<p>So, I have to choose between these two schools, and I am leaning towards Wash U, but I was hoping for some opinions. I'm looking for a strong humanities/social sciences department, diverse student body, fun/exciting campus and surrounding city. Anybody have some advice?</p>
<p>My son's final choice included these two (and a couple others). His analysis was -- Carnegie Mellon is mostly known for engineering, performing arts, and business. His impression is that it is not strong in humanities/social sciences at all and doesn't have many people majoring in these fields. It has a disproportionate number of males. It also has real lousy food (it always makes the princetonreview "is it food?" list; he spent six weeks there one summer and confirmed this was accurate -- someone recently on CC said his brother at CM now says the same thing).</p>
<p>WashU is basically strong in everything and is always listed as having excellent food. The food is, too -- I was amazed at orientation.</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon does have restaurants and stores next to campus, while at WashU you need to take a hike to reach anything. Getting to things in Pittsburgh is easier because you have the buses that go right by campus and students get bus passes that enable them to go anywhere for free (at least this was true at the time of my son's summer course). At WashU is it harder to get to things in St. Louis -- at least from what my son says.</p>
<p>Have you visited both schools? If not, this could help you make up your mind. My son was trying to decide between WashU and another school and was actually leaning toward the latter. But then he visited (his previous "visits" were by means of videotaped tours) and changed his mind.</p>
<p>Wash U blows CMU out of the water for what you want... Plus if you want an actual social scene than wash U is the place</p>
<p>I'm choosing between these two schools, but I'm looking to study business and possibly something involving computer science. Should I look more at CMU or Wash U for those kinds of things?</p>
<p>Computer Science!? No question...CMU is known for CS!</p>
<p>My S was accepted to both but due to his overwhelming interest in Comp Sci is picking CMU (he loved it there on visits). CMU is tied at the top in that field (at the same level as Stanford, Berkely, and MIT). CMU's Tepper school of business is also gaining a very high reputation. </p>
<p>Wash U is best known for pre-med. Their engineering school is not particularly strong in Comp Sci, and I've read that their SEAS recruiting wasn't too good but now it's being incorporated into the overall career center and it might improve.</p>
<p>Outside of engineering, however, and in the general liberal arts I believe Wash U is stronger since as noted CMU concentrates on other areas. If you otherwise like CMU, you can take one course per semester at U-Pitt just down the road - they have everything. Students at both schools seem to be very satisfied. As a parent I found that the two schools had very different atmospheres and personally liked Pittsburgh better than St. Louis but liked Wash U's campus better than CMU's. From everything I've read the dorms, food, etc. are much better at Wash U (I've seen the dorms and they are really nice). I also think Wash U has more organized social events while CMU students are more informal and/or go to other area colleges, of which there are many. My S enjoyed Wash U on his overnight and commented on how nice everyone was. However, CMU in the end was a better fit for what he wants to study and offers the most opportunities for his post-college life interests.</p>
<p>I would suggest going into the threads and look for titles involving social life, dorms, foods, and the cities to get a lot of impressions.</p>
<p>But in the end it really depends on which school best fits your own interests.</p>
<p>My brother and I both had our final decisions down to Wash U vs. CMU, and I chose Wash U, while he chose CMU (both for business). I'll get into some details later (going to talk to my brother), but I can be more specific if you know what major/department you're leaning towards.</p>
<p>I'll try to address your points one by one:
Strong humanities/social sciences: Wash U seems the better of the two in this case.</p>
<p>Diverse student body: CMU has a very diverse campus, with a good amount of foreign students. However, it did seem a bit more cliquish than Wash U. Wash U tends to have the exaggerated stereotype of mainly white, upper class students, versus CMU's exaggerated stereotype of having all foreign students.</p>
