Carnegie Mellon University Top Questions

Two things I did not think about when I was applying I have found to be very important and well done at CMU. 1) Does the administration treat student inquiries and issues with respect? At CMU, I have (in my first year) founded a club, worked to change a school-wide plagiarism policy and been supported by 3 deans and my college counselor in all of my interests. 2) Access to public transportation. Pittsburgh is on Amtrak, served by Greyhound and part of the tuition gives us free rides on all public transportation. I volunteer as an Escort for Planned Parenthood of Western PA, go to the Walgreens and get haircuts using the bus. If at home, you are active with your administration and like to roam around on the weekends, CMU has the potential of being a great school for you. On Amtrak--I get to Washington DC for about $79 roundtrip (with the Student Advantage card) every two weeks or so. You can get up at 4am, take a cab ($11) to the Amtrak Station, catch the 5:45am and you're in DC by 1:30pm. Then on Sunday take the 4pm train back, getting to Pittsburgh at 11:30pm. Fun!

You walk in smart, you walk out smarter and you learn all you can.

I think the best think at CMU is that I can meet people that, not to blow my own horn, are on the same intellectual level as me. I came from a pretty small town and high school (about 500 students 9-12), and very few of us will ever do anything in life, so it was nice to meet some new people that actually cared about their future and didn't just want to party all the time. Not that we can't party and have a good time. People seem to be really impressed when I tell them to go to CMU, but I still can't seem to find a summer job. It is really expensive, so I wouldn't come without a definite commitment to eventual graduation and probably higher expectations.

The location--Pittsburgh is a great town for hippies and CMU is in a great spot within Pittsburgh. Size is just right. People usually say either one of two things when I tell them I attend CMU: "Wow, you must be an engineer?" or "What is that...Carnegie Mellons?" I spend most of my time on campus in Porter hall watching films for the film classes I attend or on the cut if it's sunny. CMU's administration is too damn conservative. Not much school pride. Unusual things about CMU are the adamant love for linux clusters which contributes largely to the stinkyness of our CS students, random crab apple trees which produce edible fruit, and the weirdest club KGB. I will always remember meeting my boyfriend: a non-stinky and attractive CS student.

CMU is beautiful, first and foremost. The architecture is amazing and each building has its own thing to offer. There's grass and trees everywhere too, but it's nestled in the city of Pittsburgh, so it's definitely not like you're in the middle of nowhere like some state school. It's also a really wonderful size, with just under 30,000, I'd say. You can get from one end of the campus to the other in probably twenty minutes, so it's nothing overbearing. People complain a lot about the food, but in reality, compared to other schools it's not that bad. They don't have a cafeteria or anything, it's like little restaurants or cafes... a deli here, a grill there, a chinese food joint here, a coffee shop there, etc.

CMU is an incredible school for any and every major. You are going to get a wonderful education and just the fact that you graduated from CMU says a lot to companies all over the world. CMU campus is just the right size and beautiful. There are lots of people to get to know but you never feel like just a number. The only thing that I would say is difficult for students is CMU does not offer very much finacial aid. It is a very expensive school and many people are willing to pay the full price for the great education. I believe it is worth the money, but it would be nice to have a little more help in this area. Socially, you need to try maybe a little harder to make friends are CMU. It is not impossible by any means. CMU does a great job with Orientation week to help freshman meet friends. I still have some great friends that I met at Orientation. I also joined Greek life which is wonderful on CMU's campus. When most people think about Greek life they see that hazing, parties, and fake friends. It is nothing like this at CMU. As a woman, the student goes through Formal Member Recruitment. There are 5 sororities on campus and you get to know each one. After there is selection process, where the new member chooses her top 2 sororities and the sororities pick their girls as well. This way the new member finds the place where she will fit in best. As a women in Greek life, I have met so many great people. I have met some of my best friends through Greek life, done some awesome activities, and raised a lot of money for charity, and I wouldn't change it for the world.

