jmcomic漫画

I attended the School of Design within Carnegie Mellon University. The School of Design has a great program split into multiple track options, with an introductory year to learn foundations applying to all tracks. I liked this system because it allowed myself and classmates to understand better how we wanted to tailor our next 3 years of education and get the most of our time there. The cost of the institution is high, and I just finished paying my student loans 10 years after graduating. I feel... Read More it was worth it to have access to great educators and companies that recruited intentionally from the school. I got my first job directly out of school because the company attended the yearly School of Design recruiting event.

CMU CFA doesn鈥檛 have any department or program, even though they advertise one. Whenever I spoke with a faculty member, they were dumbfounded by the idea of art or even more confused about the idea of students having careers or jobs. I can鈥檛 stress enough that the experience has zero ROI and provides no direction or foundation for a career. There were no resources or training or access to any technology. I would have never imagined making a life decision to pursue a career just to find myself in... Read More a program that had zero interest in my success.

I enjoyed my time at CMU and found a lot of comfort in the smaller class sizes and campus as a whole. Starting at the university in 2020 during Covid, my experience does differ from many other alumni but my junior and senior years more accurately reflected the true social and academic environments. I think the university does need to improve their class selections and hold some of the professors to higher standards of teaching. The university also seemed to be less supportive towards Greek life and... Read More other social organizations, as opposed to other extracurricular activities.

This school was one of the biggest disappointments of my life. It didn鈥檛 prepare me for any form of a sustainable art practice, no technical rigor, no grounding in how the art world actually works, and no emphasis on building a body of work that could survive outside the classroom bubble. The so-called 鈥渃areer services鈥� were nonexistent; there was no real network to plug into, no mentorship from working artists, and no guidance on how to navigate galleries, residencies, grants, or any kind of professional... Read More opportunities.

Faculty seemed more interested in protecting their own reputation than challenging students to grow. Critiques were shallow, often more about personalities than substance, and there was zero follow-through to help you develop your work beyond a semester. The school operates in a vacuum, disconnected from the realities of making a living as an artist, leaving graduates stranded with debt, a degree that carries little weight, and no practical path forward.

I attended the Carnegie Mellon School of Art hoping for a progressive, interdisciplinary, and supportive environment where creativity could thrive. Unfortunately, my experience was largely the opposite. While the university鈥檚 reputation in computer science and robotics is world-renowned, the School of Art feels like an afterthought鈥攗nderfunded, under-supported, and structurally disconnected from the innovation happening elsewhere on campus. Most significantly, the faculty went out of their way to... Read More embarrass me and interfere in my career post-graduation, blocking me from connections in NY and interfering in my attempt to get a PhD from MIT.

The curriculum is inflexible and discourages true experimentation. Despite CMU鈥檚 claims of fostering interdisciplinary exploration, I found it incredibly difficult to meaningfully engage with departments outside of art. Bureaucratic hurdles and a lack of collaboration between programs made it frustrating to pursue hybrid work that crossed into technology, design, or media studies鈥攁reas in which CMU is supposedly a leader.

The culture within the school can feel toxic, with a strong emphasis on cynicism and competition. Many critiques felt performative and overly academic, focusing more on jargon than on meaningful artistic growth. The environment wasn鈥檛 nurturing鈥攊t often felt like a space where students were expected to prove they belonged by being constantly critical, rather than supportive or constructive. There is no training in critique or any structure to the critique environment.

Compared to other programs I explored (such as RISD or UCLA), CMU鈥檚 School of Art lacks the infrastructure, community, and visionary leadership to truly support emerging artists. It felt like the program was coasting on the university鈥檚 name without investing in the students or adapting to the needs of contemporary creative practice. It is basically a shapeless and empty program, but one that lasts 3 years!

If you鈥檙e a student who values mentorship, interdisciplinary access, or a healthy creative community, I would strongly urge you to look elsewhere.

CMU was a waste of time. I received no education and no connections whatsoever by attending there. Three years of graduate work resulted in no career advancement whatsoever. It鈥檚 hard to fathom how horrifying this really is. Going to school should in the very least result in some sort of opportunity. I did really well in the program but the degree just really doesn鈥檛 have any value. I am genuinely shocked and saddened to learn I made a three year long mistake that has had no impact (at most a negative... Read More one) on my career.

Carnegie Mellon is a very academically challenging school. The social life and lack of school/life balance makes it even more challenging. But, five years into my career, I feel it prepared me for success in the workforce in every way possible. I have worked at top companies in Silicon Valley and been able to rise quickly thanks to the breadth of my skills. I compare myself to colleagues my age from other leading universities like Stanford and continue to feel I excel above them in many ways due... Read More to the work ethic CMU instilled in me. One of the biggest things I took away from CMU was learning how to learn - picking up a new skill, software language, etc. and being able to experiment and learn on my own. CMU also is a well respected name in the technology industry and you won't have trouble getting a job if it's on your resume. For current and prospective students, I would encourage you to get involved with the community of Pittsburgh and possibly in Greek life if you are struggling. Having some activities outside of school helped me in my later years of undergrad, just to destress. Pittsburgh also has some cool restaurants, shows, organizations etc if you venture off campus. Don't stay in the CMU bubble the whole time!