Transfer Student - What Are My Odds?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Carnegie Mellon University
1

<p>I'm currently a sophomore at a small but respectable liberal arts college (Lewis & Clark), majoring in Computer Science. I'm interested in transferring to the school of Computer Science at CMU.</p>

<p>GPA:
* High School: somewhere around 3.3
* College, freshman: 2.7
(I had a hard time adjusting after moving across the country, coupled with unfortunate family events.)
* College, sophomore: First semester should be a 3.5, and second semester will likely be higher.
(My GPA has skyrocketed this year, as I've had time to adjust and get serious. I've spoken to career councilors and advisors to keep me on track.)</p>

<p>SAT / SAT II:
* SAT: 2120 - 640 reading, 770 math, 710 writing
* Chemistry SAT II: 720
* Math (Level 2) SAT II: 790!</p>

<p>What I'm Doing In College:
* I've taken a slew of rigorous Computer Science and Math classes, most pertinently Artificial Intelligence, Computer Graphics, and Algorithm Design & Analysis. Professional Java and C program development is my strength. I've also taken Russian and Japanese, after becoming fluent in French in High School.</p>

<ul>
<li><p>As a final project in a CS class, I programmed a game that was featured on my college's website.</p></li>
<li><p>I've been tutoring CS students at my college for about a month, and will continue through next semester. I've been considered by professors and students as one of the best tutors and brightest students in my college's CS department.</p>

<ul>
<li>Polyglot magazine (see below)</li>
<li>Chrome Extensions (see below)</li>
</ul></li>
</ul>

<p>Extracurriculars:
* Polyglot. Designing a multilingual publication of student-written, foreign-language articles for my college.
* I've published a few Google Chrome extensions in my spare time, most notably a French Verb Conjugator that has about 3,000 users in the Google Chrome Webstore.
* Piano. I've played in a band at shows in Manhattan.
* Lacrosse. Although I haven't played on a team since high school.</p>

<p>Extra Information:
* I'm passionate about Computer Science, and I'm quite good at what I do.
* I'm doing a Computer Science internship somewhere this summer.
* I'm also passionate about Foreign Languages, not that it matters.</p>

<p>My Questions For You:
* Will my GPA immediately ruin my application, even though it has noticeably improved?
* What areas should I work on for my application, aside from GPA?
* Overall, what are my odds of getting in, as a transfer, to the school of Computer Science?</p>

2

<p>You stand little to no chance, unfortunately. The GPA is really going to hurt you - both high school and college gpa are unimpressive.
In fact, even your other “numbers”, i.e SAT scores, aren’t really that good for SCS; you should be looking at 800 Math and 800 Math II.</p>

<p>Your only hope is getting kick ass reccomendations, and I mean /kickass/
Good luck.</p>

3

<p>Suppose I retook the SAT to get 800’s in Math, so my only weakness is my GPA (est. 3.5 for this year).
Would I still be a ‘little to no chance’ applicant?</p>

4

<p>Sorry to be blunt, but yes. SCS is extraordinarily competitive - there are very, very few spots open to transfers, particularly external transfers (e.g. not from other colleges within CMU). In order to have even a chance, you would need to have absolutely stellar stats. You have great accomplishments, but the grades and SAT scores (even if they were increased) along with a lack of anything truly out of the ordinary will keep you out. Your ECs/CS accomplishments are really nice, but unfortunately would be commonplace among SCS students.</p>

5

<p>Thanks for being straightforward.</p>

<p>Are there any east-coast schools with outstanding CS departments that I could get into?</p>

6

<p>^You could try the University of Maryland, College Park.
<em>Very</em> solid CS program, and I think you’d stand a reasonable shot at getting in.</p>