What You'll Actually Pay
Price after grants
$6,994 to $51,480 a year, depending on income.
College Scorecard 2024 estimate
See the price at your income ↑Sticker price
Full cost before aid: $83,654 a year. Average need-based aid package: $56,005.Aid and debt
38.1%
receive need-based grants
Not reported by this school: average debt, merit aid.
Getting In
Admit rates
11.1%
admitted overall
20.6%
admitted Early Decision
10.3%
admitted Regular Decision
Early Decision
Early Decision applicants were admitted at nearly 2x the Regular Decision rate, and Early Decision is binding: you commit to attend if admitted.
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Some of that gap reflects who applies early (recruited athletes, legacy applicants and highly committed students concentrate in that pool), so it isn't proof that applying early would raise any one student's own odds.
Key dates
Test scores
SAT, middle 50% of those who submitted: 1500–1560. The school doesn't say what share of the class submitted.
ACT, middle 50% of those who submitted: 34–36. The school doesn't say what share of the class submitted.
82.5% were in the top 10% of their high school class.
What they value
- Very important
- Course rigor (AP/IB)
- Class rank
- GPA
- Extracurriculars
- Character
- Volunteer work
- Important
- Personal essay
- Recommendations
- Special talent
- First-gen status
- Considered
- SAT/ACT scores
- Where you're from
- Work experience
- Not considered
- Legacy status
- In-state residency
- Demonstrated interest
What this means for you
Carnegie Mellon rates course rigor and your activities as Very Important, and your essay and your recommendations as Important.
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Rigor means AP, IB, and dual enrollment carry real weight — make sure your mix of AP or IB courses is strong. Depth in a few activities beats a long list. A strong essay can differentiate an otherwise average application. And recommendations matter here too — a recommender who knows you well helps.
Carnegie Mellon doesn't consider demonstrated interest in admissions at all — visits and follow-up emails won't move the needle here.
Source: Common Data Set 2025–26, Section C7 (admissions factors)
Carnegie Mellon just showed you what it values in an application. Use that to write a Why-Carnegie Mellon essay that's actually about you — not a template.
Get sourced starting points for your essayStudent Life
68% of Carnegie Mellon classes have fewer than 20 students.
68%
under 20 students
20.8%
20 to 49
11.2%
50 or more
Every class section counts, labs and seminars included; first-year courses tend to be larger. Carnegie Mellon CDS 2025–26, I-3.
6:1
student:faculty ratio
Campus life
51.5%
live on campus
6.9%
of men in fraternities
6.8%
of women in sororities
On-campus housing and Greek-life participation from the school's prior-year Common Data Set (2024-25) — not reported in Carnegie Mellon's 2025–26 Common Data Set.
Who attends
- Asian34.7%
- White19.5%
- Hispanic8.4%
- Unknown / other6.8%
- Multiracial4.6%
- Black3.8%
Enrolled undergraduates; international students are counted separately and not included. Carnegie Mellon CDS 2025–26, B2.
Popular majors
Will They Graduate?
78.9% of Carnegie Mellon students graduate in 4 years.
78.9%
finish in 4 years
Entered fall 2019
94.3%
finish in 6 years
Entered fall 2019
96.6%
return after first year
Finishing late means paying for extra semesters, so the 4-year rate is the one that shows the cost.
Graduation rate broken down by financial-aid status (e.g. Pell Grant recipients) isn't reported in this school's Common Data Set.
City & Culture
Beyond the data — what it's actually like to spend four years in Pittsburgh.
A compact campus in Oakland, Pittsburgh's university district, next door to a large park and a few minutes from downtown.
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The city is cheap by the standards of its peers, built on rivers and hills, and has turned a steel economy into a robotics and health-care one.
The City
Mid-size city
Pittsburgh, PA
Best For
Notable alumni
Notable Alumni
Andy Warhol
Defined American pop art, and the museum devoted to him sits a few miles away in the city where he grew up. He graduated here in pictorial design in 1949.
Class of 1949
John Nash
Won the 1994 Nobel Prize in Economics for the equilibrium concept that carries his name. He took both his bachelor's and master's here in 1948.
Class of 1948
James Gosling
Created Java, still one of the most widely used programming languages in the world. He earned his doctorate in computer science here in 1983.
Class of 1983
Holly Hunter
Won the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Piano. She graduated from the drama school here in 1980.
Class of 1980
Alumni selected for name recognition and range of fields. Not from the Common Data Set.
Traditions
Traditions
The Fence
A wooden fence in the middle of campus that student groups repaint overnight to claim it — the rule is that you must be physically present to hold it, so groups camp out.
Buggy
Sweepstakes, run since 1920: student-built streamlined carts pushed uphill and driven downhill around Schenley Park at dawn on carnival weekend.
Kiltie Band and the tartan
A Scottish inheritance from Andrew Carnegie, down to the pipes and the tartan the athletic teams are named for.
Interdisciplinary by default
Degrees that cross computing with art, drama with engineering, and cognitive science with design are ordinary here rather than special arrangements.
Weekend escapes from Pittsburgh
Weekend Escapes
Within driving distance from Pittsburgh
Schenley Park
About 5 minutesFour hundred acres directly beside campus, with trails, a golf course and the botanical conservatory.
Ohiopyle State Park
About an hour 15 minutesWhitewater on the Youghiogheny and waterfalls; Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater is on the way.
Laurel Highlands
About an hour 30 minutesSkiing at Seven Springs in winter, hiking the rest of the year.
Cleveland or Washington DC
About 2 to 4 hoursTwo very different cities within a reasonable drive for a long weekend.
Getting there and game days
Getting There & Game Days
Nearest airport
Pittsburgh International (PIT)
About 30 minutes from campus
For international flights: Newark Liberty International (EWR) — about 5 hours 30 minutes by car.
Pro sports nearby
- Pittsburgh Steelers NFL
- Pittsburgh Penguins NHL
- Pittsburgh Pirates MLB
Internships and jobs nearby
Career Proximity
Pittsburgh's robotics and autonomy cluster grew directly out of this campus, and much of it is still within a few miles of it.
Top Industries Nearby
Major Employers
- Aurora
- UPMC
- PNC Financial Services
- Duolingo
Oakland and downtown Pittsburgh, a few minutes apart
Who thrives here
Who Thrives Here
Carnegie Mellon admits 11.1% overall and 20.6% under early decision — close to double, and the widest early advantage among the highly selective privates here. Early decision is binding, so it is only the right move for a family that has already decided, and CMU's own filing notes the plan is not available for several drama programmes. It also remains test-optional, which changes what an application is built out of: with the middle half of enrolled first-years at 1500 to 1560, a strong score still helps, but its absence is not disqualifying. Teaching is unusually close for a research university — a 6:1 student-faculty ratio and 68.0% of sections under 20 across 7,728 undergraduates. 78.9% finish in four years and 94.3% within six. Aid meets 100% of demonstrated need, though only 38.1% of undergraduates receive need-based aid at all, so many families here pay close to the full price. The social shape is worth knowing before committing: 51.5% live in university housing and Greek life takes in under 7% of either men or women, so this is a less residential, less Greek place than most of its peers, and the intensity people describe is largely about the work.