Carnegie Mellon University Top Questions

Not entirely. Hygiene is not an issue and students work hard, but still find time for other things.

Somewhat

None of them is true. As always, college is what you make of it. CMU has a week-long orientation program that is AMAZING. It really helps people break out of their shell, and for those that are already outgoing, it gives them a chance to get to know the campus and establish themselves as college students. The boys: There are, off course people that ypou click with and those that you raise an eyebrow to. Plenty of guys are out there. You have the romantics, the jerks, the clowns, and the friend-zoned. That's not all, obviosuly, but there is a variety. You can almost guarantee that they will be successful later on. The books: We are not trapped. Some people get stressed out and their the ones who complain. If you overwhelm or underwhelm yourself in other activities, you will feel trapped by your lifestyle. Part of getting to college is finding your own balance. Since mom and dad aren't going to be there to remind you about deadlines and attending parent-teacher conferences, it is up to you to gauge your progress. The girls: This frustrates me to no end. We do have considerably fewer girls at CMU, but admissions has been working to balance that and there is definitely progress. I have met a lot of beautiful girls at CMU, and I don't mean on the inside. There are tons of pretty faces, hot bodies, great dancers, and excellent dressers. The shallowest man could probably get his fill here. At the same time, though, it's easy to find someone that is the whole package, too. Getting in here usually means that you are ambitious and/or intellectual. Whether they are single or not is a different matter-- too many guys wait too long. There is sex.

Happily, yes. For those of us who enjoy company of geeks, who get nervous in drunken crowds and who want to be as unique and smart as we are without fear of ostracization, CMU is a haven.

you'd better believe it

I don't even know anybody that plays WoW. Out of about 15 people with whom I'm close, I can only think of 2 that are incredibly serious about studying every night. The rest of us has GPAs in the 2.0-3.0 range.

Well, most of the CS students are single and stinky, but we have tons of cool Purnell school of Drama cats, some hella tight artists, and the mech e's throw great parties...not to mention the archies and design cats.

While the school has a huge Asian population compared to other schools, no race is dominated by numbers at all. In fact because of that, no one is really conscious of it. Some people have different hygiene opinions, but people really aren't that smelly, and so many people are nice. Thanks to the Greek population, there are plenty of parties to attend on the Greek Quad at the fraternities. This is where people socialize and unwind. Really, it's not this whole anti-social field... there are probably just as many people studying on a Saturday night as any other school... we're not shut down or anything because of studying.

For the most part all of the stereotypes are false. Just like any school, CMU is going to be what you make out of it. There are many ways to be involved socially while still keeping that high GPA that all of us strive for. It is a difficult school no matter what major you are and there are students who fit the CMU stereotype, but there is always time to make friends and enjoy college life as well.

Only of Computer Science students, and only of some of them. Most of the rest of folks are just nerdy but otherwise normal and awesome. Not all Korean students smoke, and students who are not Korean smoke.