math major with a CS minor - that would be easier to gain a spot.</p>
<p>Honestly, I just didn’t consider applying, because at the time I was iffy about being willing to pay the tuition. I’ve since changed my mind.</p>
<p>I’m actually an older/non-traditional student.</p>
<p>What goes for older/non traditional - what year are you at Pitt? (soph, junior, senior?)</p>
<p>I’m technically a late Sophomore or early Junior, I believe.</p>
<p>It might be easier just to target CMU for grad school, rather than trying to transfer in…that is if you have interest in graduate level work.</p>
<p>^ I agree with this. Skimming through your other posts it also seems you already have a previous undergrad degree and some masters coursework under your belt. If you transfer to CMU now you’d start again as a freshman, and that’s an awfully long time to be in school on top of 7-8 years already. You’d get more bang for your buck as a grad student.</p>
<p>Maybe you could graduate from Pitt, then figure out what you’d like to do from there - find some work or an internship in the field of CS and find an area of study that interests you in detail, then pursue masters coursework involving that subject. 
At CMU, if you like!</p>
<p>No, I have no desire as of the moment to pursue grad school again, so let’s please drop that idea altogether.</p>
<p>Edit: I know those suggesting grad school mean well, and I do appreciate the intent, but even if I wanted to go to grad school, the undergrad institutions of almost everybody in the grad computer science programs at CMU are ranked more than slightly higher than Pitt’s. That and, again, I know you guys mean well, but the ‘go to grad school’ bit is something I’ve heard before for people in my situation, and though it may sound logical on the surface, there’s so much work to that that I think it’s silly when people brush it off as ‘oh, just go to grad school’. That’s a major change of plans and life goals for someone who isn’t necessarily seeking it.</p>
<p>If you don’t want to go to grad school, don’t go. But often one’s undergrad institution has little to do with acceptance to most grad schools. </p>
<p>Regardless of whether or not you are able to transfer, if there are CS researchers at CMU that are doing things that you are interested in, you might want to contact them to see if you can volunteer to work with them in some capacity. This might help to get your foot in the door over there if that is of any interest, and in the least, perhaps give you some good experience and/or networking. You might also want to talk to some Pitt professors about your goals.</p>
<p>Hi everyone!
I am an international graduate student at Pitt and I’m in my first semester of MS in Electrical Engineering. I was thinking of transferring to CMU next semester, just because it’s ranked much higher than Pitt and I thought I may get better opportunities there. Can you please advise me if this is a good idea?
Also, my scores are:
Current GPA: Probably 4.0 (12/30 Credits)
GRE: 125/140 (68/70 in Math and 57/70 in English)
TOEFL: 117/120
Do I have a good chance of getting in?
Any help will be really appreciated.
Thanks.</p>
<p>Your best bet would be to walk down the street and try to ask a few professors. Or ask your current professors.</p>
<p>Odds are any classes you take towards your MS wouldn’t be transferable, though. Only way they’d probably think about accepting you is if you were applying as a PhD student.</p>