Attending Carnegie Mellon

[foglemgs]

Hello! To those of you who have attended Carnegie Mellon's MA in Literary and Cultural Studies in the past, could you provide me with any information? How were the classes? What supplies did you find helpful? Are there any professors to avoid? Any information on this program would be helpful and much appreciated. Thank you in advance.

[Spore]

I will also be at CMU in Fall 2012 (I already live in PGH so relocation is finished).

Did you have an admitted student day? Did the department provide you with some student contact names? If not, it would not hurt to ask? Do you know how much wiggle room your program has? For example, I don't get to pick any of my first semester courses as they are dictated to me by my program.

If you have any general PGH questions, or very general CMU questions, I'd be glad to help you.

PGH is a great city and CMU is a fantastic school.

[foglemgs]

Spore - thanks for the reply. No, there was no admitted student day or a list of student contact names, but I will ask the program director about possible student contacts. My program allows me to select my (3) classes for my first semester from a lightly restricted list, but I'm still waiting to hear whether or not I got in to the classes of highest interest to me. What is your program? Is it an MA or a PhD (or neither)?

I currently live in Chicago, but I lived in Pittsburgh for about 8 years and absolutely loved it. Both my family and my in-laws live in the greater Pittsburgh area, so I have a decent support network in place.

I do have a general question about the 'Burgh: how is their public transportation? In Chicago, you can get pretty much anywhere at anytime, but I've read some discouraging things about PT in Pittsburgh. Do you have any experience with this? Thanks and cheers!

[Spore]

So...I will be attending the Heniz College for an MS in Health Care Policy and Management. I start in August 2012.

I have already done the full-blown graduate school experience and earned a PhD in Molecular Genetics and Microbiology. So I know a bit about grad school life: the good, the bad and the ugly.

Happily, your CMU ID card will get you free rides on all PGH transit.

There have been some grumblings about the transit system in PGH concerning cut backs on service. If you find a place close to school on the bus lines this won't be a problem because those lines' services will not be disrupted. Additionally, CMU runs a series of shuttle buses throughout Squirrel Hill and Shadyside so that is another good option to have if you live in those areas.

Leases tend to start on 8.1 and follow the academic year. I see many advertisements for rent, both in print and on foot, currently.

I think it is fantastic you have a support network in PGH. Are you planning on living close to campus?

[foglemgs]

As appealing as some of the neighborhoods around CMU are - I particularly like Shadyside - I will be living with my in-laws (for free!) in the South Hills area. Their home is fairly close to the "T," so I'll be taking that downtown and catching the 61A to CMU. On some days I may be able to convince my father-in-law (who works downtown) to drop me off on the bus-line, thus striking the "T" from the equation. I'm more concerned about getting home than I am about getting to campus, so we'll see how that works out.

[Spore]

That makes sense regarding the housing situation. You will "save" a chunck of change.

You should be fine getting to your appointments/classes. Just leave enough time for your commute each morning.

Obviously, you can always read or listen to music or do whatever while you wait.

I live in Shadyside and walking takes me about 35 minutes-fine in pleasant weather-and there is the CMU shuttle as well as public transit.

[Julianne Pigoon]

What I would like to know is why they haven't yet gotten back to recently admitted students about registration. Or anything at all.

[foglemgs]

Julianne Pigoon - I got an email from the DGS, and she asked me to email her with my top three choices for classes, noting that "we'll get you into the system ASAP" - whatever that means. I figured I'd give them a week or two, then send a reminder email. We have a bit of time, for sure, but it would be nice to get some concrete information.

[Julianne Pigoon]

I got no such email. Maybe I should pester them.

[Sanchéz]

Sorry, Juilanne, I meant to PM you when I got that registration email. Completely my fault.

The email I received went out to six students, so it could assumedly have only been sent to the PhD students. All the classes and their times and descriptions are up on the CMU registration website, though. I wouldn't worry too much. In my experience at an MA program, if you really want to take a class, a prof will let you in even if it's over the limit.

Now I'm just wondering when we're going to get our CMU ID.

[foglemgs]

Sanchez - your "rejected" list looks uncomfortably like my own.

Which is your program at CMU?

[Sanchéz]

Haha, yeah, it's funny to see when some people on here applied to almost the exact same programs. I feel like there were a lot of people with the UW Milwaukee, CMU, Oregon, Chicago, and PItt package this year.

And I'm entering the Literary and Cultural Studies track (just changed my signature to show it), hoping to particularly focus in classical Hollywood cinema and, more tangentially, American modernist lit....essentially early 20th-century American narrative. How about yourself?

[foglemgs]

I'm also entering the LCS program; however, I'm in the MA track - had no luck with my PhD applications.

