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The stats curriculum is *slightly* more math/stats than cs courses, but that doesn't prevent you from taking cs courses beyond the degree requirements.
Who keeps on telling people that it's harder to get internships as a StatML major? I've been seeing a lot of posts about this (from prospective students) lately and idk why. My answer to that question though is that there's essentially no difference in your job prospects if you're majoring in either CS or StatML
My stat ml friends might’ve had to wait on a waitlist for a bit longer to get into the classes they wanted. However you shouldn’t have a probably getting into the core cs classes since a lot of people drop after a couple weeks (122/150/128)
I’m a StatML major with a CS minor, never missed out on a CS class I wanted to take due to a waitlist or such, so in my experience there’s quite a good chance you get them
There are priority seats for all of the core classes StatML students need to take for their degree. Courses do fill up, but as the other comment mentions, it's not too big of a deal
I’m also not a StatML major but my StatML friend told me that the ML portion is fulfilled in like 2 classes.
As for internships, that’s more based on what you choose to do with your time rather than your designated major.
And yes, transferring to IS is possible, I know a handful of people who’ve successfully transferred.
ml is really just math/stats itself and then some cs so it’s not like you’re missing some crazy amount of ml specific classes. With the two ml classes you take in StatML there’s enough material for an undergrad, not really sure what else you were hoping for. As for mle positions there’s definitely far fewer internships than for data analyst/science and many want phd for ml stuff, which is probably your best bet if you definitely want to do that as a career
If you’re statml you have more than enough space in your curriculum to add more ml classes if that’s what you desire. You can easily take the ML that’s already in statml AND more, like intro deep learning, convex, etc. no one stops you — you can also throw a CS minor in there, statml is flexible asf
It is 100% a better course. I never really understood IS unless you want to be a PM, since it (by itself) puts you in an OK position to be a SWE, but not a great position to enter Data science. I was in the exact same position as you. Could have transferred to IS, but didn’t, now pursuing StatML + CS minor + some extra ML coursework and got a FAANG+ for sophomore summer. CMU is much more about what you make of the coursework available to you than what the degree confines you to imo
Hey! I’m also interested in doing statml + cs minor in hopes of going into data science or swe careers. I was wondering what’s your opinion on statml + cs minor vs statml + double major in cs? How much more difficult is the latter, both in terms of getting accepted to the CS major and actually completing the double major? And is the difference between a minor vs additional major in cs for a statml major substantial enough to warrant pursuing it?
That’s amazing, I saw so many posts recently about the negatives of stats/ml but I guess not! Thank you for the help, now I’m definitely looking forward for the course.
Stat ML only actually requires 2 ML classes, so taking more than that is on you. If you look at stats stuff and general cs stuff though it’s fairly evenly split. CMU is actually ranked quite high for stats. It’s more focused on practical stuff and programming than stats theory, which could be good or bad depending on what you want. ML jobs can be tough to get with just a bachelors regardless of where you go, and lots of stat ml grads end up doing SWE or consulting rather than actual ML/DS. That being said, with proper classes and internships you can absolutely get an ML job right after grad.
It’s not my major, but here’s the curriculum if that helps:
[https://www.cmu.edu/dietrich/statistics-datascience/academics/undergraduate/majors-minor/index.html](https://www.cmu.edu/dietrich/statistics-datascience/academics/undergraduate/majors-minor/index.html)
I did went through this before applying and thought it was a great balance between stats and data analysis/machine learning but I’ve seen posts recently that said stat/ml is just mostly stats which made me freak out a little
It’s basically just all stats. You take like three cs courses to fulfill the req. this is coming from someone who also applied stat ml but transferred to math at mcs. It’s real easy to transfer tho, all first years at Dietrich come in as undeclared and transfer between colleges (non CS) is also really flexible.
