…anyone at CMU can earn a degree in computer science by taking the required courses?
Because, people who have been admitted to the SCS get first priority in signing up for those courses, and in order to transfer in, you have to take six pre-requesets as a freshman and get As in at least 4 (i.e. have at least a 3.6 QPA).
http://www.csd.cs.cmu.edu/education/bscs/transfer.html
And the average GPA after freshmen year for CS people is a 3.2.
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pattis/advising/surveys/orientation%20pm.pdf
I think OP was talking about people doing double major rather than transferring.
For example, I could simply apply to a relatively easy major like Humanities and simply take up the required courses in CS and at the end of 4 years, I could flaunt a degree in CS from CMU.
Why don’t people do this?
Because, what makes you think you could get into MCS/HSS/CFA if your application does not convince the admission staff that you have true passion for sciences/humanities & social sciences or that you kick a** at making arts? Just because stats-wise it might appear easier to get into the other colleges doesn’t mean a clearly CS-oriented person could get into any of them.
LOL, I literally logged in to CC to ask this question!!! LOL. @AnEpicIndian That’s exactly my point. You can just double major, right! So, is like it perceived as more prestigious or something, if you are in the SCS school, rather than pursuing a double major in CS form an outside school like MCS or Engineering (like ECE/CS, may not be too uncommon)?
It doesn’t work like that, sorry. Being admitted to the CS program is a HUGE leg up because, yes, you can have a secondary major in CS, but there are six prerequisites to getting into the secondary major in CS. None of them are easy classes at all, and just getting into those classes can be very tough because students from the CS major have priority for those classes when registering. If you can get into the secondary major, there are then 13 classes from a number of different categories that you have to take to meet the requirements. Beyond that, you MUST take at least 6 classes in your primary major which do not double-count for CS requirements. It can be done, but it would be a huge workload and getting into classes of which you do not take priority is not easy, especially if you are coming from a science or engineering primary major, which all are very demanding to begin with. http://www.csd.cs.cmu.edu/education/bscs/second.html
I have heard of Carnegie Mellon rejecting or wait listing high school applicants in CS and also rejecting them in Engineering, but accepting them only in the school of Science. The risk is, if the student wants to study CS and not admitted to CS at Carnegie Mellon, they may end up in a different field. I agree with knitter girl, its a big risk to go to CMU to study CS if you are not in the CS department. Even the ECE, electrical and computer engineering, they do not let double majors, EECS, unless the student has the required GPA in the CS courses, they want to admit students who want to study electrical engineering, primarily as thats what the department focuses on. I wrote to a ECE professor about this, and he recommended to be cautious about attending Carnegie Mellon for CS unless you get into the CS department. Now if you change your mind and want to leave CS , thats easier. The stats for the CS school at CMU are so high, its really truly going to be difficult to get As at Carnegie Mellon in CS, as another post pointed out. However transferring out of CS should be easier, but check on that as well.
Note that the double major in CS has exactly the same requirements as what a regular SCS student would need to complete (minus the gen eds and the required minor). Not only are you required to do every single class that a normal SCS student is already doing, but you’d also have to keep up with the classes in your primary major. Because the large majority of the CS classes are fairly rigorous, it’d be hard to keep up with both majors at once.
Overall, I would not recommend coming to CMU solely for the expectation that you will be able to complete a double major in CS. I personally only know one person that is doubling in CS, and many more that decided to minor in CS instead (which is much less rigorous and highly recommended). It’s fine if you have plans to double major in CS (and should discuss this with your advisor), but only if you’re also fine studying your primary major on the chance you don’t get into the double major.