<p>Shahan, thank you for that.</p>
<p>LISTEN shahan and qatarbound. I was rejected financial aid! I do not know why. I have emailed Qatar foundation to give me reasons for rejection so I can make a formal appeal. Do you guys know any reason I was rejected financial aid? Any advice on what I should say in my appeal to make them change their minds? I have a 25% tuition scholarship from CMUQ. But I still need the rest of the tuition i.e. 37000$ to be able to go.</p>
<p>@picerulz</p>
<p>I have just no idea why they rejected the aid. </p>
<p>Either they think you’re not eligible.
Or they think you’ve provided them false information.
Or they dont have funds -which is very unlikely.</p>
<p>Ask them an explanation. But Appeal,what I think,would work only if you’ve missed to tell some important information to QF that would have affected your package significantly, or if something/situation of significant importance has changed at your home.
I’m not sure though.</p>
<p>Why dont you consider NUS ? I have heard some pitfalls of CS program at CMUQ, would discuss it later if needed,as atm it would be vague and not helpful since you’ve not received aid package.</p>
<p>@ Shahan</p>
<p>thanks for the reply. I’m going to give appealing a try. I am considering NUS now. applied for aid there. and will def get ur opinion on their cs prog if I get the aid.</p>
<p>Why don’t you guys also apply to petroleum institute Abu Dhabi? 
they give awesome scholarship too.</p>
<p>It does not have a CS program. :(</p>
<p>^Oh! My bad.</p>
<p>Sorry guys was lost in the sadness 
(I meaan that!)
@picerulz
u should definitely appeal! but do not rely on that much!
Just pray that NUS works out!</p>
<p>I would like to share a conversation I had with A CMUQ student from Pakistan who is currently enrolled into Business Administration program.</p>
<p>Questions I asked :</p>
<p>1) On what average GPA do the students of CMUQ, get full scholarship from QF ? And is it easy to get a scholarship if Im a CS major ?</p>
<p>2) After you graduate, would you choose to work in Qatar or would break the bond and go somewhere else and choose to pay your 15% of pay to QF ? And Why ?</p>
<p>3) Is getting jobs in Qatar a difficult job for CMUQ graduates ? I’ll opt CS so do you know anything about CS jobs in Qatar ?</p>
<p>4) You have taken such a heavy loan, arent you worried ? And I mean is CMU ‘Q’ worth that huge amount of money ?</p>
<p>5) I read somewhere on College Confidential that the CMUQ CS graduates don’t know where they can apply their services to, so they end up being stuck with IT jobs. Is this true ?</p>
<p>6) Does QF give you a lineancy to do Masters if you want and then do the Job and pay them back?</p>
<p>7) If you’ve gone on exchange, then except the tuition you bore all the expenses by yourself, were they higher than what you would have spent if you were in Qatar ?</p>
<p>As answered by him :</p>
<p>1) Scholarships are pretty competitive, last time the cut off was 3.91 as far as I recall… you can apply for scholarship if u have a GPA above 3.6 though. yeah doable with CS there were like 4 or 5 CS last year but yeah pretty tough to score a GPA that high.</p>
<p>2) I intend to go into investment banking so yeah I will definitely in Qatar. its safer, higher wages and pretty close to Karachi.</p>
<p>3) CMUQ has a good name in Qatar. Jobs are difficult to get in Qatar though due to Qatarization. However, if getting a job is your end goal then doing a few internships here in Qatar will enough to make contacts etc. CS jobs , dont know much about. but yeah very few companies !</p>
<p>4) CMUQ or CMU is the same thing, it depends on how you market yourself in the job environment. And, yeah not that worried (surprisingly) its like if u get a job here in Qatar in a company approved by QF then I dont have to pay off anything.</p>
<p>5) True that there aren’t much CS jobs here. actually only places I know are: QCRI, QSTEP and GE. Plus, there aren’t much CS graduates every year like 7 or 8 so some of them go for graduate studies, some get IT jobs and lucky ones in QCRI or GE. Again, if jobs are your aim, then go for internships at earliest. Internships are available in QCRI, QSTEP and GE.</p>
<p>6) Yes, they do. A friend of mine in Texas A & M is going for Masters in USA and he got that lineancy.</p>
<p>7) Yeah , thats true… it will be almost double than what you’ll be paying here in Qatar. </p>
<p>Then, I talked to another student who’s a CS major and a Pakistani.</p>
<p>I asked :</p>
<p>1) Is it true that there are not much jobs for cmuq Cs graduates and many end up doing IT jobs? And that there are just few companies i.e Qstep, qcri and ge who employ Cs graduates?
