In term of prestige.. where does CMU stand?

<p>CMU's Drama program is indeed on par with Juilliard, with both rated in the top 5 in the country.</p>

<p>In all honesty...I think CMU is pretty far down on the list. I mean sure, Comp. Sci. and engineering and all that is well and good, but overall people mostly say w t f is CMU? Either that or the never think about it because its pretty "plebian." According to USNews, biased source, CMU is in the mid 20's or something, and when you really think about it, that's actually pretty far down on the list. Even when you look at international rankings, you never see CMU anywhere. The school just doesn't have a whole lot going for it. When you look at the best graduate programs for any subject, CMU never tends to appear on any of the lists. Which kind of begs the question w t f is CMU?</p>

<p>Hey. I understand that sort of idea about CMU. Most people I know near my home don't know CMU. I say I'm from CMU they ask "Is that a community college?" I try not to fall out of my seat.</p>

<p>That said, those that do know CMU know it is a great school. Eyes widen and low whistles sound when you mention it. And those that know what CMU is tend to be companies such as previously mentioned Google and Microsoft.</p>

<p>I think its the same internationally too. Those that know it, look at it with high regard. Those that don't look at you funny when you say "Mellon". </p>

<p>I know in Taiwan, almost everyone I met knew what CMU was and that hushed-omg-amazing reaction was definitely there. But now, in Japan, it's mixed. Those that know it give that same reaction, but others just think I'm in a school for farmers (Mellon = melon and 'Pittsburgh' also has a term for a type of fruit in it).</p>

<p>I read somewhere (I can't remember where) that CMU was considered a hidden treasure. Or something like that. Somethiing amazing that just doesn't get the publicity it deserves.</p>

<p>Also, I think there is a sort of nicety about not having too much prestige. Something about having to keep up faces and maintain a reputation.</p>

<p>wow to the last 3 or so posts...</p>

<p>Where do you guys live anyways, and what kind of poeple are in your community? (that's not a diss, just an honest question)</p>

<p>Because i have relatives in India/Hong Kong/Singapore/All over America and when we called them to tell them where i got in they were all really impressed. Especially The ones in Hong Kong and Singapore</p>

<p>Also, in the corporate world CMU is also highly acclaimed, as in my parent's company itself when CMU was mentioned there was some alumni high up in the ladder.</p>

<p>Like seriously...pardon my language but it's kind of BS to write off the prestige of cmu because a couple of backtown folks don't know it (hasty generalization, but I'm trying to make a point). Admittedly, it's no Harvard or Stanford-- But most non laymen know and recognize the university as well as its quality</p>

<p>And to landonfoo: Have you ever taken the time to thoroughly research the graduate programs at CMU? Just because it doesn't appear in your niche doesn't mean it doesn't have top ranked programs. IF you really want, you can PM me, or ask me right here to provide you rankings of their grad programs. I know that there's a site that showed the rankings and where they came from for the diff programs, but i'm not going to go look for it unless explicitly asked to do so</p>

<p>I don't see why it matters if people don't know about carnegie mellon or not. At the same time, I am surprised when u say w t f is CMU. Going to CMU for engineering/science/computer science means you are getting nothing short of MIT/Stanford level stuff. There is not a single school in the country u can say that does not prepare u in ur chosen field of engineering/science/computer science better than CMU, stanford, mit, caltech etc. included.
GO CMU CLASS OF 2011</p>

<p>I'll be honest; I'm from Houston and the only people I know there who had heard of CMU before I mentioned it were a couple of CS teachers I had and another teacher who went to school at Pitt and always wished he could be a CMU student. But honestly, I don't care if random people I know recognize the school- while it would be nice if my dentist had some response other than "oh, that's nice" when he asks me where I go to school, it's not that important. And everyone who needs to know that CMU is a good school already knows that (employers and grad schools). If you want name recognition from random people, CMU isn't the best choice of schools- but you already knew that.</p>

<p>To user: Highereducation.</p>

<p>Yup. you're right to ask it. I'm from a very backwater place in Ohio. Most people end up at the local college 15 minutes down the street. You go into the nearby libraries and all the books under "computer languages" are all about webdesign and coding html. It's always a bit of a step back in time for me when I go home for the holidays. But then again, I think CMU is pretty advanced in technology aspects.</p>

<p>And so you know, I am an art major here. Seems this thread concentrates more on the sciences, but just wanted to add in I'm not from that area of study.</p>

<p>I am wondering about CMU's prestige in art. People tell me its a good school 'n all, but sometimes I wonder about that when it comes to the School of Art. Lots of frustrations felt lately by the students. </p>

<p>Anyone know of this?</p>

<p>krazykow said: "And everyone who needs to know that CMU is a good school already knows that (employers and grad schools). "</p>

