CMU vs University of Rochester

Colleges and Universities A-Z Carnegie Mellon University
1

<p>Hey everyone. I've narrowed my colleges down to Carnegie-Mellon (H&SS, MCS, Science and Humanities Scholar Program) and the University of Rochester. I visited both campuses and loved them. UR gave me a scholarship and overall more money than CMU, but I will appeal my financial aid package from CMU. </p>

<p>I would like to major in Mathematics and/or Economics, but I am also interested in other areas such as psychology, philosophy, physics, biology, and engineering. I'm a techy and mathy kind of guy, but I also really like literature and social sciences.</p>

<p>I've heard that Carnegie-Mellon has great programs in econ and math, but people coming to CMU seem like they already know for sure what they want to study. Also, I am concerned that I may begin to dislike my major, and that it would be too late to switch majors if I find another subject that I like better. In addition, many people I've talked to say that the Gen Eds at H&SS are BS and a waste of time, that the humanities and social sciences at Carnegie-Mellon are not great, and that the only descent/good academic areas are engineering and computer science.</p>

<p>On the other hand, UR doesn't seem to be as good in math as CMU is, but it offers great programs in the humanities and social sciences and would let me study humanities as well as sciences and engineering before I choose a major. One slight reservation with going to UR is that my brother already goes there, and I would like to go to a different school.</p>

<p>Can anybody help me or give me some advice? </p>

<p>Also, can anyone comment on the math and economics programs at Carnegie Mellon or at U of R?</p>

<p>Also, please tell me if this is the wrong forum for this thread or if it would be OK if I posted the same thread in the Rocheser forum.</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

2

<p>I don't know the University of Rochester, but CMU is a very good choice for majors in mathematics and economics, not to mention other areas like philosophy, psychology and engineering, which you also mentioned as possible areas of interest. In fact, the aforementioned areas, together with robotics and CS, are precisely the ones where CMU is normally considered world-class. If money is not an issue, choosing CMU should be a no-brainer in my opinion.</p>

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<p>An interesting thread, I too am deciding between UR/CMU and a few other schools. I've visited and researched both but I still have a pretty outsider opinion.</p>

<p>I think the scariest thing about CMU is how decided you have to be on your major, basically in your first year. Rochester, one the other hand, actually requires that you explore other subject areas before you offically declare your major. I think it would be really cool if there were more people like you at CMU, since I do think that their academics are superior, but generally people seem much more one sided (ie, cs majors who try to avoid as many humanites courses as possible).
Another thing worth mentioning, however, is that mathematics is one of the quicker majors at CMU (particually if you have a head start, which you probably will) so you may have more time to devote to electives and even a double major or minor.
I'd say that overall, if you plan to go to grad school, aim for the least debt because in that game I can't imagine a CMU grad would have any huge advantage over a UR unless the field was CS. However, CMU def does have more name recognition and an high demand from recruiters, so that may be the better option if you want to go to work.</p>

<p>Finally, I wouldn't worry about your brother being at the same school. Chances are, you may actually end up getting some great insight as to what professors to take from, what housing is good, and connections to other upperclassmen. And if you don't want these things, your brother is just 1/9000 people at the school that you could easily overlook.</p>

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<p>I found that most of the humanities classes at CMU were pretty easy compared to my more technical classes, so I didn't enjoy taking most of them, but I wouldn't say by any stretch of the imagination that my friends didn't enjoy discussing the humanities. Most of my friends read through books religiously, enjoyed talking about history, philosophy, and our opinions on various books we've read. Most of my friends were MSE, CS, ECE, and MechE. I think it's just the rigidity of classes that most technical people don't mesh with very well.</p>

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<p>I am in the same boat!
I am deciding between U of R and CMU as someone going into pre-med and the humanities.
I know that CMU is strong in computer science and engineering but how do premeds do there and are the humanities as strong and prestigious?
Also, many go to Rochester for premed but will the competition be killer?</p>

<p>Basically, I know that CMU is the better name but how do their humanities (HSS school) rate next to rochester?</p>

<p>Also opinions on which one to choose in terms of social life and qaulity of living?</p>

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<p>I heard that U of Rochester has a flexible curriculum with a lot of choice--you take courses of interest to you (at least that is what I recall of the literature sent here). Rochester is very cold in the winter and Pittsburgh is quite humid in the summer. My son's opinion of CMU is that it is outstanding for school of computer science. I also heard that it is harder to switch majors at CMU--there have to be openings. IT is like you apply to a specific school within the university at CMU.</p>

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<p>mdcissp, you are correct about the Rochester curriculum. The only "carved in stone" requirement is a writing seminar, and there are about 30 to choose from each semester. Then you must major in one area (humanities, social science, and natural science), and take a "cluster" of 3 related courses in the other 2. (Majors and/or minors satisfy the cluster.) There are no other requirements. </p>

