CMU vs W&L?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:if mathy, CMU's business is quant heaven, with very lucrative outcomes

+1000

[Anonymous]

If you like business and Tech and want to do something in finance, then CMU should be the choice. Although, I think W&L has a beautiful campus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CMU is definitely better. But it is not for everyone. And the gap is not gigantic. So if your child truly feels more comfortable at W&L, they should go to W&L. But if they are relatively indifferent, CMU.

Pittsburgh is a great place to go to college. Big city with sports, restaurants, major airport, etc. Which is great for some and bad for others. But those who are completely insulting it are idiots.

Just because someone my not enjoy long cold winters with freezing temps, heavy snow and ice from approximately November to March does not make them an idiot. Maybe just not their preference.

You sound like a Virginian.

Snow of any note rarely occurs before Christmas break.

Put on a coat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CMU is definitely better. But it is not for everyone. And the gap is not gigantic. So if your child truly feels more comfortable at W&L, they should go to W&L. But if they are relatively indifferent, CMU.

Pittsburgh is a great place to go to college. Big city with sports, restaurants, major airport, etc. Which is great for some and bad for others. But those who are completely insulting it are idiots.

Just because someone my not enjoy long cold winters with freezing temps, heavy snow and ice from approximately November to March does not make them an idiot. Maybe just not their preference.

You sound like a Virginian.

Snow of any note rarely occurs before Christmas break.

Put on a coat.

+1 Tell me you haven’t actually been to Pittsburgh without telling me you haven’t actually been to Pittsburgh. But W&L is apparently the “Bucknell of the South” in that it’s another “Pipeline to the Street” or something.

[Anonymous]

“Bucknell of the South” - tremendous - made me spit my coffee out

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:“Bucknell of the South” - tremendous - made me spit my coffee out

That’s actually not a terrible analogy. Small school, lily white, big Greek system, moneyed parents.

W+L and CMU are such different vibes. If you like the vibe at W+L you probably won’t like the vibe at CMU and vice versa

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CMU is definitely better. But it is not for everyone. And the gap is not gigantic. So if your child truly feels more comfortable at W&L, they should go to W&L. But if they are relatively indifferent, CMU.

Pittsburgh is a great place to go to college. Big city with sports, restaurants, major airport, etc. Which is great for some and bad for others. But those who are completely insulting it are idiots.

Just because someone my not enjoy long cold winters with freezing temps, heavy snow and ice from approximately November to March does not make them an idiot. Maybe just not their preference.

You sound like a Virginian.

Snow of any note rarely occurs before Christmas break.

Put on a coat.

+1 Tell me you haven’t actually been to Pittsburgh without telling me you haven’t actually been to Pittsburgh. But W&L is apparently the “Bucknell of the South” in that it’s another “Pipeline to the Street” or something.

I am from Pittsburgh…it’s cold and dreary for a good 5 months which is basically the school year.

I love the city but the cold, gray winters really suck.

[Anonymous]

Go with CMU.

If you check out their job placement stats, CMU provides stronger national placement, especially in consulting, finance, and tech, with higher starting compensation. W&M offers slightly lower—but still very competitive—starting salaries, robust employment outcomes in consulting, finance, and government sectors, particularly in the Mid‑Atlantic region. If you’re targeting top-tier consulting or more national roles with high pay, CMU may offer a slight edge. Fewer folks outside VA are aware of what W&M is all about.

In terms of the business program itself, CMU is academically more rigorous with strong focus on mathematics, analytics, data science, and STEM integration; their curriculum can include calculus, programming, and econometrics with opportunities to double major/minor in CS, engineering, economics, etc. Depending on your DC’s interest or strength, this is always a powerful combo. On the other hand, W&M is more traditional business core with some analytics and data coursework, fewer high intensity STEM pairing.

Have also worked with and hired grads from both programs, they all do extremely well. And they live up to their reputations: CMU known for being “grinders” – hardworking, technical, competitive… W&M known for being smart, well-rounded. Have found W&M grads to be slightly more confident which some find to be arrogant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CMU is definitely better. But it is not for everyone. And the gap is not gigantic. So if your child truly feels more comfortable at W&L, they should go to W&L. But if they are relatively indifferent, CMU.

Pittsburgh is a great place to go to college. Big city with sports, restaurants, major airport, etc. Which is great for some and bad for others. But those who are completely insulting it are idiots.

Just because someone my not enjoy long cold winters with freezing temps, heavy snow and ice from approximately November to March does not make them an idiot. Maybe just not their preference.

Totally agree that Pittsburgh is far from perfect. But unfortunately, on DCUM so many people can only think in extremes, and there are those who act like Pittsburgh has no redeeming qualities ("completely insulting it") are being short-sighted and closed minded.

That is the wonderful thing about our country (one of the few remaining ones). If you want an urban school, it exists. If you want rural, it exists. If you want suburban, it exists. Big exists. Small exists. Warm exists. Cold exists. Etc. Just because a place isn't what someone wants doesn't mean it is all bad and without merit. But that is the way so many people think around here. "NYU is horrible. Why would anyone want to go to school in a big city." "Williams is horrible. Why would anyone want to go to school in a rural area." One can honestly cite the potential challenges of a school so people are aware without making those sound completely bad.

