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Carnegie Mellon University
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Inside Scoop

Quick Stats

School Slang
  • The black chairs: The black leather chairs in the middle of the UC where people meet/sleep in between classes
  • C-Cons: The computer lab assistants
  • CFA: College of Fine Arts (Can’t Fu***n’ Add)
  • Club Hunt: Hunt Library; the outside of the building is lit up at night, and students will spend the night here instead of at an actual club sometimes—hence the name.
  • Cluster: A computer lab
  • CS: Computer science (Can’t Score; Classes Suck)
  • The cut: Carnegie Mellon’s central lawn
  • The Donner Ditch: An area behind Donner Hall, the site of numerous barbecues
  • The Dungeon: The basement of Donner Hall
  • The fence: Fence in the middle of campus that gets painted by students as tradition
  • Flagstaff: A grassy hill behind Hunt Library and Baker Hall; part of Schenley Park
  • H&SS: The College of Humanities & Social Sciences (High School Studies; Hot, Sexy, & Stupid; H & Less Stress)
  • The HUB: Enrollment offices in the basement of Warner Hall. Pay your tuition here, request official transcripts, or get a replacement ID card.
  • Maggie Mo: Nickname for Margaret Morrison, a building on campus
  • Mini 1 & Mini 2: One semester can be divided into two mini sessions. A few classes are offered in this shorter format.
  • Misc. Market: An online bulletin board where students post random messages and sell things
  • OLR: Online registration
  • PHI: Panther Hollow Inn, a popular bar right off campus
  • The quad: Where the fraternities and sororities are located
  • Schlag: Hamerschlag Hall, an all-male and mostly freshman dorm building
  • The trucks: Food trucks on Tech Street, behind the soccer field and next to Donner House
  • The UC: The University Center, main student center on campus
  • Walking to the Sky: A 100 foot pole at the front of campus that juts up from the ground and has statues "walking" up the side. It loses its novelty after a few months and is resented by most students (also known as, "The pole").
Things I Wish I Knew Before Coming To School
  • Don’t buy the bed sheets and linens from the school catalog.
  • Don’t skip “Playfair” during orientation.
  • Don't rely on the Pittsburgh bus system.
  • Don't wait until November to buy winter clothes—winter usually comes early.
  • Eight hours of sleep is a rarity.
  • Get on the smallest meal plan possible.
  • It helps to have an ID, but it's not a necessity.
  • It’s not a big party school.
  • The workload is almost overwhelming.
Tips to Succeed
  • Actually go to class.
  • Always dispute bad grades.
  • Ask the TAs tons of questions.
  • Check your email at least 10 times a day.
  • Don't get caught bringing alcohol into the dorms.
  • If you have an ID, never show it to a police officer.
  • Know what you want to study before coming here.
  • Learn time management—and fast.
  • Pick classes you actually like.
  • Research your professors before choosing your classes.
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Carnegie Mellon Student ReviewsWhat's This?

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Inside Scoop at Carnegie Mellon University

kathyu8

Computer Engineering '14

5.0
A+

CS Is Awesome!

Since everyone must take a programming class, the later options are many since all the CS classes are well-taught and interesting. Any non-major will draw great benefit from it.

Mar 27, 2012

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Inside Scoop at Carnegie Mellon University

cmupride

Creative Writing '15

5.0
A+

I Love This School; Perfect Balance

Everyone is proud of their nerdiness. "Only at CMU" is thrown around a lot, but it's all in good humor. There is a lot of work, but the stress just makes us more crazy and appreciative when we let loose.

Mar 10, 2012

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Inside Scoop at Carnegie Mellon University

dgsisbn

Economics '15

3.8
B+

Involvement

Carnival, Greek Sing, Lunar Gala, free concerts, major networking

Feb 25, 2012

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Page 1 of 5
User rating for Carnegie Mellon University - Inside Scoop is 4.6 out of 5 based on 14 user reviews.

Facts

Traditions
  • Bagpipes: CMU has a strange and storied tradition of bagpipe-playing. It’s not uncommon to hear the comforting (shrill) noise of the pipes floating through campus on almost any night of the week. This is one of CMU’s more eccentric, endearing traditions that has come to grow on students. CMU is the only university in the country to offer a degree in bagpipe music.
  • Buggy: Buggies are small, cylindrical push carts that students race around the campus streets during Carnival Week. They've been called "glorified soap box cars," but they have evolved to become aerodynamic fiberglass vehicles. The buggies are piloted by a “pusher” and are steered by the driver, a female student who is situated within the buggy. Students prepare all year, building and testing their buggies so that they’ll be ready to race in time for Spring Carnival.
  • Clippership: The Clippership is constantly offering leisure boat trips around Pittsburgh’s three rivers. During orientation week, CMU reserves an entire ship for the incoming freshman class to party on all night. Upon graduation, seniors ride the ship again in a trip bidding farewell to CMU. As a freshman, it’s a great way to meet new friends. As a senior, it’s a fun way to say goodbye to everyone you’ve gotten to know through the course of your CMU career.
  • Dancers’ Symposium: Dancers’ Symposium is held yearly at the end of fall and spring semesters. The show features student-choreographed dances ranging in style from ballet to hip-hop. Any student can volunteer to dance or choreograph a dance. Many students perform in more than one dance.
  • The fence: At the center of CMU’s campus, is "the fence." While the fence itself serves no practical purpose, it’s a Carnegie Mellon tradition for students to paint personal messages or advertisements for parties on it. Students can only paint the fence between the hours of 12 a.m. and 6 a.m. Once it’s painted, students must sleep outside to guard it from other students who are eager to paint it again before sunrise.
  • Greek Sing: Greek Sing is an annual event where CMU’s Greek organizations perform original song and dance routines to support a local charitable organization. Every March, the fraternities and sororities compete in doubles and singles to raise money for a good cause and to see which Greek organizations can put on the best show.
  • The Kiltie Band: Have you ever seen a marching band perform every game decked out in full Scottish gear, kilts included? The Kiltie Band has been performing at every home football game since CMU hosted Notre Dame on Andrew Carnegie’s birthday in 1922.
  • Lunar Gala: Lunar Gala is an annual student-run fashion show held every February. The models are all CMU students, and most of the design lines are student-designed and -made. Members of CMU's most prestigious dance troupes, DS Company and Soulstylz, perform during this two- to three-hour show, and more than 100 students are involved in the planning, designing, modeling, dancing, and lighting.
Urban Legends
  • A complete network of steam tunnels provides an underground way to get around the whole campus.
  • Bill Gates once offered to hire CMU’s whole graduating computer science class.
  • Endowment at CMU is very small, which is supposedly why its ranking doesn’t go up.
  • Playboy ranked CMU the "second-ugliest campus in America."
  • Wean Hall houses back-up computers for the Department of Defense.
Did You Know? CMU is a "night owl" campus. People often don't start working until 9 or 10 p.m., and campus police doesn't even check IDs at the library until 2 a.m.

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Most Recent Student Author View all

Name
Raina Bradford-Jennings
Hometown
Brookfield, CT
Major
Professional Writing
Grad Year
2014

College Prowler is seeking talented student authors to assist with writing and updating the College Prowler guides to their schools. This is a great opportunity for a student to gain experience and tremendous exposure, utilize new media techniques, and share advice with high school students about what life is really like at your college.

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How do we get our information? Find out here or report an error here. The statistics on our site are from the National Center for Education Statistics IPEDS database.
We update this information twice annually, most recently in May 2012, but it may not be the most recent information available for a particular school.
For additional information we encourage you to visit school websites or contact the schools directly.