Hi. Any thoughts on /experiences with Carnegie Mellon’s program–specifically for undergrads and cello performance?
My D is considering CMU, and my H and I are both CMU grads (but not in music), so I can offer some general comments. I can’t speak to the strength of their cello or orchestra programs. However, you can watch live-streamed (and many archived) performances of their ensembles via links on their music department website. If you follow CMU Music on Facebook, the live-streamed concerts are always announced. That may give you a good sense of the overall level of musicianship.
We visited campus 3 times with our D, and each time the current music students exuded a ton of love for the program and the school, and the professors and music admissions people were always very professional and friendly. We saw some excellent brass performances during music open house programs. My D loved everything about the campus vibe, for lack of a better word. The College of Fine Arts building is beautiful and feels like a conservatory (and the program is conservatory style).
A significant benefit to CMU is the overall atmosphere of the school. It is chock-full of super smart, innovative, ambitious people in a relatively small-sized community. There are always many exciting research projects going on and the students get involved in a lot of diverse activities and clubs. Pittsburgh is a great city and Pitt is down the street, so the whole area is buzzing with student life. If you like that type of environment and want to have a lot of opportunity to explore areas outside of music (or in conjunction with music), and hang with a very intellectual crowd, it is definitely worth exploring. Hopefully some recent or current CMU students will give some more of the detail you’re looking for about the cello or string program.