Carnegie Mellon University Top Questions

One of the most telling things about CMU is its motto. Harvard's is veritas, "truth," Princeton's is Dei sub numine viget, "Under God's power she flourishes," Colgate's is Deo Ac Veritati "For God and Truth," the motto at Carnegie Mellon is "My Heart is in the Work." It is straight forward, practical and in English. It is also telling of the attitude here. Carnegie Mellon is an environment that is charged with two prevailing themes. The first is passion. People here love what they do and they are excited about being here to learn what they love. The second is work. In 2006 a survey came out saying the CMU had the second greatest work load of any university in the country, and no one was surprised. The combination of these two things means that we don't spend lot of time on things that are not school related. We still party, but I've been told by friends at other schools that going out one night a week as opposed to 4 means that we don't actually party.

The best thing about CMU is the quirky traditions. Whether it's carnival, the fence, or the Kiltie Band, CMU has strong traditions that are unique to this campus. The blight of this campus (in my opinion) is the hideous sculpture ("Walking to the Sky") that's on the front of campus. I really wish they would get rid of it... but apparently it was some donation or something. One of the great things about CMU is it's location. It's in Pittsburgh right next to the University of Pittsburgh and in Oakland (district of the city) there is no shortage of college folk. Downtown is a simple bus ride away. Did I mention the city bus is free with your CMU ID?

CMU is hard, no doubt, but it's also exhilarating and exciting, if you love academia and you love learning. The people are fabulous: friendly, bright, and diligent, as well as true movers and shakers. Pittsburgh can be good fun, it's a matter of knowing where to go that counts.

The classes, homeworks, tests, etc, are structured to teach you how to think, not just mindlessly memorize and regurgitate. The teachers are very accessible and there are lots of other ways to get help, too. I think that people are too single mindedly focused on their specialty area and the social aspect is drab, because everyone is always doing homework. People think of CMU as very prestigious and always say, oh you must be so smart (which is embarrasing..). Everyone is overly logical at this school, even down to the humor.. One thing unique about this school is that the computer majors get a care package upon arrival..with soap included. They also take a class where they get points for being social.

The best thing about CMU is the Spring Carnival. Students spend endless hours working to prepare for booth and buggy, and in the end, it is so worth it. Students just relax and have a good time. There is always so much to do.

Carnegie Mellon doesn't feel like real college to me. Sometimes I walk down to UPitt just to get a feel for what real college students experience. CMU is like a summer camp. Everything is taken care of for you as a freshman. You have to work hard, but at the same time everything is planned. It's not until spring when you really see kids come out of their shells and when the majority of the campus hangs around outside. There's hardly any support of the athletic teams... I've never been to a college sports game here. The food on campus is awful, and the freshman meal plan is worse. Housing is alright, most students stay on campus all four years... I'll be leaving after freshman year. The plus side to this school is that it's a great college town. Anything you need is just a free bus ride away. Most of the good shopping is walking distance, and the fun areas are also where most students live off campus. The resturants are fantastic and unique and not to pricey. The biggest complaint about Pittsburgh in general is the weather. IT IS ALWAYS GRAY HERE.

When I tell people I go to CMU, they either say that they've heard of the name but not much else, don't know that it exists, or they exclaim, "Oh, I'm sorry, which school rejected you, MIT or Stanford?" CMU is a university with high reputation among certain circles, but most people don't seem to have heard much about it, if anything. It's just shy of an Ivy League, but being Division III makes all the difference for its profile as a university (CMU's endowment is definitely shy of an Ivy League). For most of the students I've met (definitely not all) CMU was a 2nd or 3rd choice or lower, and the only reason why they're going here is because they got rejected from their top choices (in engineering most people seem to indeed fall into the two rejection camps: MIT and Stanford). Maybe that and CMU's lack of emphasis on sports is what contributes to CMU's low sense of school pride. CMU has a small campus (I can walk from my dorm to my farthest class in less than 10 minutes) and a relatively small number of people (5000 undergrad, I believe). The ratio of students to space is almost right, except that CMU doesn't have enough housing for its undergrads (There was a room draw fiasco in Spring 2008 when a third of the current freshman class didn't get a room. CMU has been reserving more places for incoming freshman on campus but doesn't have enough housing to guarantee for everyone).

Carnegie Mellon is a really tough school for the first couple of years, but the atmosphere is really nice and it is very collaborative. What's great is that it's not competitive and the students all help each other to get by. Spring Carnival is the huge event on campus. You get 2 days off in the spring, we bring in a comedian (Mitch Hedberg, Dimitri Martin, Human Giants, etc.), a band (The Roots, The Shins, Spoon, Incubus), and then there are small acts either from around the campus or around the country. What's really cool is that lots of different organizations build "booths" that are all themed & have games, primarily geared towards kids. They are very elaborate and people put in a lot of time. There are, of course, carnival rides, too. Finally, we have an event called Buggy, or Sweepstakes. Organizations build vehicles called "buggies" that are similar to box cars, although they're very aerodynamic & expensive (we are an engineering school). We find the smallest girl we can on campus, stick her in the buggy, then push her down a hill that reaches speeds of up to 35-40 mph! She's then pushed up several more hills to the finish line. It's pretty intense. CMU is located just outside of Pittsburgh. The public transportation is amazing, so you can get anywhere you need. You can easily go to baseball games, hockey games, but not so much football games (good luck getting a ticket). Although Pittsburghers love their sports, so it's fun to just watch a game in a bar. There are also a lot of museums, gardens, & parks. However, it may take a while to be able to get out into the city given academic demands.

What do I like? Really...everything. I know this is the best place for me. Tt's small but i can meet someone new everyday and I always see someone I know walking to class. Its soo diverse I can meet poeple who are good at the violin (my best firend) or people who are good at the bongo drums (kid down the hall) or people who are good at indian dance (girl next door)...its just so random I love it. I also love how chill it is here and how you just feel so at home. Everyone is so nice and welcoming because EVERYONE comes from out of state so noone is snobby and people don't really come in with a group of friends to kick you out of.. thats what really amazed me during orientation. Also, people say orientation is the best time of your life at CMY. You can take that the way you want. Some people dont go to any events and just sleep all of orientation (my guy friends). Some people go to all the events and get really into this summer-camp-like week we spend here (my girl firends). And some people go to some events but dont like ice breakers but love going out every night of orientation and having fun (me and my roommate). So I loved orientation but I just love being here overall. Also, dont beleive what you hear or read on like College Prowler, there are lots of hot guys here (the football team is soo hott!!--therefore all the guys in Beta Theta Pi (the football frat) are tooo!!) But probably my favorite thing here is the people. No doubt. Especially my sorority sisters. Rush and being in a sorority is not the norm here. People party and take you out and have fun but they are not rude, exclusive, coke addicts. I dont know, it seems all stereotypes are broken here. I just love it

CMU is the perfect size. I never feel lost in the crowd yet the student body is large enough to offer amazing diversity. Pittsburgh is a great city. There are plenty of unique restaurants and shopping districts.