<p>I am currently a second year student at university in London, England (Imperial College). I have been selected to go on an exchange for one year to Carnegie Mellon. I am curious whether the chemical engineering department at carnegie mellon has a good reputation, as I would be leaving one of the best departments in Britian and Europe.</p>
<p>Another concern I have is that I have quite an active social life at university and a number of posts on this site have lead me to believe that life at carnege mellon is quite boring as many of the students lock themselves in there rooms doing work. Is this true, or an exaggeration?</p>
<p>I would be grateful if anyone could reply. Thanks</p>
<p>The ChemE department is solid, and though I don't know the exact ratings, I'm sure somewhere on this board you can find them.</p>
<p>As for the lack of a social life at CMU, I would say this board probably exagerates. Though it's not the same as a huge party school, it's not like everyone stays inside eitheir. I would say about 1/5 of the students meet the "locked in the room" sterotype (mostly guys, actually), and the rest range from those who party on the weekends but work all week to those who never seem to take a break from having a good time to tend to thier schoolwork, though they are rarer at CMU than other places. If you need more info, feel free to PM me.</p>
<p>It's the site of their school paper...on the left you'll notice there's a recent article on international students at cmu you might find interesting.</p>
<p>Engineering in general at CMU is one of the best in the US. Most negative comments about social life are posted by non-students. Pittsburgh's a great small city, and next door to CMU is UPittsburgh with 20,000+ students. So there are lots of college kids in Oakland section of Pgh.</p>
<p>Thanks. The article was quite informative. The girl from london who is quoted at the end was in the year above me, I should probably send her an email (although she is the only person with negative comments).</p>