Carnegie Mellon is about carving your own way. Almost everything not related to courses, houses and food services is run by students. If you get yourself on the leadership of a student organization, you will not be only doing the bidding of some university lackey with a vision. You will actually get to shape the organization and its goals and operate its budget with the only limits being motivation and practicality. Carnegie Mellon is THE place for self-starting, motivated students

CMU is a great school because it has many different things to do at all times. There are parties, movies, club activities and many other things to do over the weekends and at nights. The bus system is really easy to use and useful and can bring you to many shopping places like the Waterfront and the South Side.

CMU is just the right size. The campus isn't too small or too big but for the amount of students, you won't be hiking for an hour before class to get to campus. When I told people in high school I was coming here, most students had never heard of it, but other adults recognize is as a really tough and prestigious school. It's not much of a college town, but Pitt is down the street so there are a lot of restaurants and bars to go to in that area. I wish it weren't so spread out because if you want to go to clubs or something you need to take a bus and the buses stop at 1am or so so it's hard to plan how to get home. There isn't a lot of school pride, not many people show up to the football games or such but that might just mean that we're not big on sports here. A lot of students have recently complained about "The Pole" or "Walking to the Sky" which was erected last year. The administration accepted it as a donation from someone and instead of donating the $10,000 to a scholarship, they made this awful looking sculpture that now takes over the front area of campus. But the hype from it has mostly faded.

Its a remarkable academic environment. You're getting a top education, but surrounded by the most down to earth, NON arrogant people. Pittsburgh is a great city for college kids. Sports are huge so the environment is always great in any season, theres plenty of other colleges (Pitt just a couple blocks away), enough bars, restaurants, shopping, and museums to keep you busy, but small enough to feel intimate and NOT AT ALL an expensive city to live in! There's not much CMU pride in terms of atheltics, thats for sure. People love to complain about the all nighters we always pull (its true), and spend their entire freshman year threatening to transfer. Almost no one ever does. What's cool about the school is that is has so many diverse strengths. Its known for its top engineering and computer science programs, yet have some of the most competitive Design and Theater programs in the country as well.

In a nutshell, CMU is a great place to go to school. It's located in Pittsburgh's Oakland region which is not-to-far but not-to-close to Downtown Pittsburgh. Oakland is also home to the University of Pittsburgh, among other colleges/universities, so it is in a pretty college-age friendly area. Oakland is also home to the Carnegie Musuem of Natural History, which is a fun place to visit from time-to-time since it is constantly changing -- and FREE for all CMU students. In addition to all the great aspects of Oakland, it is possible to explore the City of Pittsburgh (and its surroundings) with your CMU ID card since it grants you free and unlimited access to the region's public transportation system. So, you can head over to one of Pittsburgh's great sporting arenas/parks and see the local team play or to the Carnegie Science Center for a more casual outing. As for CMU itself, I cannot express how wonderful the atmosphere of the campus is. There are going-ons all the time -- all you have to do is find them. The size of the school is one of its best features. The smaller university setting gives you a chance to develop relationships with other students, as well as faculty and staff on campus. When people are told I'm a CMU student (at the risk of sounding egocentric and snobbish here) the reaction is usually along the lines of admiration. This is due to CMU's reputation of providing a quality education which helps to produce modivated students who are considered above average, in terms of quality. As for an unusual niche that CMU has, well it's just too hard to explain in words -- but at CMU we call it Carnival -- which comprises (mainly) of two things -- booth and buggy. Booth allows organizations/groups of students to literally construct massive carnival booths that are meant to inspire and impress (which they most certainly do). Buggy on the other hand is a racing competition that is truly one-of-a-kind, from what I can gather. Students build these "buggies" and race against one another in a soapbox-like, but oh-so-much-better manner. Young women are literally encapsulated in the buggy and pushed up and down hills; it sounds crazy, I know, but you'd have to see it to believe it and truly understand it.

People are often very impressed when you tell them you are a student at CMU. Of all the students I know that graduated this past year, not one of them does not have a great job offer or plans to attend graduate school after graduation. Fortune 500 companies and other hugely successful firms are not only visiting our campus, they are hiring our students. Pittsburgh, as a city, is a great place to go to school. The cost of living is affordable (while our tuition may not be) and the city has a lot to offer. Your CMU ID card gives you unlimited access to public transportation, making it easier to get around. There are reduced or free student tickets to museums and other attractions, beautiful local parks and a great feeling of pride for Pittsburgh's three professional sports teams. Sports at Carnegie Mellon are not the focal point so school pride isn't ovewhelming, but Carnegie Mellon has extremely supportive administration that never stands in the way of students and faculty pursuing opportunities, giving students a great appreciation for their experiences at CMU.