Im concerned that if graduates cannot put their services in an apposite way then why to go to cmuq?</p>
<p>2) Also, may I know ur gpa? And how difficult and on what average gpa do students of cs in particular get full scholarships from Qf?</p>
<p>3) Before university were you already acquainted to programming and Cs?
Or you were a newbie? What do you think, how hard it is for the noobs to go with the Cs program?</p>
<p>He replied :</p>
<p>1) Shahan, well it’s indeed true that there are not many proper cs jobs in Qatar. But there are two things, one is that well there are still some good jobs around in Doha, and second more important thing is that you have to widen your scope and think outside of Qatar. The entire middle eastern region should be within your grasp from CMUQ and indeed more as you can go on to apply anywhere else in the world. My advice would be to not limit yourself to thinking about Doha’s job market alone, but think on a higher level.</p>
<p>2) QF advertises that any student above 3.6 GPA is eligible for scholarship but they have a limited number of scholarships so they start from the 4.0’s and work down awarding scholarships GPA wise. After my first year my GPA was 4.0. QF gave scholarships to 3.90’s and above in CS.</p>
<p>3) The CS program does not expect any prior knowledge of coding. I had never programmed myself. I knew HTML but that can hardly be considered programming. They teach you from the very basics so you don’t have to worry about the fact that you don’t know anything. Its all about how you cope up with the work here. If you can work diligently and be committed to your studies you can manage A’s in all subjects. Its not too hard in the first year.</p>
<p>And well I talked to The Assistant director admissions Mustafa Hasnain once again for some more questions concerning little issues.</p>
<p>Here is the conversation :</p>
<p>1) What about Laundry ? What’s the system there ? And Are those expenses already included in Food and Living Expenses? </p>
<p>A: Laundry machines are provided in the dorms. I think they are free or already included in the expense.</p>
<p>2) Will there be wifi all around the campus and the residential halls?</p>
<p>A: Yes, there is free wifi</p>
<p>3) Which websites are blocked in Qatar ?</p>
<p>A: Please try to ask me reasonable questions. (:$)</p>
<p>4) Are residential hall rooms furnished? Television,AC,etc?</p>
<p>A: Yes they are fully furnished.</p>
<p>5) What are the timings of the university and what students do after the university ?</p>
<p>A: First class starts at 8.30 and last class ends around 5, depends on your schedule, you can have classes starting at different times, with breaks in between , schedule will change each semester.</p>
<p>6) What are other activities around the residential hall rooms for students ? Other facilities ?</p>
<p>A: Activities and recreation facilities on campus include olympic size swimming pool, gyms, bowling alley, pool table, table tennis, basketball gym etc.University also provide various extra cirricular activities.</p>
<p>7) What other things should be brought ?</p>
<p>A: Don’t know how to answer this, you can ask these questions from the orientation conselors if you decide to enroll.</p>
<p>^ sorry but WHY.in.the.world were you asking him which websites are blocked in Qatar? Geez :P</p>
<p>^Idk. Actually I found the question quite reasonable since a some year ago, I read somewhere on the blogspot that in Qatar these and those websites are blocked.</p>
<p>Moreover, in Pakistan youtube is blocked and now they are thinking to block Google as well. In China Facebook is blocked.On the campus level, in my university in Karachi,facebook is blocked for students. So there can be a possibility.
