Pittsburgh, PA · Private · 7,304 undergraduates · urban

Carnegie Mellon University

Highly selective

Carnegie Mellon is the Pittsburgh university known for computer science, engineering, drama, design, and students who turn technical ideas into finished work. Applicants enter through a college or school, and the experience changes sharply between them. The advantage is proximity: coders, actors, roboticists, artists, and business students work within one compact campus, making unusual collaborations practical rather than ceremonial.

Dllu / CC BY-SA 4.0

Institutional profile

Top tier Exceptional in career outcomes, and exceptional in academic standing.

Academic standing Exceptional

Affordability Solid

Career outcomes Exceptional

Mobility Steady

Student experience Solid

Admission: 11.4% admitted
Price by income: Varies across five income ranges
Completion: 90.1%

What sets Carnegie Mellon apart

Computing and the arts share one campus

Technical and creative schools are strong enough to meet as equals on joint work.

Admission depends on college choice

Academic expectations and required materials vary materially by undergraduate school.

Pittsburgh extends the classroom

Hospitals, museums, technology firms, studios, and research institutions support work during the year.

The CMU pattern

Ideas become working artifacts

Carnegie Mellon repeatedly moves students from concept to something other people can test, see, or hear.

Foundation

Enter through a discipline

The undergraduate school supplies methods, standards, and a working community.

Build

Join a production or project

Teams force different skills to meet around one deadline.

Release

Put the result before an audience

A performance, prototype, study, or design creates evidence beyond a transcript.

Can I get in?

11.4% admitted

CMU admits by undergraduate college, with portfolio and audition requirements in several arts programs. Preparation must fit the school selected; one generic application cannot explain every route.

Recent applicant pool

33,707

About 11 in every 100 applicants were admitted.

Admission rate 11.4%

Entering class

Academic range

SAT middle 50%1500–1570

14401600

ACT middle 50%34–35

3236

Of admitted students, 51% submitted an SAT, and 17% submitted an ACT. Because ACT scores came from few admitted students, the range describes that self-selected group rather than the full class.

Entered with a 4.0 GPA44%

With one-year access

Where your GPA sits in the entering class

The full entering-class GPA distribution for Carnegie Mellon, in nine bands from 4.0 down, with your own record marked on it.

See where I land

With one-year access

What Carnegie Mellon weighs when it reads a file

See how this college describes the role of grades, testing, essays, recommendations, activities, and demonstrated interest.

Course rigor
GPA
Test scores
Essay
Recommendations
Extracurriculars
Demonstrated interest

See what counts here

What moves the application

The evidence that separates a strong file

Choose the correct school

Match preparation and goals to the college that will actually review the file.

Show completed work

A functioning project, performance, design, or investigation demonstrates more than a list of interests.

Explain collaboration

Describe the applicant’s contribution when a team had to ship, perform, or solve something.

Respect specialized requirements

Portfolio, audition, and school-specific instructions are part of the admission case, not paperwork.

How to apply

Rounds, route, and required materials

CMU offers Early Decision and Regular Decision. Applicants should confirm the chosen college, required artistic materials, and whether a second-choice program is acceptable.

Early DecisionNov 2

Regular DecisionJan 4

Fee and waiver$75 application fee

Fee waiver: accepted

Major and program admission

Some fields have their own entry path.

The college admit rate above covers the university as a whole. These requirements apply only to the named program.

ArchitectureAdmits separately