Questions for Carnegie Mellon Students

Colleges and Universities A-Z Carnegie Mellon University
1

<p>Hello, </p>

<p>I was just accepted into Carnegie Mellon’s CIT. As of now I am 95% sure I will be attending CMU in the fall. However, I have a few questions about the school in general and I was wondering if anybody, especially those who are currently at CMU or have visited, can help me out.</p>

<li><p>How is the social life at CMU? I’m looking for a place that has parties once in a while, with a lot more school-wide activities (such as musicals, community service, performaing arts) but hopefully, most of the people are more academic/study-oriented.</p></li>
<li><p>How is the city of Pittsburgh like? Is there a lot to do? (i.e. movies, shopping malls, grocery stores, etc) How is the public transportation? (bus, metro, subway) I’m thinking of buying a bike for transportation around CMU. Would that be necessary or is walking just okay?</p></li>
<li><p>Is it possible to enter CIT and have a computer engineering major but also take computer science courses at SCS?</p></li>
<li><p>Likewise, how easy is it to be a computer engineering major but also participate in a performing arts group such as symphonic orchestra?</p></li>
<li><p>How is the food? I’ve heard some people tell me that it’s absolutely horrible but I’d like some other opinions. What do students usually do for food? Do they cook themselves or just simply buy at a restaurant/cafeteria?</p></li>
<li><p>As a freshman, what dorm would you suggest I stay at? Do the dorm buildings have kitchens on every level, or a kitchen for a building? Air conditioned? Refrigerators?</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Sorry for the bombarding of questions. Hopefully, if anybody could give me some insight into one of the questions I’d be very appreciative. </p>

<p>Thank you!</p>

2

<p>Not trying to hijack your thread, but I wanted to add something on to your food question: Is there an on-campus Subway?</p>

<p>(Major grats on the acceptance btw, hopefully I'll be following in your footsteps next year)</p>

3

<p>All of these questions have been answered in old threads. There is a Subway (with sandwiches, not trains) 3 blocks from campus.</p>

<p>I'll get back to these if I have time.</p>

4

<p>Alright, I'll try to answer these one by one. As a note, I started at CMU in the fall of 2003 and graduated recently.</p>

<p>
[quote]

  1. How is the social life at CMU? I'm looking for a place that has parties once in a while, with a lot more school-wide activities (such as musicals, community service, performaing arts) but hopefully, most of the people are more academic/study-oriented.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I'd say this is fairly true of most people. They like to go out on weekends and do stuff, or if not that, they at least like to stay in and hang out with friends. When work/classes happen, most of them like to buckle down and do the work.</p>

<p>
[quote]
2. How is the city of Pittsburgh like? Is there a lot to do? (i.e. movies, shopping malls, grocery stores, etc) How is the public transportation? (bus, metro, subway) I'm thinking of buying a bike for transportation around CMU. Would that be necessary or is walking just okay?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Pittsburgh has quite a bit to do if you're willing to find it. The public bus system is pretty reasonable, and you'll get free passes as a CMU student. You can take around eight different busses to get downtown, and almost as many to get up to Squirrel Hill, a local residential area. There's also Shadyside, a trendy area within walking distance, the South Side, another trendy area with clubs and restaurant, the Strip District which supposedly has neat stuff, and a few other places that are easier to get to if you have a car instead of a bus. </p>

<p>I don't think you'd need a bike at CMU if you're living on campus, if you're in any of the dorms it's not more than a 10 minute walk to any building on campus.</p>

<p>
[quote]
3. Is it possible to enter CIT and have a computer engineering major but also take computer science courses at SCS?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>It shouldn't be hard. I have a number of friends that did minors in CS, a few of them did ECE (including my roommate). Just be prepared to have some very long nights when you've got both an ECE homework and a CS program due within the next few days.</p>

<p>
[quote]
4. Likewise, how easy is it to be a computer engineering major but also participate in a performing arts group such as symphonic orchestra?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I'm pretty sure there are groups for non-music majors that you can do, though you'll have to see how involved you can get with your classes. If you're interested in just having fun, then you should look at the Kiltie Band. You get to wear a kilt, go to all the football games, and meet a bunch of different people.</p>