<p>qft...</p>

<p>What about for music, specifically voice? How does it compare to other schools in terms of their music department and majors?</p>

<p>I hear CMU's one of the best. But I don't know a whole lot of voice majors. </p>

<p>The music department is pretty well known though amongst the majors. Each time I walk by CFA, there's always someone practicing. At all hours.</p>

<p>In terms of overall prestige, however, wouldn't CMU's peer schools be JHU, USC and UMich? </p>

<p>Commenting on the earlier posts, I think U of Chicago and Northwestern are peers, while JHU and UMich are peers of CMU. Nonetheless, all three schools are pretty amazing no doubt!</p>

<p>Right or wrong, reciprocal or not, this is who CMU considers to be their peers:
Cal Tech
Cornell
Duke
Emory
Georgia Tech
MIT
Northwestern
Princeton
Renssalear
Rice
Stanford
Penn
WUStL</p>

<p>And for what it's worth - the Education Trust which is comparing graduation rates of similar institutions has this list of "similar institutions": <a href="http://www.collegeresults.org/search1b.aspx?y=2005&grt=3&institutionID=211440&peer=15&cat=Main&sortc=Median+SAT&sortd=DESC%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.collegeresults.org/search1b.aspx?y=2005&grt=3&institutionID=211440&peer=15&cat=Main&sortc=Median+SAT&sortd=DESC&lt;/a>
Princeton
Stanford
Dartmouth
Columbia
Chicago
Rice
Duke
Northwestern
Tufts
Cornell
Vanderbilt
Case Western Reserve
Lehigh
U. of Rochester
Bucknell
(first 10 have higher SAT score averages, last 5 lower ones)</p>

<p>So, 5 years later, where does CMU stand? :)</p>

<p>CMU stands upon 140 acres of land in Pittsburgh, PA; end of story. This thread is old and quite stupid given that prestige is mostly subjective. If you really want to gauge CMU’s “presitige,” go look at the rankings on USNWR.</p>

<p>That is an old thread, but I’ll reply anyway.</p>

<p>I think it depends on your major. If you are a CS graduate, a CMU diploma is on par with a diploma from MIT or Stanford, and companies like Google or Apple see it that way.</p>

<p>Overall though, I think CMU is less prestigious than, let’s say, Northwestern, JHU, Cornell, or UChicago, and probably ranks only slightly better than some top public universities like Michigan and UCLA.</p>

<p>As another poster said, the USN&WR ranking gives an accurate measure of CMU’s overall domestic prestige, which is hardly surprising since USN&WR is basically a prestige list after all. </p>

<p>Internationally, CMU’s prestige is, however, better than it is domestically. International students for example normally rate it higher than domestically overrated American universities like Vanderbilt, Emory, Rice, Georgetown, WUSTL, Notre Dame, or even Brown and Dartmouth.</p>

<p>@bruno123, CS isn’t the only prestigious major at CMU. If you look at graduate rankings, CMU has the #1 program in computational finance and is ranked in the top 10 for most engineering fields. Tepper is also pretty highly regarded, especially among trading firms and hedge funds.</p>

<p>…and we consistently forget to mention that the musical theatre program is excellent, the design program is excellent (both at the top of their fields just like the CS program). Not sure about rankings, but IS and HCI both have very unique, interesting curricula that teach people quite a lot, as well. I’ve been really impressed by the IS/HCI students at CMU.</p>

<p>The most important thing to keep in mind with the whole prestige argument is that many people who can comment on “prestige” are not necessarily qualified to comment on what you would get out of a college, famous or no.</p>

<p>In many respects, you really only need to care about the prestige and offerings in the area(s) you’re interested in. Is a layperson without a comprehensive knowledge of where cutting-edge research is being done and the undergraduate experience at different universities going to have a solid handle on what schools are best for you? Is someone who’s involved in an entirely different field and therefore judges schools by their merits in a different field going to have a solid handle on what schools are best for you?</p>

<p>I don’t mean to say that prestige isn’t important or that name recognition or the “brand” of a university isn’t important, but it’s more reasonable to look at how knowledgeable and informed people in the field you want to get in view a school. It’s not really relevant to me if my grandparents in Asia haven’t heard of CMU if most of the employers or grad schools I talk to know the rigor of the program I’m in.</p>

<p>Outside of Asian dinner shindigs where your parents can brag about you, name recognition won’t be nearly as important as the opportunities you get at a particular university. Apply to CMU. Go or don’t go. Wherever you go, push yourself to do as much as you can given the (ideally) expansive resources that the university can offer you in your area of interest. It’s not about the college. It’s what you do there. Find an environment that is conducive to making you great.</p>

<p>/soapbox</p>