<p>So I've gotten into Carnegie Mellon and Columbia Fu SEAS (and several others as well, but these are my top choices). I'm interested in majoring in computer science/engineering. While I know that job prospects are about the same, CMU seems to be more "hardcore engineering" while Fu is more theoretical, with liberal arts mixed in.</p>
<p>I've always been interested in the arts—photography and music especially, but I would be quite happy if I didn't have to take humanities courses other than freshman writing (but I don't <em>despise</em> the humanities—I did take AP English Language). I've been to NYC and Columbia numerous times and loved it. Whenever I was on campus I felt as though I'd be so happy to go to college there.</p>
<p>On the flipside, I've never been anywhere between NYC and Chicago, though, so I don't know much about Pittsburgh. I know CMU won the DARPA Urban Challenge, I know they have awesome robotics programs, I know their graduates get picked up by Intel and Google and Amazon. I applied to CMU because MIT was my favorite school in the world. </p>
<p>CMU is certainly a more "hardcore engineering" school. They have an extremely strong CS program, from which many people go to the Microsofts and Googles of the software industry. Not that SEAS is chopped liver; their robotics research is first-rate. RoboCup, anyone?</p>
<p>The "forced" aspects of liberal-arts that Columbia insists upon, for engineers, is:</p>
<ul>
<li>Take one of Lit Hum (fiction western canon), Contemporary Civ (nonfiction western canon), or Major Cultures (whatever you want)</li>
<li>Take one of Art Hum (history of western art), Music Hum (history of western music)</li>
<li>Freshman writing</li>
</ul>
<p>Nothing else will be forced on you to my understanding. You can take nonlinear fluid dynamics to your heart's content. Speaking personally, I indulged in a bunch of other non-technical courses which were absolutely extraordinary, notably Freedom of Speech and Press (taught by the president of the university), History of the City of NY (taught by Kenneth Jackson), Video Game Design & Development (not all that nontechnical, but an absolute blast), etc. If you're the kind of person who likes a wide-ranging variety of stuff, Columbia's a great place for that.</p>
<p>Pittsburgh's not that bad a city, but location is probably not a strong reason to attend CMU, unless you grew up around there.</p>
<p>Well, as I assume you know, the SEAS core is less heavy on humanities than the CC core.</p>
<p>You'd have to take University Writing; Contemporary Civs, essentially an intro to philosophy course, OR Lit Humanities, which is, as its name suggests, a course about great works of western literature (CC students have to take both of these); music humanities OR art humanities; principles of economics; and a plethora of regular technical engineering courses. </p>
<p>So other than a two-semester course on either philosophy or lit, you're not really taking anything you don't want to. And with that said, I really think it would be valuable to understand these areas.</p>
<p>Job <em>prospects</em> are the same, but there is a difference in the actual jobs SEAS and CMU grads take. My evidence is purely anecdotal, but many SEAS grads tend to take jobs in i-banking, law, and other fields, whereas grads of CMU would be more likely to take jobs in more technological fields.</p>
<p>Im in the same shoes as zeugma, and I love every aspect of SEAS EXCEPT for what wmmk said last: </p>
<p>
[quote]
Job <em>prospects</em> are the same, but there is a difference in the actual jobs SEAS and CMU grads take. My evidence is purely anecdotal, but many SEAS grads tend to take jobs in i-banking, law, and other fields, whereas grads of CMU would be more likely to take jobs in more technological fields.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I definitely want the kind of job CMU students get, but I'm fairly confident that with an SEAS degree I'll be able to get one of those jobs, even if it is a little bit harder. No one is going to force me or you to do the i-banking or finance - we will definitely be able to study engineering and become engineers.</p>
<p>So now it seems to be "do I want a robotics club or NYC?"
I suppose I could try to start one at Columbia (unless there already is one, in which case they need to step up their public awareness).</p>