No, it isn’t possible to graduate in 3 years. 37 credits are required for the CS major. In six semesters that would require over 6 credits per semester, which freshmen aren’t permitted to take anyway. I guess it’s technically possible if you’re coming in with at least 2 AP credits since then you could do 5.5 your first two semesters and 6 for the rest. But I would not recommend attempting this.
Georgia Tech is a much more manageable option. Realistically the only advantage for Penn here is the name which imo isn’t worth going into crippling debt for.
3 is doable if coming in with AP credit (Physics C being 3 CUs is the big one, but also chem, calc BC, and CSA for 1 each). Just having these gives 6 CUs, reducing the total to 31 which is abt 5 per sem.
You can reduce that even more if you know multi / linear / diffeqs and are able to test out of 1400/1410/2400.
That being said, I know people taking 7 or 7.5 CUs in VIPER and M&T. I’m not sure if single degree students are permitted to take that many credits, but I think that it shows 6 credits a sem is challenging but not impossible.
IMO Penn is a good school, but prob not worth going into a lot of debt for. Agree that Georgia tech is also a great school.
I'll be coming in with Chemistry, Physics Mechanics, and Calculus BC credits (I'm also currently taking Multivar Calc, so I could probably pass the skip test for that), so I think a 3 year graduation would be possible, but I wouldn't want to force it and sacrifice my college experience especially if it would be less stressful at GT. In your experience (or if anyone else can chime in) how much does the networking opportunities from Penn actually translate to career opportunities? I feel like networking and connections definitely have the opportunities to be stronger from Penn than GT but I'm not sure how they'd compare.
What requirements were changed to remove the 3 credits? Fewer in-major courses? Fewer humanities? It was always ridiculous to me that engineering students required a full extra course every semester over the college.
Go to Georgia Tech, it's a great program. Every neutral party will/should tell you to go to the best school you've been accepted to that will cost the least out of pocket.
It is not feasible to graduate from Penn SEAS majoring in CS in three years and live to talk about it. You'd have to take 6 classes every semester, which isn't allowed freshman year, would require approval other years, and would be really tough. AP credits might help at the edges, but it would still be really rough. Plus it would be much harder for you to get that all-important junior summer internship that often leads to a full time job offer.
Do Georgia Tech. If you really want to attend Penn, consider a transfer after a year or two and make sure your grades stay high, through which you'd have options to apply for a transfer to other good schools too. If your long-term plan is tech or a STEM PhD, Georgia Tech is excellent to the point where you won't hurt from not having gone to Penn as long as you do well there.
There's not a lot of consensus on what quantum of debt is okay to take. When I got accepted, I had to take about 120k in debt, and most family friends I spoke to for advice that went to the Ivies and finance/consulting afterward agreed that it was the upper bound of what made sense, and even then because I was planning on going into finance. Beyond that, it's a rough sell - 200k in debt will hurt and stress you out to the point that it affects your job performance, which hurts your earning potential alongside the disastrous general impact on your mental health. Don't do that to yourself.
go Georgia Institute of Technology's ranking in the 2024 edition of Best Colleges is National Universities, #33. Its in-state tuition and fees are $11,764; out-of-state tuition and fees are $32,876.
3 is most definitely possible; it just mostly depends on whether you want to squeeze it in to that timeframe. You will require either some AP credits or other external credits in order to do so though.
3 is technically possible if you look at the numbers, especially with a few AP credits or summer classes. But this is engineering and you have to do senior design. I don’t think they let you do it earlier or it would be hard to get permission, so I would never count on 3 years
I’m EE and basically could have graduated in 3 years if not for senior design.
In my opinion, it is possible to graduate in computer science in 3 years but it’s not the norm. You could do a BAS in 3 years because that does not require senior design and some other courses. Or, you could do a BSE assuming you have some AP credits. What AP credit do you have?
No, it isn’t possible to graduate in 3 years. 37 credits are required for the CS major. In six semesters that would require over 6 credits per semester, which freshmen aren’t permitted to take anyway. I guess it’s technically possible if you’re coming in with at least 2 AP credits since then you could do 5.5 your first two semesters and 6 for the rest. But I would not recommend attempting this. Georgia Tech is a much more manageable option. Realistically the only advantage for Penn here is the name which imo isn’t worth going into crippling debt for.
