Carnegie Mellon University
Reviews

Amateur Professors

They have a host of British-trained professors, which is a problem since they don't TA while they are getting their PhD's. Their teaching skills are lackluster, and they have a very limited number of published papers. This is an issue if you want to go to grad school and need to get recommendations. However, there are a number of faculty that teach only one course, and these members are erudite and reachable.

Good Racial Diversity, but Political?

I've met people here that I never would have met otherwise. There is a large international student population and everyone is very accepting. Politically, the campus is largely leftist, and sometimes those of differing viewpoints are not as accepted.

Fraternity Quad

Reasonably available if you want to be in a frat or sorority. Good parties when you are a freshman/soph but they get exceedingly boring as you progress in your collegiate career. For those that don't get much social interaction in classes (i.e. lecture courses), greek is a good way to make friends.

Great Variety

The food off campus is great but a bit pricey. If you don't mind spending some extra money, then off campus is the way to go

Food @ CMU

While there is a large variety of foods, the quality and quantity is terrible. Everyone wants to get off the meal plan ASAP. The block system is rather rigid, I'm unable to eat twice on a block in the same time period.

Oakland and Shadyside

There are tons of restaurants to go to in oakland and shadyside which are both right near campus. There's lots of variety. You can find a good place to eat for all different occasions. My favorites are Pamela's for breakfast in Oakland, and Elbow Room for dinner in Shadyside.

So Many Cheap/Good Options

you only have to walk down to Pitt or Shadyside, to find either cheap chain restaurants, or local 'delicacies'. The 'O', Quaker Steak, and the Elbow Room are places in Pitt or Shadyside, and are really good. It's mostly 'american' food, but there are Thai restuaratns, sushi, and other things in the immediate vicinity too

Great If You Like Cold

It can get very cold in the winter but the weather is very sporadic. It will be freezing one day then really nice the next

It's Very Nice

There is plenty to do, there are lots of food places near by. Having free busses is great since you can go anywhere you want.

Market District & Waterfront

Check out the market district for great grocery stores, also the water front has some fun restaurants. Like, Eat N Park, P.F. Chang's

Weather Sucks

There is constantly a cloud cover that makes it very depressing. The weather often ruins outdoor activities, especially athletic practices. It makes it miserable to live off campus. Luckily the school and the city are both good about cleaning up inclement weather (snow/sleet/ice) pretty quickly.

Shitsburgh

We have the 2nd most rainy days in the nation; At least Seattle has hipsters.

Health Could Be Better, Safety Is Fine

Many students consider health services on campus a joke. I myself have had the unfortunate experience of dealing with Campus health services when I got the swine flu. I had no problem with services while I was sick, but two weeks later I had bronchitis and health services was not at all helpful with prescribing and giving me advice on when to attend class agan. There have been some safety concerns off campus often times near where students live. Campus police are very good at sending out emails notifying us about thefts and violence like this, even if the incidents do not necessarily happen towards students. The only way to help prevent these incidents, though, is to not walk alone at night or even during the day if you are attracting unwanted attention. You can never be completely safe at any urban university, but the presence of so many people is an attractive part of being at an urban university for me!

Transportation

The bus are not very timely. Sometimes you have to wait for hours...

Drugs & Alcohol....

Almost all of my friends smoke pot. CMU is known as a nerd school, but almost everyone I know smokes weed, and almost everyone I know drinks. They're not very open about it, the drugs are kept secretive. So don't be surprised when you find out someone smokes, it's most likely that almost everyone does, they're just not outwardly open about it. Almost everyone drinks, but we're also not a huge party school. Parties can be disappointing. That's what U-Pit is for. CMU follows an Amnesty policy, so they're forgiving which is great. Peer pressure isn't apparent, you either want to or you dont.

Students @ CMU

We're a school of nerds, but we don't all look like it. Everyone at this school, for the most part, is extremely intelligent. It's not like a normal university: sadly, stereotypically, not everyone is necessarily model-pretty. Besides looks, everyone here is generally very nice. Every time I've lost something, someone has picked it up and returned it to lost and found, or will go as far as finding your email and letting you know that they found something you lost. There have only been minor thefts, but that's been from leaving items out in the open in public areas, which is pretty much a stupid thing to do. General summary: nice, smart, people.

Life @ CMU

The dorms are pretty nice. CMU offers a lot for their students, including multiple gyms, printers all around campus, building accessibility, etc. The school costs a lot, but you get what you pay for. The only thing I've seen wrong with the school is the price. Everything is offered to you: multiple opportunities for internships, jobs, clubs, etc. The housing process is simple. CMU's whole system of operation is simple for what I can remember. Definitely live off campus after freshman year, because it is so much cheaper.

People @ CMU

Everyone here is highly diverse, and very accepting. It's not uncommon to hear multiple people speaking a different language on your way to class. It's actually a minority to only be able to speak one language. Sexual orientation and political beliefs are shared and are also diverse, yet accepted.

You Come Here for a Reason

Many people think the CMU population is homogeneous--that we're all a bunch of nerds. That is pretty much true, but this doesn't mean that we aren't aesthetically diverse. The arts, design, and architecture schools are full of attractive, unique and interesting people who range from coming on extremely strong to rarely leaving studio. The humanities and science colleges are home to some of the most "normal" easy-going people you will meet on campus. The Engineering and Comp Sci schools have their handful of "characters", but you would be surprised at how many of their students stay on the dean's list and manage to play a sport and go out on the weekends. I love how everyone at this school is a little weird, but we still can form meaningful relationships, party, and get high starting salaries. We haven't got a lot of Tartan pride, but we are proud of how hard we work and reward ourselves accordingly. The most disappointing thing for me so far has been the quality of teaching in CIT, with professors and TAs being difficult to get straight answers from (and in one or two cases, any useful information at all), but it only forced me to work harder and I feel like I'm mostly learning how to teach myself; a skill that will be invaluable in the workplace.

Make of It What You Will

There is a lot to do in Pittsburgh if you have a car and know someone from Pittsburgh. Most students stay on campus and hate the weather, but there are many great outings to be had at Penguins hockey games, at the many art galleries and museums, parks, and local neighborhoods that make up the bulk of the city. The best way to experience Pittsburgh is through restaurants: check out dive bars on the South Side, get a steak on the North Shore, find delicacies in the Strip District (not a red-light district, but a marketplace), get some kosher pickles and bagels in Squirrel Hill or grab some Italian food in Bloomfield. Don't bet on the neighboring University of Pittsburgh to offer much in terms of social life or sports teams, as CMU students don't seem to spend much time in Oakland, but there is a lot to do down the street in terms of shopping or cheap food. (Lots of restaurants offer half price food after 11pm during the week; organizations make a habit of going). There are hundreds of opportunities to volunteer in Pittsburgh as well, but none are in very close proximity to campus. If you want to be adventurous, there is a lot to do, but you need to become very familiar with the area and public transportation.

All Sorts of People

There's at least a few of every type of people, but there are a very noticeably large number of Koreans.

Mostly Good

The library is nicely located, and there are two athletic centers--and definitely not enough gym space. The student center has everything, and hosts many campus activities. A lot of people are very involved and there are a lot to get involved in as well.

Great Academics

The professors really know what they are talking about. So far, all the professors I've encountered have been very interesting, and are really engaged in their field.

Pretty Slack

You can pretty much do what you want as long as your not stupid about it. Citations happen occasionally but not a lot

Lots of Variety...At First

When you first get to CMU, you're overwhelmed by choices of eating venues, but as the semester wears on the food quality generally starts seeming worse and worse and you really do just get bored...but compared to other schools it's not bad.