Applying to the Undergraduate Major

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The HCI undergraduate major is currently available only as a second major. Because space is limited in the major’ required courses, enrollment in the HCI undergraduate major is currently limited to approximately 25 students in each graduating class. Applications to the major are processed once a year. The application deadline for 2012 is Friday, March 2th. Information about the application process is availabe at the bottom of this page. Decisions will be made by a committee in time for spring pre-registration. Decisions are based on QPA, the number of slots available, the statement of purpose, the feasibility of completing the major, the proposed schedule, and the discretion of the committee. There will be an information session on February 9, 2012 at 4:30PM in GHC 4405 to provide more information about the HCI undergraduate major and the admissions process and to answer questions. The handout from the 2012 information session is available here.

Students in any graduating class can apply to the major. First year students can only be pre-admitted, but are automatically admitted in their sophomore year if they carry a QPA of 3.0 or higher. Juniors can be admitted if they can complete all remaining requirements for the major in the semesters they have before graduation.

Pre-admittance: Freshman only

We admit a small number of freshman each year, provided they have strong grades and a good statement of purpose. We will pre-admit approximately 3 freshmen who are above this threshold in Design, H&SS, and SCS, and fill up to 4 additional slots with any other freshman above this threshold. We limit freshman admittance to half of the available slots because we only have one semester to go on and we want to retain slots for students who have not decided to apply for the major in HCI until their sophomore year. In 2011, we pre-admitted eight freshmen of the 16 who applied (50%); their average GPA was 3.6. If you apply as a freshman, but do not get in, please reapply as a sophomore.

Pre-admission entitles you to pre-register for HCI courses, and guarantees full admission in the sophomore year with a QPA higher than 3.0.

Full admittance: Sophomores and up

Students who were pre-admitted as freshmen are automatically fully admitted as sophomores, provided they have a QPA of 3.0 or higher. Most admissions come from students who apply in their sophomore year. In 2011, we admitted 26 students of 38 sophomores and juniors who applied (68%). Their average GPA was 3.5. We will also admit juniors, provided they can fit the required courses into their schedule.

Available Slots

Since HCI work involves multi-disciplinary teams that include designers, implementers, evaluators, and those with content expertise, each graduating year will be balanced in background and expertise. In each graduating class, we will hold 6 slots for Design students 6 slots for H&SS students 6 slots for SCS students and we will leave 7 slots unconstrained This means that for each of Design, H&SS, and SCS, we will admit the best 6 candidates (above threshold) from primary majors in these schools, and we will then admit 7 additional applicants from any primary major. The current situation with respect to majors and the slots available is given in the following two tables.

Total Majors

Slots Available

updated 12/2011

Application Process

Application Deadline

Applications are due by Friday March 2, 2012. For those interested in applying, please submit the following materials by email, in a single MS Word document enclosure, to Robert Kraut (robert [dot] kraut [at] cmu [dot] edu) and the Academic Program Coordinator (hciibachelors [at] cs [dot] cmu [dot] edu). You will receive email confirmation of your submission.

Application Materials

1. Full name, student number, and email address
2. Home College, year you intend to graduate, and list of all declared Majors and Minors
3. Statement of Purpose (Maximum 1 page, single spaced)
4. Proposed Schedule of Required Courses

In the Statement of Purpose, articulate why you want to pursue the HCI major. What is it about the major that attracts you and why? Communicate your vision for how the HCI major fits into your longer range educational and career goals. Do not exceed a single page. In the Proposed Schedule of Required Courses, which is NOT a contract, you should specify a plan for when you can fit the courses required for the major into your schedule. Make a table that looks something like the Sample Plan of Study given in a previous section. Include your primary major obligations as well, whenever they might conflict with HCI courses. The idea is to show that you have thought through, in some detail, whether you can actually do this major. For example:

A letter of reference is not required and a generic letter from someone who does not know you well will not be helpful to your case. However, we will accept a letter of reference from a faculty member o supervisor who knows you well. If you submit a letter of reference, have your reference writer send it directly to hciibachelors [at] cs [dot] cmu [dot] edu.

Decisions

Decisions on admittance to the major will be made in time for fall registration week. You will be notified by email no later than the Friday before Fall Registration Week.