How to Get Into Carnegie Mellon: Admissions Stats + Tips (2024)

FAQs

How do I get into Carnegie Mellon admissions data and strategies? ›

There are six factors that Carnegie Mellon ranks as being “very important” to their admissions process: rigor of secondary school record, class rank, GPA, extracurricular activities, volunteer work experience, and paid work experience.

To have the best shot of getting in, you should aim for the 75th percentile, with a 1560 SAT or a 35 ACT. You should also have a 3.84 GPA or higher. If your GPA is lower than this, you need to compensate with a higher SAT/ACT score.

Average GPA: 3.84

(Most schools use a weighted GPA out of 4.0, though some report an unweighted GPA. With a GPA of 3.84, Carnegie Mellon requires you to be near the top of your class, and well above average. You'll need mostly A's, ideally with several AP or IB classes to help show your preparation at a college level.

Is Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) or Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Harder to get into? Which school is easier to get into? If you're looking at acceptance rate alone, then Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is more difficult to get into.

We do not consider demonstrated interest in our admission paradigm.

Because it provides access to the widest variety of college options, an ACT score of 35 is one of the best possible scores. To understand how proud you should be of your score, a 35 ACT score puts you at the 99th percentile — that means you scored higher than 99% of all test takers!

Carnegie Mellon is not an Ivy League school. However, it is one of the many New Ivies, which was coined by Newsweek in 2006. The New Ivies consist of private and public US schools that may not have the same elite status as Ivy League schools but are just as impressive academic- and faculty-wise.

Admission odds

Generally speaking, early action programs do not significantly increase your child's odds of getting into colleges, especially at highly selective schools. They simply allow your child to find out sooner whether or not they've gotten in.

The most popular majors at Carnegie Mellon University include: Computer Science; Business Administration and Management, General; Electrical and Electronics Engineering; Mechanical Engineering; Statistics, General; Systems Science and Theory; Architectural and Building Sciences/Technology; Chemical Engineering; Drama ...

If the college does not require the test, then generally NO, it will not hurt your application. But know that without test scores other parts of your application will become more important. This includes your GPA, your college essay, awards and achievements, references, and any extracurricular activities you include.

Does Carnegie Mellon look at weighted or unweighted GPA? ›

<p>“At Carnegie Mellon we will use a students unweighted GPA for the admission process. If a school provides a weighted GPA we will re-calculate the GPA and place it on an unweighted scale.

Early deadlines may increase the chance of being admitted, since applying early shows your are very interested in a school, and your application is being considered before all the regular decision applicants apply.

The Institute also placed first in six out of 12 engineering disciplines. In its evaluation of undergraduate computer science programs, U.S. News placed MIT first on the list along with Carnegie Mellon University, Stanford University, and the University of California at Berkeley.

Harvard University — 3.19%

With a record-low admission rate of just 3.19% for the class of 2026, Harvard currently ranks as the most difficult school to get into. This rate reflects admission into Harvard College, the Ivy League university's undergraduate school.

Harvard ranked as the toughest school in the country to get into. It has a 5% acceptance rate, according to Niche. Stanford came in second on the list— with an acceptance rate of 5% as well. However, it accepts students with slightly lower test scores, Niche says.

In 2021, we admitted 23 students from our Waiting Lists. Over the past five years, we've averaged 112 students per year admitted from our Waiting Lists.

Reading and Writing 700-760, Math 760-800 (2019–20)

Carnegie Mellon University / Typical SAT scores

Three letters of recommendation, at least two of which are from faculty or recent employers.

Should I Retake the ACT with a 33 Score? With a 33 ACT score, there's no need to retake the exam. The only reason to consider retaking the ACT is to increase your competitiveness at the most elite colleges. Because competition for elite schools is fierce, every extra point both on your ACT score and GPA will help.

On the ACT, males perform only slightly better than females. Among the high school graduating class of 2004, for example, males outscored females by 0.1 point on the ACT Composite score, and this difference has been roughly consistent across the last 8 years, averaging 0.2 per year (Figure 1).

How many kids get 1550 SAT? ›

1550 SAT Score Standings

Out of the 2.13 million test-takers, 8323 scored the same or higher than you. You can apply to 1498 colleges and have a good shot at getting admitted.

The Hidden Ivies include many small colleges, such as Davidson College, Pomona College, Carleton College, and Oberlin College, as well as some large research universities, like Georgetown University, Vanderbilt University, Washington University in St. Louis, and the University of Southern California.

