School Review: Carnegie Mellon University

Carnegie Mellon is recognized as an amazing school. It's one of the best in the country, and it's easy to see that when on campus. The academia is tangible, but so is the serious manner in which students conduct themselves.

Pros: 

Pittsburgh seems like a really cool city. It's big, has a mix of old and new, has a rich history, and is very hilly. I like most big cities, and Pittsburgh (what I could see from the car and from the Carnegie Mellon campus) seemed like a pretty cool place.

Carnegie Mellon has a lot of educational opportunities and has a reputation for being a great school.

The campus is on a hill overlooking most of Pittsburgh. It's in a beautiful residential district of the city. Its location allows Carnegie Mellon to have its own identity but also have access to all the opportunities in Pittsburgh.

Cons:

I could tell that Carnegie Mellon was a nerd school from the moment I stepped foot on campus. I have nothing against nerds and even claim to be one sometimes. But you can tell that this is the school that Asian and Indian parents send their kids to be mathematicians and engineers. In fact, all of the students I saw on campus (there was a surprising amount for a Sunday in the middle of summer) were Asian or Indian. There wasn't much diversity besides those two ethnic groups, and I felt completely out of place as a white kid who wants to major in something unrelated to math or science. It's clear that these kids place their education above all else and I don't think they know much about having fun.

The campus, though beautiful at first glance, appears to be slowly deteriorating as one gets closer to the buildings. It even seemed a little dirty when I looked into some windows.

Pictures:

The famous fence in the center of campus. Students paint over it all the time! The tree next to it has a sign on it that reminds students not to paint on the tree.

The library. Impressive! 

Yay!

Pretty garden.

Maze/orange path/bushes/HUGE BEES!

Tennis!

Cobblestone streets in the neighborhood Carnegie Mellon is located.

Overall:

If you want to be an engineer or want to major in some sort of science, look into Carnegie Mellon. You'll get an amazing education, but I don't think you'll have much fun. Since I don't want to major in math or science and do want to have fun in college, I think I'll pass on Carnegie Mellon.

School Review: Oberlin College

Today I visited two schools that were extremely different from each other. The first was Oberlin College. Oberlin is located in a tiny Ohio town basically in the middle of nowhere. You'd never guess a renowned, beautiful college would be found in such a place!

Pros:

Oberlin is absolutely beautiful. The majority of buildings are very old, and very well constructed. They're just gorgeous. I have lots of pictures to show you what I mean.

The academics are top-notch and because I was only visiting campus I didn't get an actual sense for that, but I believe it.

The school has a large footing in music and the arts, and there are always performances going on. Even if Oberlin doesn't have the nightlife of a city, there are still things to do on the weekends.

Oberlin has an amazing history. The town was a hub for runaway slaves in the underground railroad. Oberlin is also a school of firsts: first interracial college in America, first school to admit women in the States, and the first school to have co-ed dorms in the U.S. Pretty impressive for such a small town.

Cons:

Oberlin is in the middle of nowhere. I know all about rural life, but Oberlin takes it to another level. Of course because of the college there are restaurants and coffee shops and places to shop nearby, but not much to choose from. I feel like I'd grow tired of the same old places if I went to Oberlin. Oberlin is fairly close to a freeway, however, so students can escape if they're willing to make the drive.

Though I do appreciate music and the arts, musicians can get on my nerves.

I love the midwest, but I've lived in Michigan my whole life and do have a desire for a change of scenery during my college years.

The town was dead! There were literally no other people on campus when I was walking around, which alarmed me. I know it's summer but I expected at least a few people to be wandering about! Obviously it's different during the school year, but it still alarmed me.

Pictures:

The Science Center

This is a dorm hall... I'm jealous.

The library.

Bikes everywhere!

The main street. About the extent of the excitement in Oberlin, at least during this time of the year.

Overall:

Oberlin seems like a great school with a lot of opportunities available to its students, but I don't know if I'd be able to deal with the specific area it's in. Tiny town, flat land... not much to do outside of campus. Not sure if that's my thing. Oh, and Oberlin College is gorgeous!

School Review: University of Michigan

Today was the first stop on my college road trip! Though I live in Michigan, I've never actually visited the University of Michigan campus. That changed today.

Pros: 

Ann Arbor is the coolest little town. The downtown area is filled with hip restaurants and I can tell it has a very active nightlife. I can't even imagine how busy it must be when the 40,000 students return in the fall. I can't imagine a night where I'd have nothing to do if I went to U of M. It has all the restaurants that everyone loves like Panera and Chipoltle. Oh, and I went to H&M for the first time today and it was great. I can't imagine a student coming to U of M and missing their favorite store or restaurant. Oh, and since Ann Arbor is a suburb of Detroit, there's always Detroit. By the way, Detroit gets a bad rep. I love the city.

The town seemed pretty diverse. Some things that stood out though were that the students that take classes during the summer were almost all Asian and I'm not sure if that's just a seasonal thing or if that's an indication of the racial demographics during the whole year.

I also really loved how proud everyone seemed to be of the school. I passed countless cars that bore "U of M Alumni" stickers or license plates with the big yellow M. A lot of people were wearing U of M apparel also, and it's not like there was a football game tonight or anything. There was a U of M memorabilia/apparel store on every block downtown, and even one at a mall I went to a few miles from downtown.

There are areas of the campus (particularly the law school) that are absolutely gorgeous. The buildings and surrounding areas look like they were uprooted from an Ivy League school and tossed into little suburban Ann Arbor. Pictures will follow.

Cons:

The campus is huge! Naturally with 40,000 students you'd need a lot of space and buildings, but it was as if the U of M campus was its own city! It was so big in fact that though I was in Ann Arbor for over five hours I didn't get to see all of campus, which was pretty disappointing.

The 40,000 student thing I mentioned earlier. That's on the verge of ridiculous.

So while I was walking around campus I noticed TONS of fraternity and sorority houses. I know already that it's a big part of the school, but that worries me because I don't plan on rushing and am not the frat party kind of guy to be honest.

Sports are huge at U of M and I don't really care about sports, but I don't think that will be a huge deal.

Pictures:

This was a sculpture that was on campus. I thought it was cool because you can actually spin it in circles if you're so inclined.

A view of the law school from across the street. You can see the beautiful buildings peeking through the treetops.

Another shot of one of the law school buildings.

This was the commons area/quad/grassy place in the middle of the law school. The law school surrounds this area and it has tons of GIANT trees which were pretty. 

Here's the (I think) main building of the law school. It looked ancient and beautiful and just looks like an elite law school, you know?

I believe this is the side of one of the law school buildings. I took this picture when I was getting out of the car, before I knew what anything was.

Beautiful library. I can't remember if it was exclusively for the law school or what.

Really awesome modern building near the law school. Not sure what it was for, but it is a U of M building and I know classes take place in there.

Cool commons/quad/whatever. I think they call it a diag. This is basically the center of the whole campus.

Another picture of the law school I think. Ha! It was too pretty to not take tons of pictures.

Overall:

From what I saw, I don't think I would mind going to University of Michigan. It's the first school I've visited, so I'm not sure if I'm being too harsh or too soft on it just yet. The size of the school is not what I am looking for, but once I saw the campus and surrounding areas my worries were somewhat abated.