Transferring to CMU SCS

Colleges & Universities Carnegie Mellon University
1

<p>hey everyone,</p>

<p>I have taken a rather convoluted path through college so far. In high school, Caltech was my first choice, so I applied there early action and was accepted. I had initially planned to apply to several other schools such as MIT and Princeton, but I figured it would be a waste of time since Caltech was my dream school (I wanted to be a physics major and the hardcore academics and nerdiness of the students appealed to me). However, after beginning at Caltech in fall 2005, I quickly realized that it was not a good fit for me. My intent was originally to stick it out for a year, then apply as a transfer for fall 2006 to a school like Stanford or Duke, but I was so unhappy at Caltech that I dropped out just before the beginning of the fall term. </p>

<p>With no transferrable credits from Caltech, my only option was to apply to college as a freshman again. Unfortunately, I did not decide to leave Caltech until it was too late to apply as a freshman at most places, and I was hesitant to apply to other hardcore academic schools like MIT after the bad experience at Caltech. Fortunately, my state school (UConn) had a freshman app deadline of Feb. 15th, and the financial benefits of going to this school were important. So I applied there and was accepted for fall 2006.</p>

<p>So, I started at UConn as a freshman physics/math double major, but I started to realize that I was more interested in computer science (and math) than physics, so I switched to a computer science/math dual major. Now I am entering my second year at UConn, but I think I might want to transfer in fall 2008.</p>

<p>UConn is just not at the right level for me academically. The courses are too easy, most students do not take their studies very seriously, research opportunities are limited, quality of teaching tends to be hit or miss, etc. Also, the location is in the middle of nowhere and I feel like I am imprisoned on campus much of the time because I do not have a car. Overall, the environment at UConn is dragging me down and I find it harder to be enthusiastic about my studies and life in general.</p>

<p>Since I have only recently begun to seriously think about transferring, the main school I am looking at is CMU. From my perspective, this seems like an excellent school for computer science and mathematics. Some other schools I have glanced at are Stanford, Brown, and Harvard.</p>

<p>My question is, would I have a good chance at being admitted as a transfer student (as a junior in fall 2008) at these schools? What kinds of transfer students does CMU look for in particular, and do they usually have openings in the computer science major of SCS?</p>

<p>College stats:
-3.86 GPA after one year at UConn (36 credits) – expect to maintain
-Challenging courseload (first year and upcoming second year)
-member of Honors program
-summer undergraduate research fellowship in philosophy in summer 2007
-member of marching band in fall 2006</p>

<p>My high school stats can probably be assumed to be excellent (they got me into Caltech early), so I won’t bother listing them here. I am assuming a higher emphasis will be placed on college stats anyway for a junior transfer.</p>

<p>Any advice at all would be greatly appreciated; I feel really lost right now.</p>

2

<p>Do I understand you correctly: you began as a freshman fall of 2005, but dropped out as classes began that fall (no credits?)? So you were there just a week or less and dropped out? Think I’m missing something…sorry.</p>

3

<p>No, I dropped out the week before the end of the term, in December. I was in danger of failing several classes, so I thought it would be better to leave with a clean slate and no grades.</p>

<p>I did not drop out before the beginning of the fall term, that was a typo, sorry. I dropped out just before the end of the fall term.</p>

4

<p>A dean I spoke to said that SCS doesn’t accept transfer students from other colleges. I’ve taken that to mean that they might accept you, but only as a freshman. If I understand that what that means, any “transfer” application would be compared with those of freshman applicants, and your college credit treated as if you were a freshman applicant who took college in high school as some do.</p>

<p>Being accepted as a freshman rather than a transfer student affects transferring credit, too. Basically, you can transfer applicable hours, but only courses taken at CMU count toward your class standing until you’re within one year of graduating. </p>

<p>For example, my S graduated high school with a enough college hours to qualify as a junior. CMU accepted most of them, but regardless of how many transfer hours (and AP, etc.) they accepted, he started as a freshman and became a sophomore the next year. It wasn’t until this year he was certified as a senior as he now has enough total credit hours to graduate in the spring. </p>

<p>That can have an impact, because it affects things like when you sign up for courses or your ability to sign up for courses where a certain number of seats are reserved for juniors or seniors.</p>

<p>Dealing computer science course is a little more complicated, too, since they generally don’t accept transfer credit for CS courses from other schools. </p>

<p>Based on our experience, you’d enter their process for determining which courses a freshman should take first semester, which is very flexible because of the wide variety of preparation their entering students have. Your courses would probably prepare you to demonstrate you can handle fairly advanced CS courses. You don’t get credit for the courses you’ve taken, but at least you don’t have to take courses you’ve mastered over again.</p>

<p>Hope that helps. If you’re really interested, I’d suggest getting in contact with someone at the school and getting the details directly. Do be aware that SCS is one of the toughest schools to get into at CMU and I don’t know if anyone can help you understand your chances given your circumstances. </p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

5

<p>Thanks for the advice, Strick11. I was aware that admission to the SCS was very competitive, but I had not heard that they do not accept any transfer credit whatsoever. I would expect that some courses from my first several semesters at UConn would be accepted for transfer credit applied to some of the first-year CS courses at CMU, since there is really not that much variation in how courses like object-oriented design or data structures are taught (aside from difficulty in assignments). Also, I have been taking very advanced math courses (probably junior level for a math major at CMU), so I would be extremely suprised if those did not transfer over.</p>

<p>I will follow your advice and get in touch with someone at SCS to find out what the situation is.</p>

6

<p>CMU sometimes accepts transfer credit for CS classes, but generally only from schools that they consider peers - for instance, I know someone who transferred credit from UC Berkley. If you’re talking about first or second semester programming, it’s quite possible that the classes are equivalent to what freshmen commonly place out of, so they would give you placement if not credit. I think that Mark Stelhik is who can best answer your questions, but he’s very busy, so don’t be surprised if it takes awhile for him to get back to you.</p>

7

<p>KrazyKow-- After looking more at CMU’s course catalog I think you are right about transferring CS credits in my situation; the courses would be appropriate for placement as a freshman, but not for transferring. I think several of my math and science credits would transfer, though (I would like to pursue a CS/math double major). </p>

<p>Does anyone know approximately how many openings there usually are for external transfers to the SCS in spring and fall? The course catalog says that transfer admission to SCS in the spring is extremely unlikely, and that fall transfer is possible if space is available. I am concerned that since this program only has about 130 students or something, they might reject me because there is simply no space.</p>

8

<p>I have no idea how much space there is, but I think it is fairly likely that you would be rejected due to lack of space. I would suggest looking at other universities too, because there is no way that a transfer into SCS is a guarantee.</p>