How hard is it to get into computational finance in Mellon School of Science

Colleges & Universities Carnegie Mellon University
1

<p>GPA:
Fresh: 3.5(uw) 3.7(w)
Soph: 3.4 (uw) 3.7(w)
Junior: 3.4 (uw) 4.0(w)
Senior: unknown</p>

<p>Tests:
AP Computer Science: 4
AP Chinese: 5
AP Chemistry: 5
AP Biology:4
AP US History: 3
AP Psychology: 3</p>

<p>ACT: 30/ 31(superscore)
English: 28, Math:31, Reading: 33, Science:31</p>

<p>SAT II:
SAT Chinese: 800
SAT Math: 760
SAT US History: 640
SAT Chemistry: 740
SAT Biology: 730</p>

<p>Extracular Activities:

  1. Learned C++, Java (Object-oriented languages)
  2. Two years of Waterpolo team
  3. AP Computer Science Score:4 (Self-studied)
  4. Computer Science Club President and founder (from sophomore year to Senior year)
  5. Developed an information sharing website</p>

<p>Work Experiences / Volunteer:

  1. Chinese Club Teaching (Volunteer)
    -Teacher Assistant for a local Chinese club
  2. Jisan Research Institute Summer Research Program (Internship)
    -Conducted research under the guidance of Dr. Sanza Kazadi, graduate from Caltech
  3. Boys and Girls Club (Volunteer)</p>

<p>Honors & Awards:

  1. Student Spaceflight Experiments Program Finalist
  2. American Computer Science League Finalist
  3. AIME Qualifier
  4. AMC Honors Distinguished Roll
  5. AP Scholar with Distinction
  6. ExploraVision Honorable Mention
  7. Young Naturalist Awards 2013 Semi-Finalist
  8. Voice of Democracy Certificate of Merit: Outstanding Spokesperson for Freedom</p>

<p>Courses:

  1. Learned HTML, CSS, Javascript on Codecademy.com (web development languages)
  2. Certificate for Software Engineering as a Service Part 1 and Part 2 <a href=“UC%20Berkeley%20Online%20Program%20on%20EDX”>Finished with 90% and higher</a>
  3. Certificate for Introduction to Computer Science (Harvard Online Program on EDX)
  4. Certificate for Introduction to Computer and Programming Using Python (MIT Online Program on EDX)
  5. Completed City College courses in Fundamental of Computer Science in C++</p>

<p>Recommendation:
-High School Math Professor
-High School English Teacher
-High School Counselor
-City College Computer Science Professor</p>

<p>Thanks for helping me. Please be honest to tell me what you think.</p>

2

<p>You can’t apply for comp fi in high school. If you come to CMU, you have to take intro to math finance (21-270), get an A, and then submit an app to the comp fi program. Much has been said on this forum about the exclusiveness and competitiveness of this program. I’m gonna go against the grain here and say that it’s not hard to get in if you’re genuinely passionate about mathematical finance and have a 3.8 avg in your math courses (as well as a 3.7+ overall). Most of the people who get rejected are trying to do comp fi for the money and/or prestige without understanding what the major is and isn’t. </p>

3

<p>@FateGoneAwry16‌ do i just apply to mellon school of finance and not indicating intended major?</p>

4

<p>To have CompFi as your primary major, you need to have MCS or Tepper as your primary school as I understand it. As already mentioned, it’s something you apply to later (after your sophomore year I think?). Also, from what I’ve heard it might be the hardest program to get into at CMU, and you need to do well in some very difficult math courses.</p>

5

<p>You don’t need to be in MCS or Tepper to apply for Computational Finance. Computational Finance is very difficult to get in; they only accept around 10 people per year. Most people who got in had a 3.75 or higher GPA and did well in math/stat courses. </p>