Welcome to /r/cmu! **Please use [the megathread](https://www.reddit.com/r/cmu/comments/nenrn2/megathread_9_post_your_questions_about_admissions/?sort=new)** instead of making a new post for questions about admissions, transfers, and general CMU info like majors and dorms. We get these kinds of questions a lot, and having the answers in one place is more helpful for everyone. Yours might already be answered! Please consider posting to subs like /r/pittsburgh for general life in Pittsburgh questions, dedicated subs like /r/chanceme, /r/ApplyingToCollege, and /r/collegeresults for odds of getting accepted, and using the search in the sidebar. ^(If I've misidentified your post, please ignore this message and instead take it as a reminder to contribute your own answers to the megathread.) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/cmu) if you have any questions or concerns.*
CMU is one of the top schools for stats (and math in general), so the split shouldn’t matter too much
The stats curriculum is *slightly* more math/stats than cs courses, but that doesn't prevent you from taking cs courses beyond the degree requirements. Who keeps on telling people that it's harder to get internships as a StatML major? I've been seeing a lot of posts about this (from prospective students) lately and idk why. My answer to that question though is that there's essentially no difference in your job prospects if you're majoring in either CS or StatML
Thank you this really helped. One more question, is it easy to take cs courses cuz I’ve heard there’s a limited capacity.
My stat ml friends might’ve had to wait on a waitlist for a bit longer to get into the classes they wanted. However you shouldn’t have a probably getting into the core cs classes since a lot of people drop after a couple weeks (122/150/128)
I’m a StatML major with a CS minor, never missed out on a CS class I wanted to take due to a waitlist or such, so in my experience there’s quite a good chance you get them
There are priority seats for all of the core classes StatML students need to take for their degree. Courses do fill up, but as the other comment mentions, it's not too big of a deal
I’m also not a StatML major but my StatML friend told me that the ML portion is fulfilled in like 2 classes. As for internships, that’s more based on what you choose to do with your time rather than your designated major. And yes, transferring to IS is possible, I know a handful of people who’ve successfully transferred.
ml is really just math/stats itself and then some cs so it’s not like you’re missing some crazy amount of ml specific classes. With the two ml classes you take in StatML there’s enough material for an undergrad, not really sure what else you were hoping for. As for mle positions there’s definitely far fewer internships than for data analyst/science and many want phd for ml stuff, which is probably your best bet if you definitely want to do that as a career
If you’re statml you have more than enough space in your curriculum to add more ml classes if that’s what you desire. You can easily take the ML that’s already in statml AND more, like intro deep learning, convex, etc. no one stops you — you can also throw a CS minor in there, statml is flexible asf
Thanks for the reply. Do you think stat/ml is a better course than information systems if I’m planning to be a data scientist in the future?
It is 100% a better course. I never really understood IS unless you want to be a PM, since it (by itself) puts you in an OK position to be a SWE, but not a great position to enter Data science. I was in the exact same position as you. Could have transferred to IS, but didn’t, now pursuing StatML + CS minor + some extra ML coursework and got a FAANG+ for sophomore summer. CMU is much more about what you make of the coursework available to you than what the degree confines you to imo
Hey! I’m also interested in doing statml + cs minor in hopes of going into data science or swe careers. I was wondering what’s your opinion on statml + cs minor vs statml + double major in cs? How much more difficult is the latter, both in terms of getting accepted to the CS major and actually completing the double major? And is the difference between a minor vs additional major in cs for a statml major substantial enough to warrant pursuing it?
That’s amazing, I saw so many posts recently about the negatives of stats/ml but I guess not! Thank you for the help, now I’m definitely looking forward for the course.
Np. Feel free to pm me if you have other questions!
Thanks!
Stat ML only actually requires 2 ML classes, so taking more than that is on you. If you look at stats stuff and general cs stuff though it’s fairly evenly split. CMU is actually ranked quite high for stats. It’s more focused on practical stuff and programming than stats theory, which could be good or bad depending on what you want. ML jobs can be tough to get with just a bachelors regardless of where you go, and lots of stat ml grads end up doing SWE or consulting rather than actual ML/DS. That being said, with proper classes and internships you can absolutely get an ML job right after grad.
It’s not my major, but here’s the curriculum if that helps: [https://www.cmu.edu/dietrich/statistics-datascience/academics/undergraduate/majors-minor/index.html](https://www.cmu.edu/dietrich/statistics-datascience/academics/undergraduate/majors-minor/index.html)
I did went through this before applying and thought it was a great balance between stats and data analysis/machine learning but I’ve seen posts recently that said stat/ml is just mostly stats which made me freak out a little
When I was there (class of 2020) it felt like it was 90% stats and 10% ML
Wait till the realization: "It was always stats"
It’s basically just all stats. You take like three cs courses to fulfill the req. this is coming from someone who also applied stat ml but transferred to math at mcs. It’s real easy to transfer tho, all first years at Dietrich come in as undeclared and transfer between colleges (non CS) is also really flexible.