Carnegie Mellon University Top Questions

There are lots of different supportive student groups on campus. There are lots of international students, although I definitely feel that not all minorities are represented equally. The African American population has been small, although I have noticed it's started to grow a lot. The same holds true for Latinos. I really do think CMU is accepting of all differences and the students are open to all types of races, religions, and preferences. There's no set style at Carnegie Mellon. Some people wear polos or heels, others wear t-shirts & sneakers. There's no since of segregation, although some of the "nerdier" students may stick together. Financial backgrounds vary, although I think most students are from the northeast, Pennsylvania, or northern California. Students have started to become politically active and have brought people to speak on campus. I would say most students are democrats, although those are just the ones that are more proactive. One of the perks about going to CMU & sticking with it is that we are generally paid more than graduates from other schools. Sometimes that's the driving force for some students.

Cliques....um, thats my favorite part about CMU. There are sooo many different kinds of people here. Theres weirdos, jocks, nerds, "normal" people. It's just a crazy mix. I definately think everyone can find a friend here. There's really no ONE kind. My friends are the partiers and crazy sorority/frat people since I am in Kappa Alpha Theta (best sorority ever!!!)

There is a wide range of ethnic and religious groups on campus. Asian, Asian-American, and Caucasian is definitely the majority but I never feel out of place because I'm not that ethnicity. I'm not really aware of socio-economic groups, it doesn't come up in conversation and usually isn't glaringly obvious. Student dress ranges from comfortable and casual to more dressy. I think upper middle class is most prevalent but I'm only guessing because I see a lot of Coach bags.

Very diverse - a good mix of all ethnic and racial backgrounds. Really makes you understand different cultures, which is obviously good for becoming a leader in the world going forward. If you're looking for people who drink and party every single night, go somewhere else. Students at CMU actually care about doing well, getting themselves a good start in life, and learning about things they're interested in. That said, there are plenty of social, outgoing, fun people. And it's much more intellectual than the average state school. I've got a ton of friends from high school at PSU, WVU, Pitt, and other places. They have more fun but are invariably not as well prepared for real life after 4 years of school.

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I think the majority of CMU students are very welcoming, or become very welcoming after attending CMU. There isnt many racial, religious, socio-economic, sexual orientation, etc. issues. There are some ignorant individuals but they in no way reflect the majority of the CMU student body. I honestly can say that I don't think there would be a single student who would feel out of place at CMU. To back this claim up, just look at the wide variety of majors available at CMU and how the majority of them are highly ranked. I see so many different type of people that im sure ANYONE could find a group of friends just like them if not, CMU allows the opportunity for people to step out of their usually type of friends and make new friends with people of all varieties. I can say that I have never seen a single person wear their PJs to class, but I'm pretty sure it happens. People wear all different types of clothes, so people dress up everyday, while others wardrobes consist of nothing but sweats. That is the best part of CMU, the fact that soooo many different type of people are able to interact. I have friends from all over the US some from Korea, Singapore, India, Cuba, Turkey, etc. The tables in Schatz (the ONLY dining hall we have): Table 1: Football players Table 2: Drama students Table 3: Freshmen guys from Hammerschlag Table 4: A group of friends catching up on new info in their lives that they've missed b/c they had a huge exam that week. Most students are from Maryland, New Jersey, India and Korea. You never really know peoples financial backgrounds b/c in college everyone is poor:)...however, I can guess that the majority come from wealthy families b/c all the international students get miniscule to no financial aid and their parents pay from pocket. I think most students are liberal, CMU has many LGBT individuals and its likely that you'll have at least one friend who is so I feel most people are liberal. However, Im pretty sure we have a Republican Party club, but not a democratic one. I'd say some students are politically aware but not active, there's just not enough time for that. People talk about that alll the time (i can only speak for engineers)...that is the reason why some students chose CMU b/c with a degree from CMU you're almost guaranteed to be successfully (financially)...I can assume the same for the business majors as well.

Carnegie Mellon's population is perhaps 45{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} Euro-American, 30{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} Asian/Asian-American, 15{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} Middle Eastern/Indian, and (10{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} Latino/Hispanic, African/Afro-American, and Native American). There are several religious groups on campus, I have personally had good experiences with multiple Christian groups. Everyone is very different, there is a very broad range of personalities, economic classes, religions, and political beliefs. People generally know the people from their majors, which encourages less racial allegiance of more academic social allegiance.

There are a lot international students.

One downside of campus is that there is always somebody handing out flyers for some cause or another. The best story I heard was from a friend of my who was eating a cheesestake on his way to class when he unknowingly accepted a vegetarian/vegan "save the animals" flier and while trying to grab it accidently spilled steak on the volunteer's shoe. Similarly we have "Jews for Jesus" and anti-abortion groups handing out fliers and picketing on our campus fairly regularly during the summer and spring. We have every type of student at CMU, so nobody would feel out of place, as long as you could find the group you belong with. Students usually dress quite casual for classes, usually jeans and a t-shirt or polo, but occationally there are students who come in their pajamas, and on the other end of the spectrum, those who dress to the nines for lecture. It takes all kinds to make a campus like ours. Different students interact, but if there are four tables at the dining hall they go like this: athelets at one, korean students at another, girls at a third, and a lone awkward student nobody wants to sit with at the fourth. Most CMU students Ive found are from New Jersey, though we have a high percentage of international students, as well as students from all around the country.

Different majors usually have different groups of students. A large number of engineering students tend to be East-Asian international students who tend to stay together. Actually, there is a large East-Asian population in CMU in general. Other than that, the make up of students in CMU tends to be similar to that of other universities. There is however, a large Jewish population. There have been occasional pro-Israel and anti-Arab flyers which, as an Arab, makes me feel uneasy, however it seems to be at the same level of other universities. Being in a large city also, there is always opportunities to interact with students of other universities and from the city, therefore diversity does not become that large of an issue.