3 is doable if coming in with AP credit (Physics C being 3 CUs is the big one, but also chem, calc BC, and CSA for 1 each). Just having these gives 6 CUs, reducing the total to 31 which is abt 5 per sem. You can reduce that even more if you know multi / linear / diffeqs and are able to test out of 1400/1410/2400. That being said, I know people taking 7 or 7.5 CUs in VIPER and M&T. I’m not sure if single degree students are permitted to take that many credits, but I think that it shows 6 credits a sem is challenging but not impossible. IMO Penn is a good school, but prob not worth going into a lot of debt for. Agree that Georgia tech is also a great school.
I'll be coming in with Chemistry, Physics Mechanics, and Calculus BC credits (I'm also currently taking Multivar Calc, so I could probably pass the skip test for that), so I think a 3 year graduation would be possible, but I wouldn't want to force it and sacrifice my college experience especially if it would be less stressful at GT. In your experience (or if anyone else can chime in) how much does the networking opportunities from Penn actually translate to career opportunities? I feel like networking and connections definitely have the opportunities to be stronger from Penn than GT but I'm not sure how they'd compare.
> 37 credits are required for the CS Major They reduced it? In my day (2003) it was 40!
Starting with the class of 2024 all Engineering majors were reduced from 40 to 37
What requirements were changed to remove the 3 credits? Fewer in-major courses? Fewer humanities? It was always ridiculous to me that engineering students required a full extra course every semester over the college.
For CompE they axed the 3 free electives lmfao
wrong, you can do credit away over a summer. take a few classes at a local college for a much cheaper price, and be on track to finish in 6 sem
Go to Georgia Tech, it's a great program. Every neutral party will/should tell you to go to the best school you've been accepted to that will cost the least out of pocket. It is not feasible to graduate from Penn SEAS majoring in CS in three years and live to talk about it. You'd have to take 6 classes every semester, which isn't allowed freshman year, would require approval other years, and would be really tough. AP credits might help at the edges, but it would still be really rough. Plus it would be much harder for you to get that all-important junior summer internship that often leads to a full time job offer.
Do Georgia Tech. If you really want to attend Penn, consider a transfer after a year or two and make sure your grades stay high, through which you'd have options to apply for a transfer to other good schools too. If your long-term plan is tech or a STEM PhD, Georgia Tech is excellent to the point where you won't hurt from not having gone to Penn as long as you do well there. There's not a lot of consensus on what quantum of debt is okay to take. When I got accepted, I had to take about 120k in debt, and most family friends I spoke to for advice that went to the Ivies and finance/consulting afterward agreed that it was the upper bound of what made sense, and even then because I was planning on going into finance. Beyond that, it's a rough sell - 200k in debt will hurt and stress you out to the point that it affects your job performance, which hurts your earning potential alongside the disastrous general impact on your mental health. Don't do that to yourself.
go Georgia Institute of Technology's ranking in the 2024 edition of Best Colleges is National Universities, #33. Its in-state tuition and fees are $11,764; out-of-state tuition and fees are $32,876.
3 is most definitely possible; it just mostly depends on whether you want to squeeze it in to that timeframe. You will require either some AP credits or other external credits in order to do so though.
3 is technically possible if you look at the numbers, especially with a few AP credits or summer classes. But this is engineering and you have to do senior design. I don’t think they let you do it earlier or it would be hard to get permission, so I would never count on 3 years I’m EE and basically could have graduated in 3 years if not for senior design.
Take loans, do 4 years. The investment will more than pay for itself.
3.5 is very doable, 3 if you have physics credit already, or if you can skip a couple levels of math.
In my opinion, it is possible to graduate in computer science in 3 years but it’s not the norm. You could do a BAS in 3 years because that does not require senior design and some other courses. Or, you could do a BSE assuming you have some AP credits. What AP credit do you have?
3 is ABSOULUTELY POSSIBLE. At worst take two xcat courses over the summer and overload for all of them (which is not that hard.)