My son will attend college next year and really likes what he’s learned about CMU’s Statistics and Chemistry programs. He has excelled at math and chemistry in high school - having also started a sports analytics club at his school and interned as a lab assistant at one of the top marine science research centers.
He doesn’t know which subject he will pursue for a degree at this time and wants to take some classes in both disciplines. From what we read, it doesn’t look like CMU would be a good option for him since it appears that taking classes in the other schools, or moving from one school to another, is discouraged. Is this true? Has anyone on the forum successfully transferred from one school to another? Does the administration look favorably on this or do they discourage it?
I think statistics is in the social science school, and chemistry in the Mellon college of science. I think its not too hard to transfer or take classes in both subjects. Whats hard at CMU is to transfer into ECE or CS. Music also needs an audition. CS in particular limits enrollment. ECE is a quota major at CMU.
Also look at Case Western Reserve U. Its very similar to CMU and also close by in Cleveland. Its easy to change majors and double major in chemistry and stats at Case.
@Coloradomama
Just curious about what do you mean by this? ECE has a specific quota of seats in the the college of engineering? confused, can you pls explain.
What I know from 4 years ago, and talking to an ECE professor at CMU, confirmed this, is that the ECE major is oversubscribed within engineering at CMU. Thus the GPA and test score requirements are higher for ECE than say materials science or civil engineering majors at CMU. Thus they limit enrollment in ECE but not other engineering majors which can readily change between those majors such as mechanical engineering, civil engineering or materials science, at CMU. No one can automatically switch into ECE , you must apply from high school and get in for the most part. A very few CMU students with very high grades, might be able to transfer into ECE from another major but look at the rules to do that.
At other universities, like Colorado State, mechanical engineering is a “quota major” or oversubscribed and one must get a higher GPA to be admitted to overcrowded majors at Colorado State as well.
CS is kept to a small number of students at CMU as well, but its a separate school at CMU with its own requirements.
ECE is part of the engineering school at CMU, but has a quota for enrollment as its oversubscribed.
So ECE at CMU has a cap of 200 students maximum. See the discussion above,
but its very difficult to transfer in and it depends on students who are admitted to CMU in unrestricted engineering, if they want the ECE major they get to pick it, while students who are admitted into mechanical, civil, or materials are called “restricted” engineering students and they cannot just transfer into ECE. To me this means its a “quota” major, at CMU. You cannot just transfer in, it depends on factors like your grades in freshman year and other students who got a better deal, getting in as “undeclared and unrestricted” engineering majors. I do not like CMU for this reason, that they let students into engineering with different rules.
For comparison–
At MIT, all students are equal and all can pick EECS if they want to. MIT has no limits on any major. Case Western is the same as MIT, NO limits on any major, all students have equal access. Georgia Tech has some limits on transferring but not a strict quota on popular majors , so not as restrictive as CMU.
^Restrictions are common for a college that meets all three conditions below:
- There’s a large disparity in popularity of various majors;
- There’s a large disparity in the abilities of its students; and
- There’s more limited resource (financial, human, or both).
CMU meets all three.