Last day to decide. It appears Carnegie Mellon students might be a bit more…anxious? TYpe A? perfectionists/lacking sleep than other schools of its quality…can someone go there and be smart and nerdy but NOT be that much of a perfectionist? Is it always stressful? I really want my young adult to have fun in college, not be freaking out about grades all the time. Also…it appears the campus is only 30% Caucasian (what we are)…we are cool with diversity BUT my only concern is whether the high number of male dominated cultural backgrounds causes any problems in teamwork when there is a female student involved? Will other students listen to a female or just outnumber her and support a man’s view on things? She can hold her own…but want a fair playing ground and not sure with so many highly competitive male students from cultural background that might favor men’s views. ???
What are her other choices? Which school/college?
Northeastern Univ, Cornell Univ, Vanderbilt, Rennselaer P.I.
At CMU she’s Computer Science.
Well CMU CS is highly competitive and selective so it being stressful is probably apt. Whatever vibe she picked up during visits or whatever is probably correct as for the program for the next 4 years. So she’ll have to decide if that’s what she wants.
It would probably have helped to ask this on the CMU page as you’d most likely get much more knowledgeable replies.
Ok, so take this with a BIG grain of salt because it’s only one data point. H and I met at Carnegie Mellon University-I was a studio art major and he was chemical engineering. Neither of us graduated from CMU-me for financial reasons and he because he really wanted Comp Sci and you can’t get into it at CMU, and he was miserable in Chem-E. He transferred after his junior year and eventually got his MS in comp sci (from U miami).
Our 17 yo daughter has high stats and a lot of comp sci creds already, and wants to major in comp sci. Neither of us is recommending CMU for her. This is definitely our bias, and it may be very different now, but the guys there in the non art part of CMU are very, very VERY intense and very nerdy. H remembers that he would run into issues where english was spoken very poorly by a lot of the TA’s, making the classes more difficult than they were already.
It was a bad fit for H (who is not so nerdy and looks like Joe Manganiello-lucky me!) For me as an art student the classes were great, but the social life was challenging because there were so few females (and I was in the art dept!), and so few males that were socially adept. When we found each other at CMU I think one of the first questions we said to each other was how did YOU end up HERE!?!
I know things are more balanced now at CMU, but if my daughter had been accepted to the same schools, I’d encourage her towards Northeastern or Cornell because the non-nerd population balances out the intensity of the nerds. Vanderbilt may sort of be the anti-CMU, it might be a little too far in the other direction on the nerd to “on wednesdays we wear pink” scale.
My D does NOT want to date or marry a nerd-her current bf is a preppy pre-law type who balances her well. Her female friends definitely are mostly STEM types, although you wouldn’t necessarily know it to look at them. They like going to the Cons here, and they like things like anime to varying degrees, but they also go all out for prom and some are cheerleaders and FBLA kids.
So, I’d say look for your girl tribe carefully, and look at the dating pool carefully. All those schools are going to give you a good education, so what’s left is the lifestyle.
Great feedback , thanks. 
Thank you! 
I’m a current undergraduate in Dietrich College. I’m also a caucasian female. According to CollegeData.com, the percentage of students who are caucasian is more like 45%. Yes, this percentage will be lower in the Computer Science school, as will be true for the number of women. People in the Computer Science school are quite nerdy. A good example of this is what I’d refer to as the “free t-shirt culture”— Within CS, a lot of students frequently wear t-shirts given to them for free by tech companies or the school. I’d definitely consider it an indicator on the types of people they are: Not lazy by any stretch of the word, since they got into the school in the first place, but there are definitely a lot of CS students who don’t necessarily value their appearance or social cues/norms. I’m not very involved with this portion of the school, so I can’t speak in great depth about it.
In terms of cultural differences/respect during projects and the likes, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of girls getting treated badly to that extent. While I understand that this is a concern, I can’t imagine that your daughter would be treated any worse at CMU than in her professional life. When I took an intro CS course, I did usually have better luck with the female TAs. I generally found them to be more patient and understanding with me, which was helpful since I had no idea what I was doing. Sure, some gender bias may exist but I don’t think it would be anything outrageous.
Yes, CMU is an intense school. There are a lot of people here who get very little sleep and work 24/7. But you don’t have to do that. If you take a manageable course load, have good work habits, and don’t overcommit in terms of extracurriculars, you will have enough time to get adequate sleep and to have a social life. It’s possible. CMU is, to a great extent, what you make of it.
I’m friends with a lot of art students. They are of a completely different ilk, but they aren’t the only ones who aren’t completely nerdy and socially inept. A lot of Dietrich students have social skills, as do Tepper students and a fair chunk of STEM students. I think that if your daughter has the credentials to get into CMU for CS and has social skills, can present herself well to others, etc. she could have a lot of prospects in terms of employment.
I’m not saying that CMU is perfect, since it definitely isn’t, but there are nice, cool people here and not everyone has their face buried in their laptop well into the night.
Thank you! Great insight. She’s been in speech,drama and mock trial for years…makes films and paints. She went CS because she thought she might work in Virtual Reality or 3D films someday or robotics…but your comments all make sense to me. I appreciate your answer.
The Admissions Director last Friday also mentioned that the female to male ratio is 53% to 47. This year was especially different as no one got in for their academics – test scores and GPAs were just a barrier applicants had to cross. Instead, everyone got in for their talent and passion in the arts and the hard sciences.
D just passed on CMU SCS in favor of honors CS at university of Texas. This is in spite of the fact that her brother is about to graduate in computer science at Carnegie Mellon and she visited several times. His friends described it as Boot Camp for four years… You won’t really be happy but it’s not that bad and at the end… you did it! Really not what she wanted from her college experience. So she chose a school where she felt like she would be around a more diverse selection of kids and have almost the exact same opportunities for internships and Jobs. ( plus Austin, warm weather, tacos, lots of factors) She is smart but not nerdy. (As is her brother, but his best option was CMU). Ymmv
and I will add the old saying “the odds are good but the goods are odd”
Did she visit cmu? I don’t get the vibe that she would have trouble being a female at SCS. My son has female friends in computer science and it’s really no big deal as long as everyone’s held to the same standard. He respects them as much as his male peers and I don’t think the teachers show disrespect.
In terms of her interest in robotics, virtual reality, etc. I would definitely suggest that she look into the BCSA (Bachelors of Computer Science and Arts) combined degree program or even a minor in the arts. There is a lot going on at CMU in terms of the merging of CS and art and even though a lot of it is in the graduate level, there are plenty of opportunities for undergrads to get involved in those fields. I think it could be of interest to her and everyone involved is very nice and enthusiastic.
^^I really wish they’d had that back in the day-it sounds like such an amazing combined degree.
“You won’t really be happy but it’s not that bad and at the end… you did it”
How do they get any kids to go to this school with an experience like that?
Well I suppose some are happy but she literally asked him to tell her why she should go there and that was the answer. I think some kids really are excited and driven by hard work, the harder the better. The opportunities when you graduate are great and my son has had a lot of success; however, our research tells us they’re not totally exclusive to Cmu. It’s been really good for my son but it’s not a good fit for my daughter.
@IowaMom66 Please see my reply to your question in the thread re 4 year grad rates. All I’ll add is that my daughter is a stereotypical midwest caucasian. While she definitely raised her eyebrows on her first visit she’s definitely not hung up at all re ethnicity or sociability now. She embraces it.
Their CS grads are top-notch, and I say this as an MIT grad.
@suzyQ7 Uh…the kids who want to learn/do something and not coast/be ‘happy’?
How does the old, and maybe trite but true saying go: no pain, no gain?