<p>So I visited CMU yesterday. I understood from the admissions people that class sizes are only large in the required classes (freshman year.)</p>
<p>How are class sizes?</p>
<p>Also, I took the tour but we never went inside housing buildings. </p>
<p>Is the housing pretty nice? No bunk beds?</p>
<p>required freshman courses can be close to 150. It gets smaller and smaller each year. Language classes are guaranteed to be less than 20. Specialized 4 year classes or electives can be 30-50. Very much depends on the class.</p>
<p>Housing is not bad... pretty much what you'd expect at most colleges. There are several dorms which house freshman. Morewood Gardens E Tower is all frosh. The newest dorm is "Newhouse". It has very nice common areas, but the rooms are tiny. (Bunk beds are not necessary.) I've also seen the rooms in Mudge. They are much bigger than Newhouse with two beds (not bunk beds). In Mudge freshman are in doubles which are connected to another double by a bathroom. They're pretty nice.</p>
<p>There are also single sex dorms and others that I haven't seen. Here's a link to learn more. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.housing.cmu.edu/buildings/%5B/url%5D">http://www.housing.cmu.edu/buildings/</a></p>
<p>Housing seems to be very variable. My son is at the Shirley Apartments. They are considered less desirable because they are a ten minute walk from the main campus, but his room is HUGE. There are just two kids in an apartment that has a bedroom with two beds (not bunked), plus a bathroom, plus a full kitchen with full size fridge, plus a living room with a dining table, two desks, sofa, two chairs and a coffee table and room to spare.</p>
<p>Class sizes: Let's say they efficient and appropriate for the work. You got to figure out how to work in a efficient manner on single tasks and tasks that require a group. </p>
<p>Room Size: Be happy that you have guaranteed housing for 4 years. There is a room style that can fit your taste. You will discover that a group of friends who can live together will have a better choice of rooms, this is because of the lottery system based on class. Get into activities, clubs, and study groups and you will find that rooms are either places to sleep or go to a party.</p>
<p>im a freshman here. only 2 of my classes have 100-150: multivariate and economics, which is pretty reasonable. my english (interp) and chinese class have about <15 and intro to business about 90.</p>
<p>i really like the small classes =)</p>
<p>im a freshman too. 3 of my classes have like 100+ people and that's calc and modern chem and a psych class (which incl a LOT of upperclassmn). freshmen seminar, english interp have 15ish people each. My recitations have like 20 people.</p>
<p>housing is good. i like it. i like my big room. newhouse is like.. the only good thing i like about that place is that it has AC.. cos i was dying in the first 3 weeks from the heat. apart from that, its not that special. i guess it's "new" but everywhere is pretty much refurnished. havent been in morewood e tower but ive been in morewood garden suites and they are pretty nice (.. i like wooden floors). I've been in resnik and westwing and they are like to die for but you probably wont get those. I've been in hamerschlag (all guys) and its nice there too but it kinda smells like feet and rooms are smaller than our ones (donner.. has HUGE rooms). Henderson is nice with the AC. Mcgill is nice too.. Actually all the housing's pretty good, excluding off campus apts - Ive never been but i heard it was ok but it sucks that they live 10-15min away from campus.. like imagine when the cold hits... It's just that no one house is specifically better than the rest.. (well i guess apart from resnik and westwing..).</p>
<p>Asked my freshman son how big his classes were. Two math classes (one of which is taken by virtual all SCS freshmen), two computer classes in the required sequence, and a World History class. They were all 50 to 150 with recitations of 20 to 30. As far as I know, unlike some colleges, CMU has no freshman seminar program where well known faculty create smaller courses for at least some freshmen. Too bad.</p>
<p>H&SS and MCS both have freshman seminar programs. I'm not sure what faculty teach them, but they are small classes on non-traditional subjects. I know one of the MCS courses from two years ago was about fractals; I have little idea what H&SS seminars cover. I also think the special joint programs between arts and humanities etc. have seminars, but I'm not sure about that.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info.</p>
<p>My D is a senior who lived on campus in Forbes house freshman year, a specialty group house offering leadership and service opportunities. In Sophmore year she moved off campus to Squirrel Hill with 2 classmates-which has been a great deal. They rented a three bedroom townhouse for much less than a dorm, and you can leave your stuff over the summer. With a kitchen, we also do not buy into the meal plan, which also saves quite a bit. She complained about the spotty weekend bus service during the cold wet days of winter, but other than that, it is an alternative to think of. Your freshman year will go by much faster than you think, so don't fret too much about the dorms. Most of her upper level classes have been <20</p>
<p>Glad to hear that I am wrong about freshmen seminars - at least at some of the schools!</p>