<p>Hey guys, someone on another thread told me CMU is more oriented around engineering and business, and less focused on the science. Is this true? I know CIT And Tepper are real hard to get into, but does CMU place most of their interest on those 2 schools only? I'm looking for a school that's strong in the lib. arts and sciences.</p>
<p>I'm on CMU's priority waiting list, and I'm going to have to wait until May 5 to know the decision. These are the schools I'm trying to decide between:
-NYU GSP
-Stevens Tech
-Rutgers-New Bruns.</p>
<p>This is probably a long shot, but maybe a few of you have been in a similar situation to mine, so I'm hoping you can give honest answers and opinions.</p>
<p>I just came back from visiting CMU. I have been accepted to MCS for a Bio major. I'm not sure what you are interested in, but I like biotech / genetics and molecular bio. I was disappointed to learn that CMU does not have an automated DNA sequencer. I had gone directly to the dean of MCS to ask. The science labs were nice, but did not necessarily have all of the equipment that I would like to have access to. CMU's science program is def. strong, but def. not as strong as their engineering / business programs, thus the reason that it is less competitive. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Most of the university is definitely invested in Tepper, Heinz, CIT, CS and CFA. HSS has high investment in psych (grad/undergrad), SDS (social decision science) and IS (Information Systems)</p>
<p>This isn't to say that science is strongly invested in--IMO, the science department is excellent, however, you will find that in terms of Biology, CMU tends to be more chemistry based. I was once a bio major and was disappointed with the amount of programs they offered geared specifically for my major that were not interdisciplinary or entirely chemistry-based.</p>
<p>Definitely wait on CMU. It’s programs are higher ranked than the rest of the schools you listed. There are plenty of research opportunities and you would regret giving the opportunity away in the longterm.</p>
<p>Honestly speaking, CMU’s strength is indeed in computer science, robotics, engineering, business, and fine arts (including architecture and design). There are only a few areas outside the aforementioned ones that can be considered top notch (e.g. cognitive psychology, public affairs, statistics, and certain sub-areas of applied math). </p>
<p>Having said that, CMU’s undergrad science (physics, chemistry, biology), although not comparable, let’s say, to MIT, Caltech, or Harvard, is nonetheless pretty decent. If you want to go deeper, you may try going to a higher-ranked graduate school later. To do that however, you’ll have to build up your research resume while in college, in addition to getting good grades. One of the good things about CMU is that, as mentioned above, there are plenty of research opportunities available.</p>