this is an interesting blog, and despite focusing on NYU it gives a pretty honest opinion of the UMD experience:
7 Likes
… note, this is similar situ to my DS.
Likely not considering PSU SHC even thought its a huge deal… will go with GT or CWRU for BME… at which point its likely GT. He still need decide, but that’s what he verbally said.
Hard part with saying YES to one of three schools that are great options… is having to also say NO two times!!!
3 Likes
Good call.
Hi! Final decision? How did Ivy day turn out? How did he like PSU vs GT vs CWRU?
1 Like
Final answer, GT.
It seems to me the harder part was not picking one school, but more so declining two others if that makes sense. Seems DS will do fine regardless and he genuinely loved all of the tours … but there was just a certain extra twinkle in his eye when visiting GT that made us think that’s where he wanted to go. Then, his questions over the next week kind of lead us on as he’d ask are you sure a plane ticket isn’t too bad, etc.
Well, at this point… ripped the band aid off… looking straight ahead. Will post back to this thread in 4 years to leave a bread crumb for others to track a decision making process.
9 Likes
To the original poster, how is your decision process going?
1 Like
+1 for CMU SCS, if you can afford it. It sounds like you might fit in there. Look further into it and talk with your family.
I don’t know about that, but SCS kids do have access to resources that other students don’t. That’s not a bad thing if you’re one of the special ones is it?
These just seem like unfair generalizations. I’ve met nothing but nice kids that are DS’s fellow students. Maybe there are some bloviators, but I’d submit you’ll find them everywhere. The SCS yield is 55- 60% and that’s because the same students admitted to SCS often have other great options, including Stanford or MIT.
2 Likes
Don’t know where to find current data, but the link in this reddit post used to work 3 years ago. CMU must have taken that data out.
I have not seen the 50% yield anywhere. Curious where you found that data.
Instead, if it is 35% as the reddit post claims (and I verified it from the link posted there 3 years ago), whatever the reasons, that is a poor look.
From the CMU SCS admitted students presentation. The year DS was admitted 383 were accepted to SCS for a target class of 225 or so (58.7% yield, if they got it right). They also showed SCS data going back about 10 yrs but I don’t remember all that. I think the overall yield at CMU is lower.
I found this from the discussion thread:
I haven’t made a decision yet, but I may be doing some admitted student visits later in the month that could help out. At the moment, I’m thinking probably CMU.
I think Carnegie Mellon looks better in terms of academics for me, especially because of the Cornell A&S distribution requirements that I feel like would just get annoying (I really wouldn’t care to take a class on “global citizenship” or “social differences,” but learning a foreign language does appeal to me). I do feel like it would be a little disappointing to live in Pittsburgh instead of Ithaca, but someone here said that CMU is in a not-too-urban part of Pittsburgh, so maybe it’s alright? I remember there being a fair amount of nature/greenery when I visited last year.
There’s also the fact that CMU doesn’t technically have an astronomy minor, which is kind of a bummer but also seems kind of fine. The physics minor requires three electives, and CMU offers about 3 astronomy courses and some quantum physics courses, so I can kind of do my own unofficial astronomy minor by doing those electives. Cornell definitely has a LOT more astronomy courses (since it’s a major there), but I don’t think it matters much if I’m just doing a minor anyway.
From watching some videos and reading forum posts by students at both schools, I’m also getting the feeling that I’ll fit in more with the student body at Carnegie Mellon.
I’ll let you know when I make a final decision. Thanks to everyone for the help, and let me know if you have any other thoughts!
6 Likes
Carnegie Mellon is in the city, but it isn’t a downtown city area. Pittsburgh is a city identified for its neighborhoods and CMU sits at the intersection of several. It’s technically in Oakland, but at the far end. Oakland is probably the most city-ish of the three, but because Carnegie Mellon is on the far border, it is less like the rest of Oakland, which is defined by having hospitals, universities, and museums.
So you will have the Carnegie Museums in Oakland to the immediate west. To the south, CMU is bordered by Schenley Park, which is about 450 acres of open space. To the east is Squirrel Hill and to the north/northeast is Shadyside. These are more residential neighborhoods. The vibe is more suburban, with sidewalks, churches, synagogues, schools, restaurants, and other shops interspersed among mostly single family homes.
When I was a student, campus itself had a lot of open space. There is still open space, but several buildings have been built since I was there, so it is a bit less. It is a self-contained campus, though. Unlike Pitt to the west, where businesses and hospitals are interspersed among academic buildings, there is a defined perimeter.
I don’t think you will get a claustrophobic, big city feel, but everyone is different so I am glad you are visiting!
4 Likes
This may have been mentioned earlier in the thread, but Univ of Pitt and CMU allow cross registration of classes if the other school doesn’t offer the class. Pitt has an astronomy major so this option may be something you want to look into if you land at CMU. Wishing you all the best in your decision!
3 Likes
And Schenley Park even has a golf course on it - Bob O’Connor, I think
4 Likes
And Phipps Conservatory adjacent to the campus. Schenley Park has the golf course (one of my kids has played it a couple times as we have family in Pittsburgh), ice skating, disc golf, etc. And as has been mentioned, CMU is within walking distance to Pitt and the major Carnegie museums in Pittsburgh .
3 Likes
Congratulations! Amazing Engineering school and sounds like his heart was there. That twinkle is what matters. Good for him!
1 Like
Side note - people who don’t care the take these classes are exactly the ones who should.
Take classes outside of your comfort zone and interests (no matter where you go to school). It will open you eyes, make you a more well-rounded person, and a better friend. It is a big world out there.
Back to our regularly scheduled programming… 
4 Likes
Cornell will not have the laid back and cooperative atmosphere you’re seeking. You seem to think it’s the best school, though, so that may be the one to choose.
Congrats on having such good choices!
2 Likes
You’re right. I took a look at the course offerings for the A&S distribution requirements today and found a lot of stuff that actually seems pretty interesting, even in those categories I dismissed. It’s honestly kind of shocking how many cool niche classes Cornell has.
4 Likes
If anyone is wondering, I ended up choosing Cornell!
The greater course flexibility (i.e., not having a declared major until sophomore year) is better for me because it gives me the opportunity to see if a CS/astro double major is actually manageable or not, and there are a lot more interesting elective classes. I also know that the astronomy community is very active at Cornell, which is not so much the case at CMU (they don’t even have an official observatory, unless you count the telescope sticking out of the roof of Scaife Hall). The astronomy program itself also seems a lot better at Cornell, especially given that (as a researcher in CMU’s cosmology center told me on my visit) it’s much more theoretical and “behind-the-computer” at CMU. The general sentiment seems to be that Cornell’s CS is maybe a little behind CMU’s but about on-par, but the astronomy/physics program is substantially better; the tradeoff is obviously in Cornell’s favor.
I also like Ithaca more than Pittsburgh (as I said before), and even the small things like being so close to the Lab of Ornithology are pluses for me. There definitely are some aspects about CMU that I may miss (small class size is the main one), but there were going to be tradeoffs either way, and I feel good about my decision. Thanks everyone!
14 Likes
Congratulations! Thanks for the update!
1 Like