I think the size is just right. the classes are small enough so that you can be noticed if you want to be an over-achiever, yet big enough to fall asleep in the corner w.o anyone caring. I spend most of my time with my fraternity brothers, with my girlfriend, or doing work. i do A LOT of work. The administration wants to make sure bright, smart kids graduate and in the process the fraternities and people just trying to have a good time get shafted. There is not a lot of school pride, we are bad at sports. we have a new mascot though, which is muchhh better than a piece of cloth. Everyone complains about the workload.

the best thing about cmu is that it embraces intelligence--you can be exactly who you want to be because there is really a huge variety of people. its a little small so a lot of people know each other or at least know of each other--sometimes i wish it was a little bigger. i think the contrast between our engineering and computer science schools and our theatre and arts programs provides a nice variety of both students and values/points of view.

Good things: urban area with a lot of relatively close activities and things to do, both in daytime and night; the student body has diverse interests and talents; lots of international students; CARNIVAL; greek life; food is improving a LOT; good student body size Bad things: hard to get around Pittsburgh quickly without a car; administration is kind of detached from the student body (though this seems to be changing); not a lot of school pride (though this has significantly improved); not a ethnically or socioeconomically diverse student body; the different majors tend to break off into cliques

Best thing about CMU - The people. Everyone is really nice, and you'll have no problems going up to someone and asking what they're interested in and making friends. Also the quality of academics is really good here. Worst Thing about CMU - Tie between workload and food. With just 5 classes, I'm usually pretty busy, spending a significant amount of time on school work /every day/ of the week. Note I'm an electrical and computer engineering and computer science major, so if you are a different major then this may be different. Also the food sucks. It's unhealthy and it tastes terrible to boot. You really have to try hard to eat healthy on campus. Is your school too large, too small, or just right? - I think it's just right for me, there are like ~7000 undergrads perhaps and it takes about 15 minutes to walk from one end of the campus to the other, so everything is close by and a reasonable walking distance away. How do people react when you tell them you go to CMU? - Some people haven't heard of it, but the people who have are almost always impressed. Where do you spend most of your time on campus? - Wherever other people are doing homework, or if I'm working alone in my dorm. College town, or "what college town?" - Uh Not really sure what you mean by this. CMU is right in the middle of the city of Pittsburgh but at the same time, when you are on campus it's not much like a city. What's your opinion of CMU's administration? - Don't really know, I haven't encountered them before. What was the biggest recent controversy on campus? - Maybe the TBA events where they show pornography to the public for a small fee. Most people don't attend. Is there a lot of school pride? - Maybe not as much as a college like Penn State but sure, there is school pride. Is there anything unusual about CMU? - Each individual college is pretty stereotypical. It's funny to see at orientation because the new students are grouped sometimes by college (like computer science, engineering, humanities, drama, etc) What's one experience you'll always remember? - Playing piano at the freshman talent show. It was a lot of fun and met a lot of people because of it. What are the most frequent student complaints? - Probably what I already said, workload and food.

Pittsburgh is a great college town- there is always plenty to do with bars, restaurants, sports teams. CMU is a little bit of a bubble, but you have to break out of that bubble and explore Pittsburgh. CMU is also a very good school that is not as recognized as it should be, especially outside of Pittsburgh.

When I tell people I go to CMU, they are very impressed because the school is held in high esteem.

Carnival is amazing. Being in a sorority, i love building the booth and watching the buggy races. I love the academics. It's challenging, but I truly learn alot. It's just the right size. When people here i go here, they either have no idea what it is, or they think its one of the best schools in the country. I picked this school because of its intense academics, but also because of its quirks (carnival, buggy, the fence, etc).

Pittsburgh is a good place to go to school. The atmosphere at Carnegie Mellon is nice - informal, but scholarly. There are a couple of nice places to hang out and meet with friends on campus if you have a quick break in the middle of the day, and oddly enough the library is often a social hot spot.