And that’s for internal transfers. If I remember correctly, prospective students must apply to a major at CMU in their applications. Acceptance rate for CS at CMU SCS is low single digits.
Universities with separate colleges/schools (CMU, Cornell, etc.) already have barriers in place. I was referring to the others that don’t have these natural barriers. As the percentage of CS majors approaching 40% at some of these colleges, they’ll be forced to act, as they’re limited in their capacities to expand their CS departments.
Agree. And I think that will be a good thing for the school and the students as long as it done in a transparent way. The transition may be bumpy.
I personally think the problem is when students are denied entry to their major entirely and no matter what the GPA, the transition to impacted majors is not guaranteed. I’m specifically thinking of Purdue for CS. The admissions folks point blank told students last cycle that if they didn’t get accepted to CS, and knew that’s what they wanted to study, that they would be better off going to another school where they were accepted to CS.
I don’t have a problem at all with the transition to major from first year engineering programs to majors. IMO, (and I’ve said it before), if a student struggles to get a 3.0 in intro courses, it’s only going to go downhill from there.
It depends on the student and the school. I would never make a blanket rule that students should only attend schools where they are direct admit to their major. But parents and students should go into it with their eyes wide open, understanding the risks involved and if it is a risk for the student, having a fall back plan if the student doesn’t get accepted to their major of choice.
My D turned down lots of direct admit acceptances for one where she had to apply to her major and it requires a high GPA and test scores to get in. We had no concerns based on her being a top student at this school.