Carnegie Mellon University Overview
Located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Carnegie Mellon University is a private not-for-profit institution. The location of the school is great for students who enjoy the amenities of city life.
What Is Carnegie Mellon University Known For?
- Students who want to work more closely with their professors have an easier time at Carnegie Mellon since the student to facuty ratio is 10 to 1.
- Students at Carnegie Mellon have an easier time paying back their loans. The school's student loan default rate is only 0%, compared to the national rate of 10.1%.
- Although it may not be available for every major, the doctor's degree is the highest award a student can attain at Carnegie Mellon.
- For the 2017-2018 academic year, 95% of the faculty were full-time.
- After graduation, Carnegie Mellon bachelor's degree recipients go on to jobs where they make $83,600 a year. That's about 105% more than their peers at other schools.
- The average Carnegie Mellon student graduates in 4.2 years. That's better than the national average of 4.4 years.
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Carnegie Mellon University Rankings
We have ranked Carnegie Mellon as #36 out of 2,320 colleges and universities in the country in our 2021 Best Colleges list. This puts it in the top 5% of all schools in the nation. It is also ranked #4 out of 137 schools in Pennsylvania.
Our rankings are based on an outcomes-based approach rather than subjective ones used by other media outlets. As such, we utilize data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard, among other sources. Visit our rankings and methodology section to learn more.
Carnegie Mellon has also been awarded the following overall awards by our latest rankings.
Rank | Ranking Name | Share |
---|---|---|
#18 | Best Master’s Degree Schools | Tweet It - Post It |
#21 | Best Doctor’s Degree Schools | Tweet It - Post It |
#23 | Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools | Tweet It - Post It |
#49 | Best Graduate Certificate Schools | Tweet It - Post It |
Program Level Awards
These are highlights of some of the most noteworthy awards granted to specific programs at Carnegie Mellon.
Awards From Around the Web
The following table lists some notable awards Carnegie Mellon has earned from around the web.
Rank | Ranking Name | Source |
---|---|---|
#1 | Best Colleges for Mathematics & Statistics | College Factual |
#1 | Best Colleges for Design & Applied Arts | College Factual |
#3 | Best Colleges for Computer & Information Sciences | College Factual |
#9 | Best Colleges for Visual & Performing Arts | College Factual |
#18 | Best Business Schools | Business Degree Central |
#49 | Best Colleges for Business, Management & Marketing | College Factual |
Where Is Carnegie Mellon University?

Contact details for Carnegie Mellon are given below.
Contact Details | |
---|---|
Address: | 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890 |
Phone: | 412-268-2000 |
Website: | www.cmu.edu/ |
Facebook: | http://www.facebook.com/carnegiemellonu |
Twitter: | http://twitter.com/carnegiemellon |
How Do I Get Into Carnegie Mellon?
You can apply to Carnegie Mellon online at: admission.enrollment.cmu.edu/pages/apply-now
Admission Requirements for Carnegie Mellon
Submission | Required? |
---|---|
High School GPA | required |
High School Rank | recommended |
High School Transcript | required |
College Prep Program | required |
Recommendations | required |
SAT or ACT Scores | required |
TOEFL | required |
How Hard Is It To Get Into Carnegie Mellon?
Approximately 47% of accepted students are men and 53% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 17%, and the acceptance rate for women is 31%.
Average Test Scores
About 70% of students accepted to Carnegie Mellon submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 700 and 760. Math scores were between 730 and 800.
Can I Afford Carnegie Mellon University?
The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.
Student Loan Debt
While almost two-thirds of students nationwide take out loans to pay for college, the percentage may be quite different for the school you plan on attending. At Carnegie Mellon, approximately 35% of students took out student loans averaging $6,401 a year. That adds up to $25,604 over four years for those students.
The student loan default rate at Carnegie Mellon is 0.1%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.
Carnegie Mellon University Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are also 7,440 graduate students at the school.
Gender Diversity
Of the 6,343 full-time undergraduates at Carnegie Mellon, 51% are male and 49% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity
The racial-ethnic breakdown of Carnegie Mellon University students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity | Number of Grads |
---|---|
Asian | 2,007 |
Black or African American | 260 |
Hispanic or Latino | 593 |
White | 1,696 |
International Students | 1,154 |
Other Races/Ethnicities | 633 |
Geographic Diversity
Pennsylvania students aren't the only ones who study at Carnegie Mellon University. At this time, 45 states are represented by the student population at the school.
Over 102 countries are represented at Carnegie Mellon. The most popular countries sending students to the school are China, India, and South Korea.
Online Learning at Carnegie Mellon University
The following chart shows how the online learning population at Carnegie Mellon has changed over the last few years.

This school is the 6th most popular in Pennsylvania for online learning according to the online graduations recorded by the Department of Education for the academic year 2017-2018.
Online Growth Rankings of Carnegie Mellon
The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at Carnegie Mellon University was -39.4%. This is the #2,748 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at Carnegie Mellon regardless of major.
The following table shows the 1-year growth rate of Carnegie Mellon majors that offer at least one online course. This table only includes majors with positive growth.
Major | 1-Year Growth Rate |
---|---|
Business Administration & Management | 1% |
Management Information Systems | 17% |
The table below shows how the average growth rate over 4 years at Carnegie Mellon ranks compared to all other partially online schools that offer a specific major. Note that the majors may or may not be offered online at Carnegie Mellon.
Major | Growth Rate Rank | |
---|---|---|
General Architecture | #6 | |
Architecture & Related Services | #17 | |
Computer Engineering | #39 | |
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods | #53 | |
Electrical Engineering | #54 | |
Design & Applied Arts | #65 | |
Management Information Systems | #103 | |
Visual & Performing Arts | #134 | |
Engineering | #144 | |
Computer Information Systems | #238 | |
Health & Medical Administrative Services | #450 |
When we speak of partially online, we are referring to schools whose online population is less than 50% of its total student body. Mostly online refers to those with online populations greater than or equal to 50%.
Carnegie Mellon University Undergraduate Concentrations
The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.
References
*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.
- College Factual
- National Center for Education Statistics
- Image Credit: By Daderot under License
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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