<p>
[quote]
5. How is the food? I've heard some people tell me that it's absolutely horrible but I'd like some other opinions. What do students usually do for food? Do they cook themselves or just simply buy at a restaurant/cafeteria?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>The food's not terrible since at least there's some decent variety in the different buildings around campus, but you'll be ready to get off the meal plan by your second year. As for after freshman year, students will either eat on campus for lunch (there are meal plans for off-campus students), eat off campus at Craig St. which is a short walk from campus, or bring food from home (or just not take classes before lunch). Dinner there's a lot more freedom, so it's pretty rare to see non-freshman/sophomores stuck on campus eating in the dining halls.</p>

<p>I taught myself to cook over the summer of my sophomore year while working for a prof. at CMU, and it was one of the best decisions I've made.</p>

<p>
[quote]
6. As a freshman, what dorm would you suggest I stay at? Do the dorm buildings have kitchens on every level, or a kitchen for a building? Air conditioned? Refrigerators?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>It depends on what you want. No dorm you'll get in freshman year will have individual refrigerators for each room, but you can bring in a typical dorm-sized one (or rent a combination microwave-fridge from housing). I think a few dorms have kitchens on every floor, but both of the ones I lived in (Donner and Scobel) only had a kitchen in the basement.</p>

<p>Most freshman live in Morewood, and it's an alright dorm. I've heard Mudge is going all-freshman sometime soon, and they're some of the larger dorms on campus, so they're not a bad bet. I was in Donner my freshman year and thought it was pretty good, even though the building was aging a bit. It has the largest doubles on campus and it's probably the closest dorm to academic buildings. Just try to stay out of Scobel, Hammerschlag, and any of the other dorms up on the Hill. They have tiny rooms, no AC, and suck in general. Oh, if you do want AC, I'm pretty sure New House has it, though they do have the smallest rooms on campus.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Is there an on-campus Subway?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>There is no Subway on campus, though there are a number of other sandwich shops. If you really have brand loyalty or something, there's a subway at Forbes & Craig, which is about a 5-10 minute walk from where most of your classes will probably be.</p>

<p>Feel free to ask any other questions!</p>

5

<p>wow RacinReaver, thank you sooo much for taking the time to answer all my questions. this helped a lot.</p>

<p>So what were your impressions after your first semester or first year at CMU? was it worth it to go there?</p>

6

<p>I went to CMU knowing I wanted to do Materials Science, and I wasn't disappointed. I made a ton of friends on my hall freshman year and did alright in my classes (freshman year was actually my worst since some CMU classes were actually easier than my high school ones were, so I slacked off a bit too much). My department was fantastic, and I got to be pretty friendly with a number of my professors. I've been over to a few of their houses for parties/BBQs and never had a problem discussing personal issues that might be interfering with my work with them. I graduated a semester early, I knew I wanted to go to grad school in the fall, and I didn't want to sit at home for nine months, so I sent an e-mail to my department head about me looking for a part-time job, and within two weeks I had three job offers within the department. I wound up working with one of my former profs doing some pretty interesting work (and I was senior enough I actually got an undergrad to work under me!). When she came out to my school to give a talk we got lunch and dinner together and had a pretty good time catching up.</p>

<p>I wound up taking out around $18k in loans total to go to CMU and don't regret a dime of it (well, maybe the meal plan when I was still living in a dorm room on campus, but still).</p>

<p>Edit: I should also say that my #1 choice for undergrad had been Caltech. I got turned down, and I was slightly disappointed to go to CMU, but in the end I'm really glad it happened. I'm at Caltech now and know I would have hated doing undergrad here. CMU's engineering classes like to be pretty darned hard, but not to the point where you start hating yourself for enrolling in the class (or wondering if you'd just have been better off reading a few textbooks instead of taking a class on the material). :p</p>

7

<p>To RacinReaver: First, congratulations on all of your success at CMU and CalTech. I heard CalTech is great for grad school. My son got the impression from sleeping bag week-end that SCS is the best at CMU. He was denied at SCS and waitlisted for CIT-ECE. He is accepted to UCSD (computer engineering), UCLA (engineering) and USC (engineering) and is going to S. California to the upcoming open houses. My son thinks the equivalent of CIT-ECE at these other California schools will be fine. My son said CIT-ECE was in a really old building at CMU and the overall impression was SCS was just much better. Is he correct or is this the wrong impression from a short week-end at CMU? Should he try to get in on the wait list at CMU or just focus on one of the California schools? He got a great merit scholarship at our state university but does not want to go there. Thank you for your help and insights.</p>

8

<p>
[quote]
No dorm you'll get in freshman year will have individual refrigerators for each room