I was just concerned that whether Youtube,Facebook,Google and some other social netowrking sites are open to everyone in Qatar and on campus or not.</p>
<p>Ah well!</p>
<p>Some FAQs regarding CMUQ (CS) for people interested in applying to CMU-Q</p>
<p>Q : Firstly, if you know anything about QF scholarships, then I’d like to know that are those scholarships really competitive and what GPA is required to get those scholarships.Since I’m from Pakistan, so if I join, I’m going to aim to get one of these scholarships. Did you get one anytime in your university life ?</p>
<p>A : So I’m not exactly sure about the scholarship. I wasn’t on one during my time in CMUQ. Having said that, I think that you need something around 700 or above in your MATH SAT score to be considered for one in your first year. In the upcoming years you will need to have a minimum GPA of 3.75 to be considered for the scholarship. Have you looked at the Financial Aid offered by QF.</p>
<p>Q : Is getting jobs in Qatar a difficult job for CMUQ graduates ? From jobs here I mean that jobs which require the skills you’ve learnt at school, not the simple IT jobs, but the creative ones. I have heard alot that CMUQ CS graduates don’t know where they can apply their services to, so they end up being stuck with IT jobs. Is this true ? Because when you learn all about software development and programming and you don’t get to utilize it,it’s pretty sad I reckon. I’ve heard that there are just few companies like QCRI, QSTEP and GE and only the lucky ones get jobs there. </p>
<p>A : I’m not going to lie to you, jobs is kind of an issue here in this country. A CS degree from CMU means a lot in the states and companies run after you because they know how qualified a CMU graduate is. But on the bright side, the issue is getting better over the years. Increasingly, companies have been recruiting CS students from CMU, be it internships or full time jobs. And yes, two of the top ones are QCRI and GE.There is a lot of opportunities for students who want to get into Webapp development or mobileapp development and as it is an insanely growing field. So if that is of any interest to you then you’re good. Also, CMUQ itself has a lot of opportunities for students after graduation in terms of research if you want to get into that. Applying abroad is also an option (States, Europe). It’s been a trend for our students to apply to companies like Google in Ireland and Zurich so you can give that a shot as well. You can also go to grad school after you graduate (CS CMU gives you kind of an advantage, with a high GPA obv.) and then maybe work in the States or elsewhere.</p>
<p>Q: Also,is it true that doing internships is essential to get into these companies?</p>
<p>A : Doing internships is essential but it’s not the only thing that gets you into those companies. There’s a lot of other things that can ease your way into a job/internship (after or during your college years). You can do things from starting your own club, to doing non-academic projects, to working on research with professors during the semester or over the Summer you take your pick. There is a research grant available for students called SIURP (Student Initiated Undergraduate Research Project) - you write a proposal for some project you want to work on, find an advisor and you get funded and paid to work on it. I highly advise you doing all this stuff because this is what gives you the experience when you are a fresh graduate right out of college. Companies, aside from grades, look for these things. They want to know that you have taken the effort to be involved outside academics. One other thing you can do is work on a senior thesis during your final year at CMU. You work with an advisor over a whole year on a research topic and present your work by the end of the semester. It’s a two semester long research, counts as 18 units and you also get graded on it by your advisor. (good for grad school)</p>
<p>I myself didn’t have a really high GPA, but I tried getting involved and that’s what got me my current internship and other interviews. I haven’t had an internship before during my college years. During summers I worked on research with professors, I organized with a group of students the first Hackathon in Qatar, worked on projects and yeah that was good.</p>
<p>Q : What is the initial average pay of the CMUQ CS graduates there in Qatar ? or you may just quote pay of some of your acquaintances.</p>
<p>A : The pay really differs from the companies in Qatar. QF usually pays 15K QAR with other benefits like housing and transportation fees (but you don’t get that everywhere). I’m guessing average would be around 10K base salary plus housing. I’m not really sure on that. </p>
<p>Q : How hard it is to get a GPA above 3.5 in CS at CMUQ ? what was yours?</p>
<p>A : A 3.5 is certainly not that hard if you put your head into it. Mine was 3.3 I think? I’m not a good example though 
Other students have done better. (suggestion is you don’t ask people about their GPAs Some are sensitive about it haha, but don’t worry I don’t mind sharing)</p>
<p>Q : What programming laguages are taught ? Python,C,C++ and ?
