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一个印度人的博客感觉CMU的氛围真的很好啊 One-third Way through….. by diya End of first term at CMU. Two more to go. And in the meanwhile a few moments to pause and reflect. So what is it that defines the “CMU experience”? And when people ask me where they should apply for Masters in HCI and I don’t even wait for a second before emphatically saying “CMU!!!” , do I really have a good enough reason? So here a few things that struck me over the past few months as characterizing CMU, though I am not sure how unique they are. The first and foremost of course is the freedom and the flexibility. We are literally spoilt for choices when it comes to courses or projects. I have not seen anyone who had to settle for anything less than “favorite electives” and personally I had never imagined I would ever get the opportunity to take the kind of classes I have been taking. Being a part of the world renowned CMU SCS family does make a difference. It opens up horizons in a way an isolated HCI Institute can never hope to match. The “blurring line” between the various sub-disciplines like Language Technology, Machine Learning, Computer Science, Robotics and HCI is the most fascinating part of being here. Intra-disciplinary collaboration is the way of life here be it research, teaching or just regular classroom discussions. Then, in a very subtle way this place makes every student feel truly precious. Ideas are valued in a way that I have never seen elsewhere. Never before have I felt that every word that I write in the reports or speak in the presentations actually makes a difference to so many people. Professors find something worthwhile to discuss in such miniscule details of a written paper which would have escaped even the author’s notice. Surprisingly, I have never witnessed harsh criticism of anyone’s work in any situation. Wonder if it’s a cultural issue not to articulate negative opinion directly. Or is it just that all work done at CMU is beyond reproach? It does make it difficult at times to know if all the appreciation is for real or mere courtesy! On the flipside this place makes one extremely “laptop bound”. Can’t think of a single waking hour without laptop and internet. You actually get into the habit of talking to people with a laptop in the front, well, most of the time, which may not be all that desirable. People here respond to e-mail queries within minutes even in the middle of the night, at times even when they are on leave and out of station!! And one seemingly insignificant issue….the labs and the workspaces remain open on the weekdays but over the weekends, you need to access them by swiping the I-cards. For the past four months this has been the only way for us to know if it’s a week day or a weekend J Strangely somehow it doesn’t seem to have been quite that taxing. When I look back at the term that just got over, I think I relished every moment of it, much in coherence with what I had expected at the time of joining! Posted in Carnegie Mellon University

【zz】One-third Way through…..