<p>Last summer, as a pre-freshman waiting to go to Rochester, my d would hear her friends talking about the summer reading they needed to do. "Oh, no," she'd think, "I haven't done my read. . . oh, never mind. I don't have any." Her friends would talk about the language placement test, and think, "Oh, no. I didn't take my placement . . . oh, never mind. There isn't one."</p>

<p>yvb322, as far as my daughter can tell from her pre-med friends, they're all very smart but very "chill" as she puts it. They help each other, they work hard, but they don't seem to compete with each other.</p>

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<p>thanks everyone for your responses. my decision may come down to wherever i get the most money. if CMU doesnt accept my financial aid appeal, I will definitely go to UR.</p>

<p>yvb322, if you are interested in pre-med and the humanities, i would say definitely UR. the humanities and pre-med are among the many programs at UR that are highly regarded. even though UR might seem like a mid/low tier state school to the average person (have you ever gotten those puzzled looks when you told someone you got in?), it is very well respected by the academic community and employers. and as for pre-med, there's always going to be competition between pre-meds wherever you go, but many people there say that the school's environment is chill/noncompetitive.</p>

<p>is there a CMU student in these forums who is studying specifically math, econ, philosophy, psychology, or physics?</p>

<p>also, just curious, i'm not concerned much about prestige, but how is the mellon college of science regarded, and what are its strongest programs?</p>

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<p>Thanks for the feedback!
My biggest concern is that if I will want to switch out of pre-med, then should I go to a school like CMU where it will be better for grad school or still go to U of R because of their focus in humanities even though it's lower in rank</p>

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<p>There's a decent number of pre-meds at CMU; I know one of my friends in chemistry complained about them a bit. Just keep in mind there is no "pre-med" major and you'll have to get a traditional major instead.</p>

<p>As for MCS, I'd say it's decently well respected, though it's not nearly as well known as our school of engineering, computer science, or business. I did a minor in physics and liked most of the professors, though many of the kids there are double majors in CS or some other math-oriented field (I don't remember any other engineers in my high-level physics classes other than the two other materials engineers there with me). It's still a great program with some really neat research going on, but I don't think it's as well regarded a program as it was 30-40 years ago.</p>

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<p>UR has an excellent graduate school placement rate in humanities, social science and natural sciences/math. And with its flexible curriculum, it is very easy to "switch" majors. The difference in "rankings" between Rochester and CMU will not matter to graduate schools; both are highly respected institutions.</p>

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<p>Keep in mind that some of the UR departments have long lists of required courses (and recommended sequencing) for majors, even though the overall undergraduate curriculum is "open." This means, for example, that if you want to take advanced courses in a foreign language and major in engineering, you better have made your mind up before sophomore year, or things can get complicated when it come time to select courses for any given semester. Also, UR has an optional fifth year program that provides for even more flexibility!</p>

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<p>
[quote]
I found that most of the humanities classes at CMU were pretty easy compared to my more technical classes, so I didn't enjoy taking most of them, but I wouldn't say by any stretch of the imagination that my friends didn't enjoy discussing the humanities. Most of my friends read through books religiously, enjoyed talking about history, philosophy, and our opinions on various books we've read. Most of my friends were MSE, CS, ECE, and MechE. I think it's just the rigidity of classes that most technical people don't mesh with very well.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Most rankings place CMU as top 10 or higher at least in the following areas/sub-areas:</p>

<p>Applied mathematics, architecture, business, civil and environmental engineering, computer science, drama, electrical and computer engineering, engineering and public policy, human-computer interaction, information systems, language technology, philosophy (pure and applied logic), psychology (neural and cognitive science), public policy and management, robotics, and statistics. </p>

<p>CMU's chemical, materials, and mechanical engineering programs on the other hand are probably considered top 15, whereas economics probably ranks lower (maybe top 20 ?) even though six of CMU's past or present faculty members have been awarded Nobel prizes in economics ! </p>

<p>Finally, although CMU's rankings are not particularly noteworthy in the broader area of humanities, it should be mentioned that, in the latest Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index (which is more relevant to graduate school applicants than undergrads), CMU actually ranked # 4 in History! CMU's graduate programs in Second Language Acquisition and Rhetoric also ranked respectively # 3 and # 4 in scholarly productivity, respectively under the categories "language, various" and "communication".</p>

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<p>CMU's job network should alone be worth it with regards to Math/Econ.</p>

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<p>i appealed my financial aid package from CMU and got a $7,000 scholarship. but, they did not match my aid package from UR, who offered a little more than $4,000 per year. would it still be worth it to go to CMU because of its job network? or would UR be a better choice because they offered me more money?</p>

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<p>Not that big of a difference, therefore I'd choose CMU, especially for Math/Econ where the median salaries are very high.</p>

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<p>thanks for all your replies. i have chosen to go to the university of rochester next year.</p>