@SkepticalOfMost I was at school when i wrote that so I didn’t really have time to provide you with a more complete answer. I found a post on another website, from a student at CMU, which pretty well sums up why I like CMU:
“The first thing you need to know about this school is that you will be doing insane amounts of work, and so will everyone else. Always. Even the weekends. All the time. Which isn’t a bad thing! One of the reasons I decided to come here because I wanted to be challenged by the work I was doing instead of being able to easily grab straight A’s and party. One of the few things I absolutely loathe about this place, though, is the hierarchy that seems to exist within the school. Essentially, Humanities and Business students are thought to do less work, followed by CFA, MCS, and then CIT, then SCS (of course). Its not that big of a deal, though. Also, Stress culture. People seem to be ruled by how much work they do-- people go around saying stuff like, Aw, I only got three hours of sleep last night! and the next guy will be all like, yeah, well I only got two! And they’ll sort of laugh it out but you know the first guy was trying to sound all stressed and worked to death-- but he got beaten. Its a really terrible little game that happens sometimes, so if you aren’t really excellent at coping with heavy stress, don’t come here. Seriously. Don’t. As far as Pittsburgh goes, its pretty cool. The transportation is free (the bus, I mean), there’s a lot of cool places, shopping centers, cute little shops, museums (which you can get into free-- score! if thats your thing.) And of course be ready to have some hardcore CMU pride. If you are here, you learn to love it and everyone here, because you know that if you are surviving at CMU then you can probably survive anything. Most people on campus think we work harder than-- and are more successful than-- Ivy League students, for the fact that we work so hard, and pour so much of ourselves into it. A lot of the time CMU is thought of as second best (to MIT and other techy schools, ivies, so on), and that is a big part of CMU pride. For whatever reason, a lot of us were told we weren’t good enough-- so CMU students have this sort of revenge thing. We will do amazing things. We will prove that they made the wrong decision! Whoever they are. And it feels awesome because for the most part, it’s true. So, I suppose you should draw the line at how much you are willing to pour into your education. If it isn’t your entire mind, body and soul, then watch out for this one. But if you are ready to take on a challenge and excel because of it, this is the place for you. Everyone here is super chill, you can be whatever you want to be, and you can pursue your life and education in the most intense, most satisfying ways. It gets tough, but its definitely worth it!”
Also, I should clarify; I’m asking if the education is objectively worth 50K per year. As in will I learn enough and be prepared enough for my future career to justify spending so much. I know there is no definitive answer to that, but I’d like to hear some opinions at least. Assume that I will do well in my classes, and that I will work hard. That may not happen, but just for the sake of making the question easier to answer, assume that it will. I think see where your questions are coming from. Am I correct that you are trying to guage whether I will enjoy myself at CMU? I know you and a lot of other people on CC may disagree with this very much, but I don’t care nearly as much about fit as I do about getting a good education that will prepare me for my career. I don’t mean to start a debate, I just want to make it clear where my priorities lie. I can go more in-depth about anything I’ve said here if it would help.