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Unless things have changed for next year this might not be true. My son and a bunch of freshmen are housed in an old apartment building. Not only does he have a huge living room and large bedroom (it's a double), there's also a bathroom and full kitchen with stove and full sized fridge. He's in Shirley. The disadvantage? It's a ten minute walk to campus. He likes it though and will be living there next year too. I think the only dorm with A/C is New House it fills up really fast.</p>

9

<p>To add a few things, if you want a bike: free</a> ride I built 2 free bikes there so far, and it's nice to actually know how to maintain one now that I've built a couple.</p>

<p>
[quote]
3. Is it possible to enter CIT and have a computer engineering major but also take computer science courses at SCS?

[/quote]

I'm currently doing this; it's very common.</p>

<p>
[quote]
4. Likewise, how easy is it to be a computer engineering major but also participate in a performing arts group such as symphonic orchestra?

[/quote]

If you're serious about this, consider a music minor. A friend of mine is doing it, and he enjoys it - I think it takes about 6-7 hours of his time per week with practice and recitals. You will need to be able to sight-read music.</p>

<p>Most of the food is bad. I'm on a lunch-only meal plan now, and there are really only 4 places that I eat on campus. Gingers (the best), the new vegetarian place, Sushi (it's crappy but good for a light meal), Si Senor (fake Mexican) - if I'm feeling for a change, I very rarely eat at Sequoia Grill (burgers) and Skibo (open till 2am) )</p>

<p>Dorms... this is really an extensive topic. The dorms can be put into a couple categories: "the hill", Morewood, apartments, New House + Mudge, and Donner.</p>

<p>Dorms on the hill are old, not that good, and should probably be avoided (although some have large rooms). </p>

<p>Morewood is a giant housing complex across the street from complex. Most upperclassmen live either here or in apts; you will probably enjoy living in Morewood, but I would go for the non-freshman towers (A-D) as they have semi-private bathrooms. If I'm wrong about E tower having floor-level bathrooms, someone correct me. </p>

<p>New House and Mudge are next to each other down the street from Morewood. New House has A/C, is new (WOW), and has small rooms but lots of lounges. Mudge has larger rooms and is a pretty nice building. </p>

<p>As a freshman, I was placed in London Terrace apartments, which are really bad. Apartments range from small (L-T was 2 twin buildings with 15 rooms each) to large (Webster Hall probably has more than 1000 people in it, not all CMU). Apartments all have their own bathrooms, kitchens, and most even have a separate bedroom. The best apartment, in my opinion, is Shady Oak. After that, it's a toss-up between the 3 large buildings: Fairfax, Cathedral Mansions, and Webster. Then the remaining small apts are all ok but not really good. Air conditioning varies by building. I know that Fairfax and London Terrace have A/C. </p>

<p>Donner is a very standard dorm. It's probably exactly like you imagine a dorm to be. It's not bad.</p>

10

<p>Can you major in CIT-ECE and minor in SCS as a CIT major? Thanks.</p>

11

<p>I agree with most of what's been said.</p>

<p>CMU's nonmajors orchestra, AUO, is a 2.5-3 hr time commitment per week. You might think we're amazing or terrible, depending on your high school experience. No auditions required. We just started a string (mostly) chamber orchestra that rehearses 2ish hrs/week.
Come</a> to AUO's 2008 Spring Concert!</p>

<p>From what I've heard, a minor in music is definitely more than 6-7 hours a week, at least if you count the time you're spending in a practice room. To minor you need to audition; you might want to contact the music department about it if you're serious. You can play in the major's orchestra without being a major if they need people for your instrument/there's room. They run something like on 2 weeks, for 10-15 hrs/week, then off for 2-3 weeks. It can be tricky to fit it into a schedule since they're so weird. There's also a repertoire orchestra that just sightreads pieces- if you talk to the conductor, I hear it's pretty possible to play with them, especially if they're short people on your instrument.</p>

<p>If you have more orchestra questions, just ask. I'm a violist. Don't hate me. :)</p>

12

<p>You can minor in CS as any many at CMU, you can even double major if you want.</p>

<p>Cathedral Mansions is pretty crappy, a few of my friends lived there and they had continual problems with the maintenance services. One had his doorknob fall of three times over the course of one year, a hole in his bathroom ceiling that went up to the floor above him, and a hole in one of his walls. When he asked for the hole in the wall to get repaired, they just moved his dresser over 6" (somehow he didn't notice) and said it was fixed. Upon moving out of the apartment, he was checking behind the dresser to see if anything had fallen behind, and the hole was still there!</p>

