<p>I am currently creating a list of schools I will be applying to for a MA in philosophy.</p>
<p>I scanned the boards and not too much information came up with regards to what people like or hate about Carnegie Mellon. </p>
<p>I don't mind bad weather or living in the city, but I am concerned with the feel of the campus (is Carnegie Mellon a commuter campus or does it feel like a strong community?) and the department.</p>
<p>I can do a lot of research on the department, but shy of flying to 7 separate universities, I can't really get the feel of the campus. However, any information about the philosophy department, such as the professor's interest in their students and the effort placed by the TA's, would be nice.</p>
<p>Thanks for taking the time to read this and more thanks if you can give me a reply.</p>
<p>I have no idea what it's like for a grad student. In my experience (observing dh at Caltech and for me at Columbia) - grad student life and undergrad life don't intersect that much. However CMU absolutely is not a commuter campus. Most undergrads live on or near campus and the campus is fairly compact. It's in a pleasant residential neighborhood.</p>
<p>Most grads live fairly close to CMU, generally within walking distance or a short bus ride. The grads I knew while I was there seemed pretty happy, and almost all faculty members I had were great. I know the philosophy department at CMU is really into artificial intelligence and decision making types of things, so that's probably a little different than your typical philosophy department.</p>
<p>xleper, what other schools were you considering? i know a little about the philosophy department since i attended their summer school. most of their work has to do with foundational issues that are important for practice. their work is also very influenced by logic. in fact, they don't have a PhD in Philosophy at all. they only have a PhD in Logic, Computation, and Methodology. </p>
<p>I am only looking for a good MA program. The best programs, such as NYU or University of Pittsburgh, aren't exactly what I am looking for because they do not offer terminal masters programs.</p>
<p>As far as selection goes for a terminal masters program, Tufts and Northern Illinois University are the best. I like CMU because it is on the east coast and they tend to offer a lot of money to their students as far as grants/scholarships go.</p>
<p>But thanks for your information, that certainly helps.</p>