We were taught Java, C, SML, and a couple of scripting languages (perl and Ruby). But now they change the curriculum to teach Python as an intro language instead of Java, and then C node (however way you spell that :p) which paves the way to C. SML is still taught. One thing that is probably worth mentioning is that CMU doesn’t really care about the languages they teach you. You don’t go out of CMU saying I know Python, C, SML, but what they want you to be able to say is that I know those BUT I am easily capable of learning new languages. They teach you problem solving regardless of what language you know. Then you get to apply the language you want. You learn concepts of Object-oriented programming, low level languages, functional programming, etc… Catching on a new language doesn’t become much of the problem then. What you need to know is how to problem solve and that’s what makes a good CS student.</p>
<p>Q : Before getting admited,were you totally a newbie at CS ? Yes/ or no, how hard it is for noobs to study the CS course ?</p>
<p>A : I was almost a noob before getting into CMU. I had done some Pascal at school (which no one ever uses now), and that’s it. Noob or not noob it’s all the same. Gives you a small advantage in your first year during intro courses but that’s it, after that everyone is a noob. So if you haven’t had any exposure you’re still good. It’s really about hard work. I have to tell you, and I’m sure you’ve heard that CS is challenging. A lot of work has to be done but you feel the satisfaction once you get something accomplished. That’s why I loved it. And trust once you are out there, nothing stands in your way 
CMU students are all hard working and can easily impress any company because of you much is thrown at you during CMU. So it’s all worth it at the end. I will quote one of my professors, Kamal Oflazer, on his famous saying “No Pain, No Gain)”.</p>
<p>the list is really great. if u could just provide the stats of the student who got in. cause i really need to know the average grades</p>
<p>@shahan thanks for posts. those are helpful. My appeal is under consideration. hope it works.</p>
<p>@picerulz
InshAllah.
Be Positive,don’t lose hope and Keep praying.
I wish things work out for you.</p>
<p>@shahan
Do u have any idea about the work study programme in CMUQ?
and for say is it easy to get enrolled in a work study programme as a freshman?</p>
<p>Also what is the final call?
Are u going?</p>
<p>@shahan.
also it is true that for the next years the amount of aid will be the sam offered now.It can go higher but it cannot come down.Is that true?</p>
<p>I have no idea about the definition of Work Study programme.
The only type of jobs I know at CMUQ are part time campus jobs (The Description of which is given in one of my previous posts if not then here is the list)</p>
<p>You can work with a professor, in the library, teacher’s assistant (help students in a certain course, grade, etc -that yields highest pay),peer tutoring, marketing department, student affairs, office of professional development, and you can also work with Qatar Foundation.</p>
<p>Level of Tasks/jobs : The tasks are more on the easy side most of the time - it’s basically being an assistant to get extra cash a bit of an experience.</p>
<p>Maximum hours per week : 20 on school days and 40 in vacations.</p>
<p>Range of Pay : 25 QAR to 50 QAR (35 QAR = Average) per hour</p>
<p>According to Mustafa Hasnain , Assistant Director Admissions : It is very unlikely to get these jobs in the first year as they are already filled. Also when you get such a job, you can be able to be self dependent for the food expenses (PS : That is the maximum you can save).</p>
<p>Also, in the final year you can work on a research and also get paid for it. (Look for my previous posts on the final conversation with a CS major student).</p>
<p>I cant tell you about the final call,forI myself dont know.I have been trying really hard to get some amount arranged but I’m struggling and I havent succeeded yet. The Date of Decision is 4th July and as per now, it’s a NO.</p>
<p>Are you going ?</p>
<p>As per your second question, who told you this ? I dont think so. Yes QF says that it would give you the same amount of money but it may vary (derease or increase) depending on your financial conditions. Atleast thats what I know. Tell me if you have an authentic source.</p>
<p>Again, Are you going?</p>
<p>@shahan
Thank you
and I asked about the qatar foundation loan from the financial aid office…still waiting for some conformation.</p>
<p>And i am not sure too whether i am going or not.Still trying to figure out a way though (bank loans…just applied,other family sources etc ).</p>
<p>I too have requested yet another deadline extension.So lets see if a financial source opens up until then.</p>
<p>I am just not ready to let it go. I spend a day at there campus.It is one of the best places to be!! So lets hope for the best!</p>
<p>@qatarbound</p>
<p>Dont give up. If you can make it, then go and live your dream.
Even it would be difficult for me to let go.</p>
<p>Hey Can I get your facebook profile link so I can have a chat with you, have to ask few things.</p>