Transfer out of CMU after one semester

[Anonymous]

Do not transfer out of CMU CS. Going to CMU (or MIT, Stanford, Berkeley) will be so worth it

[Anonymous]

That school sounds so unappealing. Let him transfer, of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do not transfer out of CMU CS. Going to CMU (or MIT, Stanford, Berkeley) will be so worth it

Really? You think he should spend his entire college years studying 80 hours each week and being miserable?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do not transfer out of CMU CS. Going to CMU (or MIT, Stanford, Berkeley) will be so worth it

Really? You think he should spend his entire college years studying 80 hours each week and being miserable?

It’s like medical school or law school - an arduous experience but it is the necessary foundation for the subsequent career.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do not transfer out of CMU CS. Going to CMU (or MIT, Stanford, Berkeley) will be so worth it

Really? You think he should spend his entire college years studying 80 hours each week and being miserable?

You tell me, when he's making bank at Google or Citadel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do not transfer out of CMU CS. Going to CMU (or MIT, Stanford, Berkeley) will be so worth it

Really? You think he should spend his entire college years studying 80 hours each week and being miserable?

You tell me, when he's making bank at Google or Citadel.

If the child gets burnout or so stressed that they have a mental breakdown the end result would not be making bank after suffering for 4 years. He can go somewhere else that is a better fit and still make bank.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS was at CMU. In his firts year, his first roommate (sophomore in Engineering) failed out after the end of the first semester. He got a new roommate (Freshman engineering) who failed out at the end of the second semester.

This was a few years ago. Both transferred to other universities, did perfectly OK, and seem to have good careers now. CMU is a pressure cooker school, and it's pretty normal for a bunch of people to drop out before freshman year is over. If your DS who attended CMU already is advising the younger DS to do this, take his advice.

It's a pressure cooker school with a very unique social scene. So if it's not a fit for your kid, they will be miserable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agreeing with the posters who advise kid transfers (to another great school that is a better fit). I went to a Pittsburgh college and recall a high school friend who went to CMU for theater being so disheartened and describing the schools approach as “tearing you down to remove everything so they can build you up as they are fit”. That was in theater.

Theater is their other exceptional program.

But there are TOP theater programs that are not so "tear you down" approach. Take Northwestern for example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agreeing with the posters who advise kid transfers (to another great school that is a better fit). I went to a Pittsburgh college and recall a high school friend who went to CMU for theater being so disheartened and describing the schools approach as “tearing you down to remove everything so they can build you up as they are fit”. That was in theater.

Theater is their other exceptional program.

But there are TOP theater programs that are not so "tear you down" approach. Take Northwestern for example.

What can you do with a degree in theater? Can you make a comfortable living with it? I am talking about it in general term and not some specific cases.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone with a kid transferring out of CMU after one semester? DS is a freshman, CS major at CMU, and he just came home this past weekend. He is seriously considering not coming back for the spring semester. Classes at CMU are too hard for him and the competition is so fierce. He spent at least 80 hours a week just studying and tried to keep up with academics. His older brother graduated from CMU in 2019 and advised him to transfer out of CMU. Thoughts?

Looking at the curriculum - I wouldn't tell anyone to stay with that degree program unless they were really, really into programming as in the level of wanting to write machine code and really wants to work into the finite details. Now If the person just wants to code for applications and web sites, I would tell them to just major in whatever they want and learn programming on the side and then start doing it as a side hustle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone with a kid transferring out of CMU after one semester? DS is a freshman, CS major at CMU, and he just came home this past weekend. He is seriously considering not coming back for the spring semester. Classes at CMU are too hard for him and the competition is so fierce. He spent at least 80 hours a week just studying and tried to keep up with academics. His older brother graduated from CMU in 2019 and advised him to transfer out of CMU. Thoughts?

Why didn't the older brother advise him against applying from the start? Seems like some missing information.

[Anonymous]

Np- Please let your kid transfer. Their mental health is most important. My oldest was admitted to CMU and decided to attend UMD. When he went to admitted student day he thought the school was not fun and the people looked stressed. Also, pittsburgh is a great city but very gray in the winter.

Myt son loved and graduated from UMD (with honors), got an internship from on campus recruiting that turned into a job offer and is supporting himself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let him! He’s telling you what he needs.

This! A million times this. Help him figure out his options.

[Anonymous]

Malcolm Gladwell write about a similar situation in one of his books (maybe David and Goliath?). He told the story of a college student who had been at the top of her class in HS and struggled at Brown. She went from being at the top of her class to the bottom. She transferred to her state university and thrived.

Let your son transfer asap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Malcolm Gladwell write about a similar situation in one of his books (maybe David and Goliath?). He told the story of a college student who had been at the top of her class in HS and struggled at Brown. She went from being at the top of her class to the bottom. She transferred to her state university and thrived.

Let your son transfer asap.

Can’t you just go grade optional at brown and take easy classes if you want?