<p>Fun City: CMU, as it's extremely close to the "city" part of Pittsburgh. Wash U is a bit farther distance from the downtown area, but that gap won't be as important with the opening of the campus MetroLink stop. Wash U borders Forest Park and the Loop, however - Forest Park is one of the nation's largest parks (complete with free museums, a golf course, paddle boats, etc.), and the Loop is a rejuvenated area that has shops, clubs, restaurants, bowling, and much more. However, its not like being right in a city, so it takes time to get to city attractions.</p>
<p>Fun Campus: Wash U. We work hard, and we play hard. Whether its a party in a dorm, off campus, at the frats, or any number of student organization sponsored events, the weekend nightlife is always exciting. Theres also Ursas Café by the dorms (ground floor of a dorm, actually) that features entertainment on the weekends (a cappella groups, student bands, talent shows, movies, sports games on the large projection screens.) The only dull weekend Ive ever had here was during fall break (a 3 day weekend), since a lot of people leave campus for the weekend.</p>
<p>Are there any other aspects youd like me to compare? Id really suggest visiting both campuses, and even staying overnight if possible if you still cannot decide. Getting a real feel for the atmosphere of a campus is one of the easiest ways to make up your mind.</p>
<p>When is MetroLink opening the stop, do you know? It seems like they've been talking about it for a long time ...</p>
<p>do you know anything about the comp sci/engineering programs at WashU? Please refer to the thread just posted by me asking for this type of info or HELP.</p>
<p>MetroLink's official timeframe for startup is October 2006. Wash U students and employees will begin to have access to MetroBus starting July 1st. As for comp sci/engineering, I'd have to go with CMU - Those are probably the 2 fields CMU is known best for. Don't get me wrong, there is a great comp sci & engineering department here, but I think that CMU may be a better choice for that. I do have many bright friends here who are engineering or comp sci, though. I'd suggest looking at the US News rankings for this one (one of the only times I do suggest it).</p>
<p>Wash U is #41 for engineering, while CMU is #8.</p>
<p>My son is a junior in EE at Wash U and is perfectly satisfied. He decided against Carnegie Mellon because he wanted to have a school that was strong in everything in case he decided engineering wasn't for him (which does happen with some frequency -- my nephew and my brother each lasted one year in EE, the former could switch at his college but my brother had to transfer). I'm remembering a higher ranking for Wash U engineering than 41 -- perhaps he looked specifically at EE. I know he looked at a number of rankings and they disagreed with each other. But Wash U was high enough for him to consider. I'm surprised it is put that low now. Oh well, too late now for him ... I'm not at all sure what the ratings are based on.</p>
<p>To DianeR
That is why my son is strongly considering Vandy & WashU! Do you have any info on the post graduate opportunities for comp sci majors?
To oncampus:
what are the most popular classes, professors, or learning experiences? what do you think or know of the post graduate opportunities? Does WashU post their starting salaries ala CMU? (my twin lives in Webster Grove)</p>
<p>No, I have no information on that. We are still wondering about the post-graduate opportunities in EE! Last I heard, my son wasn't sure if he wanted a job right away or whether he would go to graduate school. You could always contact the computer science department.</p>
<p>If my intended major is math/physics, not engineering, which school would be the stronger choice? This is strictly from an ACADEMIC perspective! (I visited WashU and plan to visit CMU soon to get a social feel.)</p>
<p>SoapOnARoap - </p>
<p>As much as I love WashU - I'm starting there this fall - I think CMU is the better school for math and physics. WashU is particularly strong in biological sciences - the pre-med program is superb. It's also much stronger in the humanities and social sciences, and only slightly less strong in business (Olin is ranked 12th, Tepper is around 5th I think). The WashU School of Architecture is first rate, and the Art School (thats' where I'm going) is quite good and rising. Overall, WashU is the better school - better dorms, food, campus, general intellectual level of kids, overall academic opportunities...but for what you want, academically, its CMU.</p>
<p>By the way, you should head over to the CMU board to get the perspective over there.</p>
<p>In math, physics, engineering, CS and econ...CMU is definitely stronger. Math and physics are extremely solid @ CMU.</p>