<p>I will say this. 
I visited CMU for sleeping bag weekend, and was very impressed with the students. I attended a class and the level of insight, openness, and conversation made me go “wow, this is nice.” MY host did allow us to go off on our own–and be INDEPENDENT, since when we do return in the fall, our parents and hosts will NOT always be with us (makes sense, doesn’t it?). I met extremely friendly people in the school of drama, a girl who works on the Oakland review, someome who invited me to their (very nice upperclassman) dorm and told me the truth about social life (there is definitely one; you manage your own time and decide how to make the most of it. Period. Its college, not elementary.) She mentioned some of the groups, cliques, party scenes. Said CMU was not originally on her radar but she knew the name would definitely get her foot in a door somewhere (don’t know how true that is, but I was at a college in Connecticut today, a prestigious one, and mentioning CMU drew a few flattering comments.)
Overall, cmu was not perfect. I don’t like the yellow walls. But it set me up for a good time upon returning. My host introduced me to many of her friends, I’ve already made connections, and I honestly can’t wait to go next year (to complain about the work while I’m doing it and thank God for the education and thousands of opportunities when its over.)</p>
<p>^Ah, me too!
Diversity weekend so I got an extra day or two during the weekend than others. So much fun! Ah, I was worried I wouldn’t like it because I was holding CMU so high and maybe it won’t be fun. But no! I was offered to go to 3 parties after this fashion show (which is odd cause I’m not even there yet and don’t think I was supposed to be offered drinking dance parties off campus) but declined because I was so tired after the flight. Instead, me and some others played pool, watched a movie, and ate ice cream. So lame compared to the parties but at least I got to sleep! My host kinda let me be, but I got to sleep on a bed instead of sleeping bag so that was sweet. Next two days were great, people juggled and I got to write my name on the old fence. The theatre club seems fun, the robotics club is crazy cool whatever they were doing, and the mechE workshop makes my dreams. They say first year eases you in, the 2nd and 3rd year are more intense but I’m not lazy and looking forward to it (though I don’t get half of what was said in 3D Calc.). Bunch of nerds, but I really need that. And yeah, they’re not the typical college, I think they have a bagpipe band playing at games over the regular marching band.</p>
<p>Yay, I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed your time at CMU!</p>
<p>Lucky2010- Are you going to be a MechE major at CMU? My son got waitlisted for CIT but in as a Physics major. He really wants to get off the waitlist for MechE and focus on Robotics! glad to hear the Robitics club was crazy cool and the workshop even better! We r visiting this weekend, unfortunately got closed out of the SBW & will miss Carnival. We r arriving on Sunday & staying thru Monday. Glad u had a great time. He’s looking forward to our visit so he can make his final decision!</p>
<p>S and H at SBW. From what I’m hearing through H, son has had a good time. Liked people he met, ate out after midnight and went to sleep at 2. H has commented on how everyone they met was pushing CMU (in a positive way). He thought it was almost weird that everyone was so up on it. Son also spent mon night there and that went fine also. Son is a nerd though so has limited expectations. H called me sunday afternoon and said ‘if it were me, I’d come here in a minute!’</p>
<p>I was actually involved in Diversity weekend, not sleeping bag sunday, sorry (I didn’t think they’d hold two events and assumed it was all one big thing! Lol). But yeah, I REALLY liked the fashion show. And the free food/mingling/mixers were nice, too. I just met really cool people (some seniors, sadly!) It took a day to adjust to the pace of the uni and city (I’m from houston), but like I said, once I realized that no school is perfect but cmu exceeded my expectations in certain areas, I was fine.</p>
<p>And yes, I was invited to the after party too, haha. I was too tired to attend though!</p>
<p>“Very stressed student body - body language was shocking - vast majority make no eye contact, walk with eyes on the ground - very little interaction between students.”</p>
<p>We completely apologize. From now on, I’ll make it my first priority to intensely stare at any admitted students that I pass by. I hope that makes you feel more welcome! If you would really like to get to know us, maybe stop us and ask a question. I mean sure I’ll say some witty catch phrase like, “Carnegie Mellon: Where your best isn’t good enough.” And we do go through hell multiple times—but it’s part of the learning process that makes us Carnegie Mellon. And when it takes four-five hours to debug a thousand lines of code to find out that you mistakenly put “x + y + z” instead of “x | y | z”… I feel you have a right to complain, to let it out, and then move on.</p>
<p>^please don’t stare, that’d be odd. I actually didn’t notice people being sad much, like, there was these multiple groups trying to sell me food in front of some classes and running around with a guitar and a lot of craziness but not much sadness or staring at the ground that I saw.</p>
<p>Frazzledagain-well the robotics club is open to a lot of people from different majors, like, while it’s a lot of ECE and mechEs there was an art major of some kind and science majors (not just in computer). And that shop was coooooool, they have this thing that you can just plug codes and directions in and it will cut it exactly like that! That freaked me out. I only ever use bandsaws and hope to be right in my cuts. Good luck to your son!</p>
<p>LadyVee- right? flight from tx is too much, barely had any sleep before. I met one guy from houston, he kicked my butt at pool and was really cool. </p>
<p>Surprisingly good financial aid. Like, I know at least 10 besides myself that are getting full aid just about. I mean, we all have 0 EFCs and are minorities so maybe that’s something to do with it. Still, it’s pretty good. They meet those with the most need from what I could tell.</p>
<p>So I’m a Jr and I got into Pittsburgh last night at 8:30. Went to an information session and campus tour this morning, and I think I’m already in love.</p>
<p>this is such a great post it started with a ■■■■■ then it goes to how CMU students prove him wrong, then it’s about the sleeping bag thingy…hahaha god i wish i wasn’t rejected by CMU…would’ve been nice to be around such students good luck on your college experience guys! i bet you wouldn’t be working at rite-aid btw…</p>
<p>P.S. I met a CMU graduate in my country…she is damn hot!!</p>
<p>haha i love wildwildwes and the other alum/current students’ take. i did a precollege program at CMU and honestly can’t wait. I highly recommend the visit for anyone remotely curious. I had a lot of visions and ideas of what CMU would be like before I came in the summer. None of the negatives came close haha. Town was great, professors were fun, resources were everywhere. Thus, I’m more than excited to attend.</p>
<p>For anyone interested, they have a live webcam of Carnival running 24/7 at the moment: <a href=“http://webcam.springcarnival.org/[/url]”>http://webcam.springcarnival.org/</a></p>
<p>Oh no, it’s raining! I heard the camera was under cover so must be quite a breeze!</p>
<p>the wind was so bad 20 minutes ago that booths started falling over. wood everywhere, signs falling down, etc, etc. They announced over the loudspeaker that they were cutting power and midway is now closed.</p>
<p>I feel like this is not typical carnival behavior but I’m a freshman so what do I know.</p>
<p>The four years I was at CMU we managed to have perfect weather the entire extended weekend. Sucks that it’s raining now. :(</p>
<p>completelykate, this is certainly not typical weather for carnival. Last year it was beautiful during carnival weekend. Oh well, hopefully everything goes okay.</p>
<p>ya due to a handful of factors i’m a bit underwhelmed by carnival…</p>
<p>Thanks for letting us know about the web cam. My son is a freshman and he was telling us about the carnival, but it is nice to see it.</p>
<p>The reason I was turned off by Carnegie Mellon was because on Princeton Review, Carnegie Mellon supposedly had unhappy students or some thing bad for the quality of life. I’m unclear now because I forgot my login information.</p>