User Profile
superguau
Carnegie Mellon University '14
Majoring in Mechanical Engineering
Member since 1/19/2012
B+
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.
Jan 19, 2012
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A
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.
Jan 19, 2012
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