<p>I was also in Shady Oak for two years, and I have to agree it's the best building owned by CMU.</p>

<p>Also, mathmom, I wasn't aware that they were sticking freshman down in the Oakland apartments now. They must really be having a housing crunch for that.</p>

<p>cmonyuk, what's that Sequoia Grill place? Is it supposed to be a sub-par replacement for The O?</p>

13

<p>
[quote]
Also, mathmom, I wasn't aware that they were sticking freshman down in the Oakland apartments now. They must really be having a housing crunch for that.

[/quote]
There were quite a few freshmen in the building this year, but I'm not sure they'll be there next year. My son really liked it, and since he'd spent sleeping bag weekend at Webster, he wasn't put off. Another advantage of being in a apt. bldg. is you can go on the commuter eating plan. :)</p>

14

<p>"
Also, mathmom, I wasn't aware that they were sticking freshman down in the Oakland apartments now. They must really be having a housing crunch for that.</p>

<p>cmonyuk, what's that Sequoia Grill place? Is it supposed to be a sub-par replacement for The O?"</p>

<p>Yes, CMU has a severe housing crunch. Good luck getting Sophomore housing, incoming freshmen. :p</p>

<p>Nothing will ever replace The O, so go to the real one on Forbes. I'm sorry to report that the O is no longer cheap as ****. It now costs like... $6.50 for a pizza instead of $5.</p>

15

<p>When 5 Guys moved in (I think that's the name) I pretty much swore off The O anyway. Service was extremely friendly, it was very clean, toppings were free, and, best of all, free peanuts!</p>

<p>It's probably better to get kicked off campus after freshman year. I went from the first floor of Donner to the top floor of Scobel my second year, and it was terrible. I remember my roommate and I would sit at our desks, and if we both leaned back at the same time we'd wind up hitting heads.</p>

16

<p>Because of the freshmen housing problems in past years, they're converting some of the upper class to freshman only over the next two years. Which meant that official CMU housing ran out during freshman room draw this year. A possible reason to consider going Greek for the housing guarantee alone, if nothing else.</p>

17

<p>There is a subway located on campus, a 5min walking distance across a road.</p>

18

<p>To RacinReaver: You wrote that you can double major SCS. My son was denied SCS and waitlisted CIT-ECE. CMU accepted him into various CIT departments that he did not apply to. If my son got off the CIT-ECE wait list, could he still double major SCS even if he is not accepted into SCS? My son is disappointed with the results of CMU admissions. Can't understand why he was not accepted being National Merit Finalist, AP Computer Science two years (both the A and AB) with 5 on the tests, work experience in artificial intelligence at a well known government agency, 10 APs, etc. Thanks for listening.</p>

19

<p>National Merit Finalist means nothing. It's a scam. I was so glad to get $0 (and I support CMU for not playing College Board's silly games). To be fair, I did get like 10 full rides in the mail, but I turned them all down. Any school that offers me a full ride based on one number isn't worth my time. I hate the College Board so much.</p>

<p>To actually answer your question, your son can join any major in CIT, switch to ECE (it's really easy unless you're like failing classes), take a bunch of CS classes (anyone can take any class), get department approval for a double-major by pointing to his high grades in SCS classes (a must), and then he's good. CMU doesn't try to make things difficult. If you're smart and determined, you can do anything you want here. Mind you, classes are no joke, so those "high grades" might be a challenge.</p>

20

<p>Yeah, I'm annoyed at NMF as well. I got a projected 1200 or something like that on my PSATs, which I knew was absurdly low, and then I wound up getting a 1460 on my SATs outscoring all of my friends. Of course, since they did a lot better on the PSATs they got NMF awards and junk like that, so I'm a little annoyed at it.</p>

<p>mdcissp, keep in mind your son was applying to the top-level schools of both of those fields, and at that point it takes a bit of luck no matter who you are.</p>

<p>Also, the only stipulation I know of that pertains to double majoring in CS and a CIT field is that CIT requires you have them as your "home" college and the other as your secondary major.</p>

<p>I wouldn't recommend majoring in ECE so he could double into CS, as he'll wind up taking a lot of very hard class that require a ton of work, just so he can get a double major that'll get him into pretty much the same fields.</p>