ACADEMIC LIFE
The
students of Carnegie Mellon come from a number of different backgrounds. The
one thing that everyone has in common is that they have worked hard to get
here. Most of the students come from the top of their high school classes. At
first, many of them are surprised that they are not necessarily in the same
position here; however, they are surrounded by people and situations that
challenge them and inspire them to work harder.
Nobody
ever said that being a student at Carnegie Mellon was easy, but it is certainly
not impossible. You may be working hard and studying more than you'd expected,
but so is everybody else. People understand what their colleagues are going
through and they help each other.
Although
Carnegie Mellon is an extremely competitive school, students learn early that
they need to help and support each other to succeed. People are willing to
explain a difficult concept or give constructive criticism because they know
that at some point they will probably need the same favor.
For every
class there is a study session offered before a test. In many cases, the
professor or a teaching assistant will organize a review session to help
members of the class. In addition to this, many students take it upon themselves
to start their own study groups. In addition to helping and being helped by
their peers, many students find this to be a good way to get to know people in
their classes.
CLASSES AND FACULTY
The faculty/student ratio is ten to one; the
average class size is between twenty-five and thirty-five students. This also
takes into consideration the larger lectures. The largest lecture hall on
campus seats 250, which is relatively small compared to other universities.
Most of the classes that have lectures this size are introductory classes that
many students are required to take. In classes with this size, there is always
a recitation offered with lecture. The recitation is a smaller group (ten to
twenty people) led by a teaching assistant (TA) or graduate student who
discusses the concepts and subjects covered in the lecture. In all cases, the
TA and professor will always have office hours for people who may need extra
help, and in most cases, they will also give the class members (no matter how
many) their office (and sometimes home) telephone number and e-mail address.
Some professors even host social gatherings to become better acquainted with
their students.
The course load and the kind of work you do
depends on what college you're in and what you're majoring in. Computer science
majors will obviously spend a lot of time at their computers, while
architecture majors will spend a lot of time in their studios. While one person
is working on problem sets every night, another will be writing a long paper.
Everyone will say that his or her work is the hardest, but the truth is that
everyone is doing the kind of work they enjoy (or they should be). It's
impossible to classify the class work here into one category. Every class has
its own pattern.
No
matter what a person's major is he, or she will have a few classes in other
areas. For example, computer science majors are required to take non-computer
related electives (such as an English class), people in the humanities are
required to take a math class and two science classes and every freshman is
required to take a computer skills workshop course. Introduction to World History
and Introductory English class.
COMPUTERS
Any student at Carnegie Mellon
would tell you that this is a very computer oriented campus. Almost everything
from communicating with professors to signing up for classes is done over the
Internet. One or the first things students are taught when they come here is
how to use the campus network, Andrew. Every freshman is required to pass a
class called Computer Skills Workshop (CSW), which covers everything from
e-mail to ethics. Almost everything is announced over the Internet. Most
classes and student organization have their own electronic bulletin boards to
make announcements and have discussions.
Students
aren't required to have their own computers but many have them. There are
computer clusters in many of the dorms and in every academic building. Every
dorm room has Ethernet hookups in case the students do have a computer of their
own, so they have access to the Internet from their rooms. Carnegie Mellon was
the first university campus to offer wireless networking in all administrative
and academic buildings. Wireless Andrew, the largest installation of its type
anywhere, connects over 5,000 students, faculty and staff across campus and
that number is growing. The wireless network is now available in all
administrative, academic, and residential buildings across campus. The network is
also accessible from outdoor areas on campus due to wireless leakage around
buildings and through access points mounted on the exterior of some buildings.
Users are able to access Wireless Andrew by purchasing a WaveLan card from the
campus computer store and inserting it into their laptop or portable computer.
The need for a computer depends on the major. Some people, who have a lot of
work to do on computers, find it convenient to not have to leave their room to
get their work done. Others, who don’t do a lot of work with computers, don’t
have any need for them. Your best bet is to wait until you get to school and
figure it out then (if you don’t already have one).
0 comments:
Post a Comment