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.

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
#38	Most Popular Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#49	Best Graduate Certificate Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#306	Most Popular Bachelor’s Degree 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.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#1	Best Robotics Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#1	Best Writing Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#2	Best Multi / Interdisciplinary Studies Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#3	Best Architecture & Related Services Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#3	Best Visual & Performing Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#5	Best Business, Management & Marketing Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#5	Best English Language & Literature Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#6	Best Computer & Information Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#6	Best Public Administration & Social Service Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#7	Best Physical Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

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?

If you plan to apply to Carnegie Mellon, make sure you don't wait until the last minute to fill out your application. The school is one of the most selective in the United States and has a low acceptance rate of 22%. If you are admitted, that's something to brag about!

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.

Carnegie Mellon received ACT scores from 51% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT English scores ranged between 32 and 35. Math scores were between 32 and 35. Composite scores were between 32 and 35.

Can I Afford Carnegie Mellon University?

The overall average net price of Carnegie Mellon is $56,812. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group.

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 6,618 undergraduate students at Carnegie Mellon, with 6,425 being full-time and 193 being part-time.

There are also 7,562 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 6,425 full-time undergraduates at Carnegie Mellon, 50% are male and 50% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

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

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	2,106
Black or African American	238
Hispanic or Latino	583
White	1,669
International Students	1,150
Other Races/Ethnicities	679

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

In 2017-2018, 1,324 students took at least one online class at the school.

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.

Major	Bachelor’s	Graduate Certificate	Master’s	Doctor’s	TOTAL
Computer Information Systems	54	1	682	42	779
Electrical Engineering	190	0	255	51	496
Business Administration & Management	128	0	310	0	438
Mechanical Engineering	152	0	155	15	322
Computer Science	205	0	59	22	286
Statistics	131	0	34	14	179
Public Policy	8	0	133	5	146
Computer Engineering	0	1	133	2	136
Robotics Engineering	17	0	102	16	135
Chemical Engineering	64	0	53	13	130
Civil Engineering	27	0	81	18	126
Information Technology	1	0	113	0	114
Music	28	43	43	0	114
Biomedical Engineering	56	0	41	3	100
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods	3	0	95	0	98
Systems Theory	98	0	0	0	98
Computer Systems Networking	0	0	95	0	95
Materials Sciences	29	0	43	9	81
Drama & Theater Arts	54	0	27	0	81
Computer Software & Applications	0	0	75	0	75
Design & Applied Arts	31	0	36	4	71
Computational Science	0	0	63	0	63
Engineering-Related Fields	0	0	58	1	59
Writing Studies	37	0	22	0	59
Biomathematics & Bioinformatics	6	0	47	2	55
Architectural Sciences & Technology	33	0	20	0	53
Mathematics	31	0	13	8	52
Arts & Media Management	0	0	51	0	51
Economics	48	0	0	1	49
General Engineering	26	0	7	15	48
Other Engineering	2	0	40	0	42
Physics	27	0	4	10	41
General Psychology	37	0	2	1	40
General Biology	26	0	2	8	36
Health & Medical Administrative Services	0	0	36	0	36
Neurobiology & Neurosciences	29	0	0	6	35
Chemistry	15	0	5	14	34
Other Statistics	33	0	0	0	33
Fine & Studio Arts	29	0	3	0	32
Philosophy	21	0	9	1	31
General Engineering Technology	0	0	30	0	30
Liberal Arts General Studies	30	0	0	0	30
Applied Mathematics	25	0	0	2	27
Public Administration	0	0	27	0	27
International Relations & National Security	18	0	6	0	24
Cognitive Science	23	0	0	0	23
History	15	0	0	7	22
Human Computer Interaction	0	0	22	0	22
Engineering Science	0	0	19	0	19
Construction Engineering	0	0	14	1	15
Operations Research	0	0	9	6	15
Behavioral Science	1	0	7	2	10
General Architecture	9	0	0	0	9
English Literature (Other)	0	0	8	1	9
Biopsychology	9	0	0	0	9
Drafting & Design Engineering Technology	0	0	8	0	8
Sustainability Science	0	0	8	0	8
East Asian Languages	7	0	0	0	7
Linguistics & Comparative Literature	7	0	0	0	7
Accounting	0	0	2	4	6
Business/Managerial Economics	0	0	2	4	6
Management Information Systems	0	0	6	0	6
Engineering Mechanics	0	0	3	3	6
Romance Languages	6	0	0	0	6
Finance & Financial Management	2	0	2	1	5
Human Resource Management	0	0	4	1	5
International Studies	5	0	0	0	5
General Visual & Performing Arts	2	0	3	0	5
Foreign Language, Literature & Linguistics (Other)	0	0	0	4	4
Environmental Engineering	0	0	2	1	3
Manufacturing Engineering	0	0	3	0	3
General English Literature	3	0	0	0	3
Marketing	0	0	0	2	2
Germanic Languages	2	0	0	0	2
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology	1	0	0	0	1
Biological & Biomedical Sciences (Other)	1	0	0	0	1
Entrepreneurial Studies	0	0	0	1	1
International Business	1	0	0	0	1
Telecommunications Management	0	0	0	1	1
Radio, Television & Digital Communication	1	0	0	0	1
Slavic, Baltic & Albanian Languages	1	0	0	0	1
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies	1	0	0	0	1
Science, Technology & Society	1	0	0	0	1
Astronomy & Astrophysics	1	0	0	0	1
Other Psychology	0	0	1	0	1
Environmental Design	0	0	0	0	0
Architecture (Other)	0	0	0	0	0
Urban & Regional Planning	0	0	0	0	0
Journalism	0	0	0	0	0
Computer Programming	0	0	0	0	0
Other Computer & Information Sciences	0	0	0	0	0
Multilingual Education	0	0	0	0	0
Electronics Engineering Technology	0	0	0	0	0
Nanotechnology	0	0	0	0	0
Engineering Physics	0	0	0	0	0
Area Studies	0	0	0	0	0
Ethnic Studies	0	0	0	0	0
Classical Languages & Literature	0	0	0	0	0
Natural Resource Management	0	0	0	0	0
Natural Resources Conservation	0	0	0	0	0
General Physical Sciences	0	0	0	0	0
Other Physical Science	0	0	0	0	0
Other Social Sciences	0	0	0	0	0
Political Science & Government	0	0	0	0	0
Film, Video & Photographic Arts	0	0	0	0	0
Other Visual Art	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	1,848	45	3,133	322	5,348

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.