Social Scene

<p>I was wondering if there were any students at CMU that could comment about the social scene at CMU? Reading back on these boards, the consensus of come people is that CMU is a place where fun comes to die. I am going to be attending SCS next year. Are the rumors true that SCS is comprised of unkempt, ugly basement dwellers? I consider myself a fairly social person. I am not exactly looking for "Girls Gone Wild" but I really do want to be able to party on the weekends.</p>

<p>Hi, beckerboy. The social scene at CMU is really what you make of it. If you are looking to party on the weekends, you will definitely find parties. A lot of student organizations as well as the frats have parties on the weekends so I don’t think you’ll have trouble finding these.</p>

<p>From one SCS major to another, it is a lot of work. It’s not that SCS majors are a bunch of “unkempt, ugly basement dwellers,” it’s just that there is so much work that there is less time for other things. If you know how to manage your time well, it shouldn’t be a problem, though. You can easily manage academics and a social life. There are also plenty of SCS majors who are quite normal people.</p>

<p>CMU’s certainly not the place where fun goes to die (I had always heard that was Chicago’s slogan). Even on the nights when I was staying up well into the early AM hours with my friends working on problem sets I still had a blast. Working with friends was half homework, half social time. I realized later when I was alone in a few of my classes it took about the same amount of time for me to figure things out completely on my own as when working with others, except it was a heck of a lot less fun.</p>

<p>…from your message I think you’ll be happy enough here. It isn’t exactly the most fun place in the world but you’ll be able to party on weekends for sure, it’s still college after all :). Sure you might get the occassional arrogant (possibly in tepper!) socialite who goes around complaining about how life sucks and that students are “creepy” (awkward seems to be the latest in-vogue adjective) or something but don’t let them (or any other pessimists) get you down. Every college here has cool people, you’ll probably find some to hang with.</p>

<p>The same bunch of great people at pre-college are at CMU (but a lot fewer artsie types-- the proportions were all off in the summer)…those rumors about CMU are just that rumors… CMU students are really awesome…they work hard and play hard (just like the t-shirt says)…there is something for everyone</p>

<p>COme to Spring Carnival April 16-18 and see for yourself–
Or come to any of the accepted student weekends…</p>

<p>Don’t second guess yourself- you’re going to have a great time</p>

<p>I’m currently taking 15-251 (Great Theoretical Ideas in Computer Science) which is arguably one of the most time consuming courses offered at CMU, but I still manage to get out, work out, and hang out. Granted, the triple snow day has helped…</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Woah Woah Woah. Lets not get ahead of ourselves. </p>

<p>Don’t come here during carnival and think “oh, this is life at CMU” or even a remote approximation of life at CMU. It would be like going to New Orleans during Mardi Gras or a Riot and thinking that the city is always that crazy.</p>

<p>I say this because I’ve actually run into students (not many, but a handful) who semi-regret choosing CMU because they visited during Carnival and one other annual event and saw how fun it was. The “rumors” are certainly more than just rumors (no, people didn’t just make these things up), you just have to work harder here to find the type of people you to want to find. You’ll certainly be able to party on weekends…but don’t think “Carnival” is the norm. To put things in perspective, some (not many) people actually look forward to carnival more than spring break, though even fewer will admit it. No - fun doesn’t come here to die - but it tends to hide. You have to go out and find it. You’ll probably have to put in more effort than those going to other schools, but that is the tradeoff. If you get involved in clubs and try to find like minded people you’ll probably be ok, maybe even more than ok.</p>

<p>FTR I’m a senior in H&SS. I’d refer to my previous post in this thread :D</p>

<p>also +1 for the snow days, never thought I’d see CMU close like that…</p>

<p>If you know someone from each frat, you can just get yourself on all the lists. Then you should have no problem finding something to do on saturday nghts. It could be different if you’re male-- as a girl, I’ve rarely had trouble finding a party-- but I think for the most part if you’re looking, it’ll come to you.</p>

<p>If you’re a guy but don’t want to join a fraternity it’s pretty easy to become friends with people who are in one who will add you to the list. Or you can simply rush, get a bid, and then hold off on accepting the bid. If they gave you a bid they want you in the fraternity, so there isn’t really any reason why they would turn you away from an open event.</p>

<p>If you’re not a fan of spending your weekends on the greek quad then there is always the whole length of beeler street which is almost guaranteed to have stuff going on.</p>

<p>Or you could always just go to the various campus sanctioned events that are held every weekend</p>