Carnegie Mellon University Top Questions

The social scene is often mocked by CMU students, but it is what you make of it. If you want to party, you can find a place to party. If you just want to hang out with friends, there are movie theaters, sporting events (Pirates and Penguins games are pretty easy to get tickets to), bowling alleys, bars, some pretty darned good restaurants, et cet - all in Oakland, Squirrel Hill, and Shady Side.

I don't know. I'm an Architecture Major. Sleep is my extracurricular activity. Sometimes showering and eating as well....

Social life? If you're looking for a party school, keep on truckin'. CMU is by no means a part school. There are parties on some weekends, but definitely not all. There have been a couple of woeful weekends when there was no party, but that is usually because something else is going on (read HOMEWORK). Students here usually will choose to study if necessary. This is not to say we don't procrastinate (believe me we DO) but there is a deadline and the closer it gets to the deadline the less parties actually happen. If you're up at 2am on Tuesday, you're more than likely not drinking, but doing some assignment or just finishing watching the second airing of the Colbert Report (a personal favorite) or both (once again a personal favorite). There are great things like CARNIVAL in April which I don't have the time to explain (look it up on wikipedia under Carnegie Mellon traditions), Fiesta de Primavera, Greek Sing, Playground, Gaypril, and many others. Students who participate in Greek life is a little under 20{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} if not mistaken. The fraternities and sororities play a huge part in things like Carnival and (obviously) Greek Sing, but whether or not you're a greek is not a huge deal. And of course there is the whole city of Pittsburgh at hour fingertips. You can go to the Waterfront, Southside Works, the Strip District, Squirell Hill, just to name a few. All with a different flavor of Pittsburgh for you taste.

You work very hard, and if you're awake at 3am on a given evening, chances are you're working still. The payoff is rewarding, but do not come to CMU if you do not want to work. Athletics are not popular; they are getting better with each year, but it is not a school intent on school spirit. Greek life provides a welcome retreat for those that wish to have a social life, but is very easy to either be Greek on campus or not: no pressure with either and every Greek has more non-Greek friends than Greek ones.

The only reason I

There is tons to get involved with here on campus. Greek Life is very involved and has opened many doors for me to get even more involved in campus life. As for parties, it depends who you are. People aren't going to judge you here. You can drink every night of the week if you so choose or you can never drink. Either way there will be a group of people here for you.

I don't do extra-curricualrs because I don't have time. That's pretty common with the arts kids. We just have different schedules. That's also probably why so many of us move off campus. Our schedules are extremely rigorous and we are awake at 7 every day and in the studios until 1 or 2 am so hearing girls screaming about One Tree Hill in the lounge is the last thing we want. The dorm life is very involved if you want it to be...there are always outings and functions. I've never really taken advantage of that. The arts kids throw amazing parties...that's pretty much it. Computer science or engineering kids usually just linger around the frats or play guitar hero in their dorms on the weekends. The frats and sororities are not a big part of campus life at all. The frats are disgusting and awful places to go. If they aren't shooting people with their be-be guns, they're broadcasting the fact they popped some girls' cherry or had a three-some by painting the lions outside their building a different color. The frats on the CMU campus might be the most immature atmosphere I've ever been in.

There are activities going on on campus all the time, from guest lectures to concerts to plays to competitions. CMU gives lots of money to student organizations, so there are a lot of groups that thrive on campus. For instance, student activies board puts on $1 films in the student center on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, many of which are recent releases. Sports are present but they aren't emphasized on campus. If you want to work out CMU has two weight rooms, a few gyms, a huge swimming pool, fields, and a series of raquetball courts. Favorite pasttimes in good weather are frisbee or cricket on the cut. Most people study on weeknights, but you can also go to club meetings, practices, or lectures. On weekends there are people who study at the library whenever it's open, but others will go hang out at a fraternity or go shopping or out to dinner off campus. Computer clusters are popular places on both weekdays and weekends for people who like to program.

Sports aren't huge on campus, but there are students who really support our teams. Basically, if you want to be involved or have that school spirit, there are other people on campus who feel the same way. We also have a lecture series where professors, authors, or even actors come in and speak. We have concerts throughout the year. Our school of drama & music are amazing, so it's nice to see them perform as well. The dating scene can be a little frustrating at times. We are a nerdy kind of school, so that may tell you something. Although people really find their fit here. I really like the freshman dorms. I met almost all my friends through freshman housing. They don't segregate between majors, so my friends include computer science majors, physics majors, other engineers, and an econ major. What's also nice is that you may have to stay up until 2 doing work, but so are other people. There's also things to do (half-price food, $1 movies) late at night to serve as a study break. Carnival is a huge tradition (as mentioned earlier). We also have a lot of Scottish pride, so bagpipers come & play at major events. The Kiltie band wears the full Scottish garb, including the kilts. Partying is not a major aspect of CMU. Most people don't belong to Greek life, although that's where you can go to find a party. A lot of upper classmen move off-campus & throw parties, too. We definitely aren't the type of school that parties all weekend, every weekend, but we definitely do when we need to.

The social scene is definately different than I expected. Comming in I am a partier like crazy. At home i drink with my friends all the time and go out and have fun. All I heard before comming here is that this is NOT the place for it. But that's not really true. I have gone out with my firends to drink every weekend and had a great time and there are lots of themed parties (foam party, wine and cheese, 80s party, preppy party, blacklight party, etc) and also UPitt is right down the road so lots of people go over there and party sometimes. There's usually not much during the week since people do care alot about grades, but during the weekend u can get drunk or high or whatever u want anytime haha.