<p>I made a post here: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/898389-ucb-cmu.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/898389-ucb-cmu.html</a> about CMU v UCB for engineering, which are the two schools that I narrowed my choices down to. </p>
<p>My major concern is the atmosphere of the university. I have no idea what it is like at CMU, while I know it is extremely competitive at Berkeley. I went to a small private high school where it was a more friendly unspoken competition where everybody still helped everybody and grades were not so much of a concern. I was curious if this is sort of the case at CMU. </p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>The only school I ever heard of with a cutthroat atmosphere is John Hopkins. I’m sure both Carnegie Mellon and UCB are filled with good people.</p>
<p>I’ve spoken to lots of people at CMU when I was an pre-college and a few students from my high school…and no one ever described CMU as cut-throat. No one- -everyone works together on problem sets which is very attractive.</p>
<p>The consistent feedback and reputation seems to be that CMU CIT and SCS have an excessive amount of work - so much so that it’s actually painful and no one ever gets sufficient sleep – all nighters seem frequent
This scares the Shizzles out of me…but I hear that you are working with your peers together to get all this work done- it’s not a kill everyone for the curve kind of deal.</p>
<p>I hope some current students weigh in on this…</p>
<p>Well it seems that engineering usually requires tons of work no matter the school, but your peers/environment make a big difference. </p>
<p>Yeah I agree, I hope some current students weigh in :P</p>
<p>The only program that seems to have a highly competitive mentality from my knowledge is Design, but only because there’s like 60 of them and they team up on some projects. I’ve heard of SCS and CIT being intense and difficult, but never have I heard my SCS friends call it competitive or cutthroat. I know there are huge 251 study groups where everyone works together on the homework and studies for exams 
Hopefully some SCS or CIT kids can weigh in too.</p>
<p>We heard 251 being compared to an enema with hot sauce…
But once you’re done you feel better</p>
<p>(SteelersGators-- I believe this is where you once again thank g-d that your mom is NOT posting to CC)</p>
<p>Seriously - i think the positive yet stressful atmosphere at CMU is why both my kids didn’t even blink an eye at other well known and more highly ranked schools…it’s hard enough getting through these programs-- and CMU does really seem to be a peer-supportive environment.</p>
<p>Good luck with all your choices - it’s nice to have choices!</p>
<p>As a current SCS student, I can attest to the friendly yet competitive atmosphere at CMU. </p>
<p>It certainly is NOT “cutthroat.” There is definitely competition but peers are friendly and often willing to work together in study groups which will be necessary for certain classes. I’ve taken 251 and I worked in a group of 4 people. We freely share thoughts and ideas and never once has there been any animosity where one student refuses to help another.</p>
<p>Could someone please tell me what “251” is?</p>
<p>Great ideas in Computer Science 15 251
It’s worse than Concepts 21127</p>
<p>Both are discrete mathematics classes…both have proofs
Both required for CS majors</p>
<p>127 required for ECE</p>
<p>These are the two CS weeder classes… this is when people move into other majors…</p>
<p>I would like to know what are the ECE weeder classes- presuming you survive 18100</p>
<p>Catalog link is on CMU home page -search button (sorry man, I’m too lazy right now)</p>
<p>The two weeder classes for ECE are 18100 and 21127. Though the future courses are definitely more difficult than those two, by that time you’ve already made the decision to tough it out.</p>
<p>On Topic: ECE and SCS are definitely not cutthroat. Most of us are too busy trying to get our work done to care about curve ruining. Also most of the professors only curve up. That is, if you have over 90%, you can bet that you have an A. I think for certain classes at UCB this isn’t the case, where even a 94% can mean a B (which I guess may lead to a more cutthroat environment…). But that’s just anecdotal, so take it with a grain of salt.</p>