Academic Information – New Student Information – Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar

Student Support Is Student Success

When it comes to welcoming you to the Tartan family, we’re here to help get you acclimated and set on the right path. From academic support and health services to campus safety, Carnegie Mellon has resources to help you succeed both academically and personally.

Academics

Student Life

First-Year Academic Information:

Advisors for First-year students:

Students in each major are assigned a faculty member who will be their “Advisor.” Your advisor will be in contact with you over the summer to help with your transition into your academic program and will be your main point of contact for questions regarding your program.

Biological Sciences:

Mohamed Bouaouina: mohameb@andrew.cmu.edu

Business Administration:

Fuad Farooqi: mfarooqi@qatar.cmu.edu

Computer Science:

Ryan Riley: rdriley@andrew.cmu.edu

Information Systems:

Houda Bouamor: hbouamor@andrew.cmu.edu

First-year students enrollment in classes:

First-year students are typically enrolled in English, math, and computer programming courses during their first semester as well as courses relevant to their particular major. Which math and computer programming courses you take will depend on your major and whether you have any advanced placement credit. We need information as soon as possible about any courses and exams you have already taken that may qualify you for advanced placement in an area and/or course credit. When an exam is taken, be sure to request that the results are sent to Carnegie Mellon. If you did not request for the scores to be sent directly, you can provide an official score report to the admissions office and it will be reviewed.

CMU’s full policies regarding the granting of course credit can be found here. Here’s the brief version though:

Advanced Placement (AP): you may receive advanced placement and credit for scores of four and five on exams taken in the CEEB Advanced Placement program.

International Baccalaureate (IB): you may submit IB Higher Level (HL) exam scores but may only receive credit for scores of six or seven.

Cambridge Advanced Level: Credit is given only for Cambridge International/EdExcel Advanced level, or Singapore H2 level exams.

No credit is awarded for Advanced Subsidiary (AS), AICE (Advanced International Certificate of Education), or GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education).

For your English course in the fall semester, you will be automatically enrolled in 76-100 Reading and Writing in an Academic Context. If you would like to be considered for the next level English course, 76-101 Interpretation and Argument, you have the option of taking a placement exam. The exam involves reading a series of articles and then writing a response that uses information from the articles as support for your argument. You will receive an email with further instructions about the exam within the next two weeks. You may choose any time between June 1 and June 19 to work on the exam, but once you access the readings, you will have four days to submit your essay response. (Note that if you have Advanced Standing, from an AP, IB, or Cambridge Exam, you do not need to take the exam, but please make sure that we receive the score report as soon as possible.)