CMU or GTech

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go CMU if you can afford it. Smaller, research focused university with a feeder route to top notch employers. GaTech is good but much larger and more likely to have trouble getting into classes that you want because of overcrowding.

Georgia Tech will give you a more traditional college experience on top of it being a Top Engineering School. Go GT.

Not everybody wants a "traditional college experience," whatever that means. CMU is objectively better for engineering and has better employment outcomes due to prestige and a smaller class size. Pittsburgh is also a nicer place to attend college than Atlanta, IMO. A bit sleepier but cozier -- definitely an underrated city. If you want to party, just go over to Pitt.

It’s definitely not “objectively better”. I’d pick GaTech because CMU has a reputation for being absolutely miserable socially.

Unless you or your children experienced CMU, it is unfair to just quote whatever you read online. CMU is a grind in that the kids work hard but they are also well supported by the community. My two kids will pick CMU all over again despite the Pittsburgh weather and having other options in mild weather cities. They had great friends. Both were involved in sports clubs and more. On the other hand my friend’s son at GTech Engineering studies all the time with no spare time for sports or else. CMU and Gtech both offer a great education and both can be a grind which could impact one’s social life.

Yeah..agree. Dumb to compare the two. Both great schools at the top in their fields they each have their own dynamic so it's really a personal decision for the kid what fits their personality better. Each have their attributes. It's for the kid to decide which of these attributes are more attractive to them and fits them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go CMU if you can afford it. Smaller, research focused university with a feeder route to top notch employers. GaTech is good but much larger and more likely to have trouble getting into classes that you want because of overcrowding.

Georgia Tech will give you a more traditional college experience on top of it being a Top Engineering School. Go GT.

Not everybody wants a "traditional college experience," whatever that means. CMU is objectively better for engineering and has better employment outcomes due to prestige and a smaller class size. Pittsburgh is also a nicer place to attend college than Atlanta, IMO. A bit sleepier but cozier -- definitely an underrated city. If you want to party, just go over to Pitt.

It’s definitely not “objectively better”. I’d pick GaTech because CMU has a reputation for being absolutely miserable socially.

Unless you or your children experienced CMU, it is unfair to just quote whatever you read online. CMU is a grind in that the kids work hard but they are also well supported by the community. My two kids will pick CMU all over again despite the Pittsburgh weather and having other options in mild weather cities. They had great friends. Both were involved in sports clubs and more. On the other hand my friend’s son at GTech Engineering studies all the time with no spare time for sports or else. CMU and Gtech both offer a great education and both can be a grind which could impact one’s social life.

I am the prior poster and I stand by what I wrote. I know kids at both schools. My anecdotal evidence differs from yours, glad your kids enjoyed Carnegie Mellon despite the grind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nice Flex
Georgia Tech is #3 for Engineering and CMU is #8. Can't go wrong either way. I prefer GT as I prefer the Southeast. Congrats.

GT is #3? Hard to believe - MIT, CalTech, Berkeley, Stanford, Cornell, and CMU even. I’d put all those above GT

USNWR 2026 Top Engineering Schools
1. MIT
2. Stanford
3. Georgia Tech
3. UC-Berkely
5. Cal Tech
5. UIUC
5. UMich
8. Carnegie Mellon
8. Purdue
10. Cornell

Of course, the magazine ranking. Makes a lot of sense. LOL

[Anonymous]

CMU started as DD’s favorite and ended third. She’s attending GT. Every interaction with the CMU administration demonstrated their inflexibility and lowered her perception. The final straw was being told engineers are encouraged NOT to do semester internships instead only summer internships. Good luck competing for jobs at top companies against folks who can cite 6-9 month projects they completed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:CMU started as DD’s favorite and ended third. She’s attending GT. Every interaction with the CMU administration demonstrated their inflexibility and lowered her perception. The final straw was being told engineers are encouraged NOT to do semester internships instead only summer internships. Good luck competing for jobs at top companies against folks who can cite 6-9 month projects they completed.

You sound bitter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:CMU started as DD’s favorite and ended third. She’s attending GT. Every interaction with the CMU administration demonstrated their inflexibility and lowered her perception. The final straw was being told engineers are encouraged NOT to do semester internships instead only summer internships. Good luck competing for jobs at top companies against folks who can cite 6-9 month projects they completed.

CMU doesn’t offer co op so any semester internship means the student will need to take a semester off. Not doing a co-op style longer term internship doesn’t mean less opportunities during recruiting season. Check out CMU’s career center page where they break down the post graduation stats. It is impressive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go CMU if you can afford it. Smaller, research focused university with a feeder route to top notch employers. GaTech is good but much larger and more likely to have trouble getting into classes that you want because of overcrowding.

Georgia Tech will give you a more traditional college experience on top of it being a Top Engineering School. Go GT.

Not everybody wants a "traditional college experience," whatever that means. CMU is objectively better for engineering and has better employment outcomes due to prestige and a smaller class size. Pittsburgh is also a nicer place to attend college than Atlanta, IMO. A bit sleepier but cozier -- definitely an underrated city. If you want to party, just go over to Pitt.

It’s definitely not “objectively better”. I’d pick GaTech because CMU has a reputation for being absolutely miserable socially.

Unless you or your children experienced CMU, it is unfair to just quote whatever you read online. CMU is a grind in that the kids work hard but they are also well supported by the community. My two kids will pick CMU all over again despite the Pittsburgh weather and having other options in mild weather cities. They had great friends. Both were involved in sports clubs and more. On the other hand my friend’s son at GTech Engineering studies all the time with no spare time for sports or else. CMU and Gtech both offer a great education and both can be a grind which could impact one’s social life.

I am the prior poster and I stand by what I wrote. I know kids at both schools. My anecdotal evidence differs from yours, glad your kids enjoyed Carnegie Mellon despite the grind.

Through both kids, I have gotten to know lots of CMU students who are happy to be in Pittsburgh. I am sure there probably are others who weren’t a good fit for CMU and for Pittsburgh, but that happens at all school. I just wish ppl would stop propagating the false narrative on CMU with second hand information.