Carnegie Mellon University Top Questions

No. There are really cool people at CMU and of course there are those few people who are a bit antisocial, but most of the students are friendly and interesting. There are also tons of parties and other things to do on the weekends and even during the week!

CMU isn't very competitive from what I've seen. The stereotypes about working all day are somewhat true. Based on your major, you may be working constantly and many of the art/design/architecture majors pull all nighters in studio often. My major of psychology is very different so even though I may be stressed at times I still find time to relax. There aren't very many parties going on around campus, but people do join fraternities and sororities and use that as an outlet to be social and get relax from the stress of school. Drama majors are loud and CS majors mostly are quiet, but some CS majors are really really cool (they're very eclectic so not all of them are reclusive)

Not entirely..

These stereotypes are rather accurate, but don't let that dissuade you. Most of us know that we're nerds, smart, geeks, etc -- and it's not somethign to ashamed of at CMU...we're extremely proud to be considered among the most elite in all of academia. And yes, there is quite a workload -- "My heart is in the work" is a famous quote by Andrew Carnegie that resonnates true throughout CMU -- but at the end of the day, the amount of work is (somehow) managable

CMU is, in fact, very academically challenging but the truth of the matter is that if you were admitted into the university on your own merit, then you are capable of succeeding academically. As far as the students are concerned, there is a huge variety of people at CMU. While academics are a top priority for nearly all students at CMU, there are plenty of people with a life outside of the classroom.

yes, for the most part, we are all nerds somewhere

sometimes

In some cases, yes, and the stereotypes tend to be more true for certain majors than others. But there are a lot of people who don't fit this stereotype, regardless of major, and you tend to find one another.

Yeah pretty much.

For the most part they are, but you have to find cool people and you will