So perhaps my use of "idiots" was an overstatement and I apologize. But I was responding more broadly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Go with CMU.

If you check out their job placement stats, CMU provides stronger national placement, especially in consulting, finance, and tech, with higher starting compensation. W&M offers slightly lower—but still very competitive—starting salaries, robust employment outcomes in consulting, finance, and government sectors, particularly in the Mid‑Atlantic region. If you’re targeting top-tier consulting or more national roles with high pay, CMU may offer a slight edge. Fewer folks outside VA are aware of what W&M is all about.

In terms of the business program itself, CMU is academically more rigorous with strong focus on mathematics, analytics, data science, and STEM integration; their curriculum can include calculus, programming, and econometrics with opportunities to double major/minor in CS, engineering, economics, etc. Depending on your DC’s interest or strength, this is always a powerful combo. On the other hand, W&M is more traditional business core with some analytics and data coursework, fewer high intensity STEM pairing.

Have also worked with and hired grads from both programs, they all do extremely well. And they live up to their reputations: CMU known for being “grinders” – hardworking, technical, competitive… W&M known for being smart, well-rounded. Have found W&M grads to be slightly more confident which some find to be arrogant.

The comparison is W&L not W&M.

No offense…but if the kid was getting recruited by W&M, the kid would be going to W&M to play D1.

[Anonymous]

Is this even a question…CMU

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go with CMU.

If you check out their job placement stats, CMU provides stronger national placement, especially in consulting, finance, and tech, with higher starting compensation. W&M offers slightly lower—but still very competitive—starting salaries, robust employment outcomes in consulting, finance, and government sectors, particularly in the Mid‑Atlantic region. If you’re targeting top-tier consulting or more national roles with high pay, CMU may offer a slight edge. Fewer folks outside VA are aware of what W&M is all about.

In terms of the business program itself, CMU is academically more rigorous with strong focus on mathematics, analytics, data science, and STEM integration; their curriculum can include calculus, programming, and econometrics with opportunities to double major/minor in CS, engineering, economics, etc. Depending on your DC’s interest or strength, this is always a powerful combo. On the other hand, W&M is more traditional business core with some analytics and data coursework, fewer high intensity STEM pairing.

Have also worked with and hired grads from both programs, they all do extremely well. And they live up to their reputations: CMU known for being “grinders” – hardworking, technical, competitive… W&M known for being smart, well-rounded. Have found W&M grads to be slightly more confident which some find to be arrogant.

The comparison is W&L not W&M.

No offense…but if the kid was getting recruited by W&M, the kid would be going to W&M to play D1.

My bad. My brain automatically saw W&M as even remotely close to being compared as a viable comparable.

No offense…but since it’s W&L, this shouldn’t even be a comparison.

[Anonymous]

CMU

[Anonymous]

It’s funny…usually the posts about CMU are about how miserable the place is. Admittedly, that’s more for the STEM kids, but it does permeate the school.

My kid thought CMU would be their top choice but after spending a weekend with an upperclassman, immediately removed it from their list.

If I were OP…I would be spending much more time thinking about Colgate (mentioned as another option) or perhaps considering approaching other UAA colleges like Chicago, WashU or Emory (UAA is the CMU conference).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CMU is definitely better. But it is not for everyone. And the gap is not gigantic. So if your child truly feels more comfortable at W&L, they should go to W&L. But if they are relatively indifferent, CMU.

Pittsburgh is a great place to go to college. Big city with sports, restaurants, major airport, etc. Which is great for some and bad for others. But those who are completely insulting it are idiots.

Just because someone my not enjoy long cold winters with freezing temps, heavy snow and ice from approximately November to March does not make them an idiot. Maybe just not their preference.

You sound like a Virginian.

Snow of any note rarely occurs before Christmas break.

Put on a coat.

+1 Tell me you haven’t actually been to Pittsburgh without telling me you haven’t actually been to Pittsburgh. But W&L is apparently the “Bucknell of the South” in that it’s another “Pipeline to the Street” or something.

I am from Pittsburgh…it’s cold and dreary for a good 5 months which is basically the school year.

I love the city but the cold, gray winters really suck.

I grew up in Pittsburgh and went to Pitt. Regardless of weather statistics, it didn't seem like a really big difference from MoCo. I like to ski, and I did ski during high school in the higher mountains an hour away from Pittsburgh (between Pittsburgh and Maryland). I did not ski during college (no time). The peak season is basically mid-January to end of February.

I didn't need snow boots at college once. Just waterproof footwear.

I lived in MoCo for 8 years total. There certainly were snows, blizzards, and government shutdowns due to cold when I lived there. Also the summers are even worse with humidity. I'm sure people realize there are a few ski resorts in Maryland also.

My opinion is that snow is only a problem if you have to drive in it.

If you don't like snow and weather affects your moods then it's worth thinking about. Beyond that I think it's NBD.