Carnegie Mellon University

Located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Carnegie Mellon University was founded in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools.  It was officially renamed the Carnegie Mellon University after merging with the Mellon institute of Industrial Research.  The 140 acre main campus sits on 140 acres in downtown Pittsburgh.  During the 1970s and 1980s, the university’s growth soared from an annual research budget of $12 million to more than $110 million.  The university earned a reputation for innovation in the fields of Robotics and Software Engineering.  President Richard M. Cyert (1972-1990) pioneered the “Andrew” computing network, which linked all the computers and workstations on campus, setting the standard for educational computing and establishing Carnegie Mellon as a leader in the use of technology in education and research. 

One of Carnegie Mellon’s most famous faculty member was Professor of Computer Science Randy Pausch.  His book, The Last Lecture, based on a lecture he gave in 2007 after he learned he had pancreatic cancer, quickly rose to The New York Times Bestseller list.  A famous alum is John Forbes Nash, Class of 1948, winner of the 1994 Nobel Prize in Economics and the subject of the book and film A Beautiful Mind.  Carnegie Mellon is a prestigious east coast engineering school with 93% of its student body at the top 10% of their high schools, rated first in the country for the field of Computer Science.  So it comes as no surprise when we found the campus filled with slightly awkward geeks consumed with studying in their dorm rooms.

Students who applied to Carnegie Mellon University also looked at MIT, RPI, and Cornell University.  For more information on Carnegie Mellon University, visit http://www.cmu.edu/index.shtml

Carnegie Mellon University is located at 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA  15213 (412)268-2000

Swarthmore College

Located in Swarthmore, PA; Swarthmore College was founded in 1864 by Quakers prominent in the abolitionist and women’s rights movements, including the famous Lucretia Mott.  It comes as no surprise that Swarthmore was one of the earliest coeducational colleges in the United States.  Swarthmore is part of the Tri-College Consortium, a co-op among Swarthmore College, Bryn Mawr College, and Haverford College.  The consortium shares an integrated library system and students are able to take classes in all three institutions.  Swarthmore is known as one of the “Little Ivies”, having the distinction of rank as the #3 liberal arts college in the world by U.S. News & World Report.

Another rarity is that Swarthmore is one of the few liberal arts colleges with an engineering program.   Despite its small size, Swarthmore still boasts more than 600 courses a year.  Swarthmore also has a reputation for a policy of “grade deflation”, as practiced by Princeton University.  We actually saw a student on campus sporting a t-shirt proclaiming, “Anywhere else it would’ve been an A.”  Another proud member of the rare elite schools that are “need blind”, Swarthmore has done away with loans, meeting 100% of demonstrated student need with scholarships.

Recent allegations by female students accusing Swarthmore administration of covering up the real number of sexual abuses on campus, has put a blot on the institution.  An independent investigation is ongoing.  Accusations that fraternities harbor “serial rapist” are very real and frightening for any prospective student and their families. 

Students who applied to Swarthmore College also looked at Bryn Mawr College, Williams College, and the University of Pennsylvania. 

For more information on Swarthmore College, visit  http://www.swarthmore.edu/.

Swarthmore College is located at 500 College Avenue Swarthmore, PA  19081  (610) 328-8000