Although I don't know how much I'll be able to explore it, my interest is the portrayal of death in Romantic (particularly Regency) and Victorian poetry. I'm also into '60s and "70s horror films and pre-Soviet Russian cinema. I know - fun stuff!

My plan is to re-apply to PhD programs next year, including the LCS at CMU, so we'll see what happens.

[Sanchéz]

That's so cool. Though he started right at the beginning of Soviet Russia, I've done quite a bit of research on Eisenstein. It's so interesting to see how Soviet film developed somewhat divergently to Hollywood. And I'm a huge fan of some Dario Argento horror films. Carnival of Souls from '62 is great, too (if you haven't checked it out, it got Criterion Collection treatment).

I look forward to meeting you this fall. Maybe I'll see you in Kathy Newman's "Golden Age of Television" class?

[foglemgs]

Argento is one of my favorites - I also like Mario Bava and Lucio Fulci. I picked up the Criterion "Carnival of Souls" when Barnes & Noble had their half-off Criterion sale. If you've never seen it, you should check out "Diabolique" (the 1955 version) - it's a superior horror/suspense film that also received the Criterion treatment. I definitely feel a movie night coming on!

Eisenstein and Kuleshov are great - love the theory of montage. I think it's interesting that the Russians were right there (with the Lumiere brothers) at the inception of film, yet they rarely get recognized for it.

Newman's class is my first alternate, but I'm still waiting to hear back from the DGS. My top three choices for classes are:

Literary and Cultural Studies I

Studies in Print Culture

Renaissance Studies: Allegory

My name is Geoff, and I hope to see you around.

[Sanchéz]

I've been meaning to watch Diabolique for a while now. There's just so many gems in the Criterion Collection, and since they all went up on Hulu Plus, I've been a huge movie glut. There are many a movie night to be had for sure.

My name is Bret by the way. LCS I and Renaissance Studies were 2 of my top choices, too. See you in there. It's going to be a great fall.

[Julianne Pigoon]

Sorry, Juilanne, I meant to PM you when I got that registration email. Completely my fault.

The email I received went out to six students, so it could assumedly have only been sent to the PhD students. All the classes and their times and descriptions are up on the CMU registration website, though. I wouldn't worry too much. In my experience at an MA program, if you really want to take a class, a prof will let you in even if it's over the limit.

Now I'm just wondering when we're going to get our CMU ID.

No worries. I'm sure they'll get back to the MA students when they're good and ready. I may send them an email just to make sure they got my form, as I haven't head anything since the deadline. As far as IDs go, I figured that would all happen the week before classes start or something, or during orientation. It would be nice to have it beforehand as we're selling our car and intend to use public transit once we get to Pittsburgh (which is, of course, free with CMU or Pitt ID).

Also, I reread the email I sent you. Did I very possibly mention that I intend to apply to the PhD program later on? Ha. Proofreading.

[Spore]

I am in a different Masters program at CMU.

I was told I could pick up my AndrewID card after August 1.

[foglemgs]

I am in a different Masters program at CMU.

I was told I could pick up my AndrewID card after August 1.

Hi Spore - did they give you an AndrewID yet so that you're able to log into their system? I know that, as part of the financial aid process you have to have an AndrewID to finalize everything. I'm hoping I can do that before August!

[foglemgs]

To clarify the previous post: I know Spore wrote that the AndrewID cards would be available after August 1st, but I'm curious about an ID to gain access to the CMU system. Running on very little sleep . . .

[Spore]

All cool foglemgs.

I have to say the Heinz folks at CMU have made the process of enrolling very transparent.

I already have my AndrewID (and my Heinz ID) so I can access the system A.O.K.

To get the card, I need to upload a picture of myself that the school uses to make my card...the first time EVER I supply the picture.

Now, imagine what I would do with my newly minted PA Drivers License? It is an awful picture.

[foglemgs]

Humanities colleges seem perpetually behind - thanks for the the info though, Spore. They're probably still waiting to hear from some stragglers regarding admission, so I won't panic unless July gets here and I'm still unsure what my Andrew ID is.

Hopefully I'll be allowed to upload a picture for my ID as well. I do not sit well for photos - I look like I just got out of jail in my IL driver's license pic.

[Sanchéz]

Just thought I'd give you guys a heads up. I got an email today from Susan Kelley that assigned me an Andrew ID. She said I could access my schedule, etc with it. There was some other information in the email about orientation and things, but nothing terribly significant.

[foglemgs]

Hey Sanchez - received the same email; got it tonight when I got home from work. It's good to know that there is some sort of orientation, at least! Now, if only I could decide on a photo to send for my AndrewID card . . .

[foglemgs]

Also, I noticed that Susan Kelley sent us a link to the 2011-12 academic year and said that classes start on the 29th; according to the 2012-13 calendar, classes start on the 27th. I wonder if the orientation date Susan provided in the email (the 26th) is wrong, too?