The most affordable Ivy League school is the University of Pennsylvania, with a $61,170 per year average cost for tuition for undergraduate programs. These college costs include tuition, general fees, clinical fees, and technology fees.

Is Carnegie Mellon an Ivy League School? Carnegie Mellon is not an Ivy League school. The Ivies consist of Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Cornell, Dartmouth, Brown, Columbia, and the University of Pennsylvania. The Ivy League schools are known for their stellar academics, low acceptance rates, and social prestige.

No. For undergrad admissions, that is done all at one time (within a day) and everyone is notified at once if they are admitted or rejected or placed on the wait list. For rolling admissions, those admitted are notified first.

There are very few disadvantages to applying early. The main drawback to early action is that only a few institutions, including Harvard, MIT, Princeton, and Yale, offer early action. Selective colleges can safely provide this option because they know you will probably accept their offer even if it's not binding.

But what happens if you've applied to college as an Early Decision or Early Action applicant? Most colleges will still want to be sent grades from your first quarter of senior year. However, their decision to accept or reject you into their institution will have already been made based on your grades from junior year.

The study also measured sleep, substance abuse, happiness and loneliness. Results showed CMU students are averaging seven hours a night at the beginning of the semester and then under seven as the semester progresses. Students scored high in the happiness category and low in substance abuse.

The most popular majors at Carnegie Mellon University include: Computer Science; Business Administration and Management, General; Electrical and Electronics Engineering; Mechanical Engineering; Statistics, General; Systems Science and Theory; Architectural and Building Sciences/Technology; Chemical Engineering; Drama ...

CMU ranked 19th out of 177 U.S. institutions. Carnegie Mellon's Research Reputation score increased 3.1 points and the Percentage of International Staff score increased 1.9 points. The annual rankings examine five key performance pillars: Teaching, Research, Citations, Industry Income and International Outlook.

Should I submit my SAT scores if they are below average? ›

You Fall Well Below the Middle 50%

Even if you're generally satisfied with your SAT/ACT scores, if they fall well below your school's middle 50% range, it may be better to withhold them so they don't count against you in the admissions process.

Colleges typically post their middle 50% range, so if, for example, a school lists an SAT score of 1250 at the low end (25th percentile) of this range, you should go ahead and submit a combined score of 1190 or higher. If they don't fall within this range, then don't submit them — they will only hurt your application.

That's why, if you submit an SAT or ACT score that corroborates your GPA, your application will be much stronger, as your GPA will have more credibility, and on top of that, you are showing how well you performed in a timed and standardized testing setting. To reiterate: not submitting a test score will not hurt you.

For example, on a 4.0 scale, a 4.8 is an excellent weighted GPA that is in the A+ range. On a 5.0 it is an 96% GPA, which would be in the A/A- range.

The school consistently takes SAT composite scores down to 1460 on a 1600 scale, below which admission should be considered a reach. We estimate some students could be accepted with SAT's as low as 1410. The average SAT composite for admitted freshman is 1510 out of 1600.

Carnegie Mellon is extending our test-optional policy, removing the SAT/ACT standardized testing requirement for all Fall 2023 first-year applicants. Please see the information above for more details.

There are six factors that Carnegie Mellon ranks as being “very important” to their admissions process: rigor of secondary school record, class rank, GPA, extracurricular activities, volunteer work experience, and paid work experience.

Applying early to colleges isn't absolutely necessary, but it's certainly advantageous. Colleges like to see early applicants, and the statistics show it. Both early decision and early action applicants are accepted at a higher rate than their standard deadline counterparts.

Early decision applicants do usually have a slight edge, but you have to keep in mind that the early applicant pool is also much stronger than the regular decision pool. You're going to be thrown in with all the other go-getters.

Is Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) or Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Harder to get into? Which school is easier to get into? If you're looking at acceptance rate alone, then Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is more difficult to get into.

Is MIT or Carnegie Mellon harder? ›

Unless you are admitted to both MIT and CMU, you have no way to compared. The best that I can do is by being in the classroom at Cal (UC Berkeley), Stanford, and Harvard (actually taught by MIT professors), so I can tell you that neither of those universities are harder than the other: They are equally hard.

Rankings (especially USNWR) focus heavily on yield (how many accepted students choose to attend) and acceptance rate. The yield rate and acceptance rate are both low for Carnegie Mellon because they don't try to play the game or rig the rankings like other top institutions.

What are the top party schools in the United States? Some of the top party schools in the United States include the University of Wisconsin Madison, Florida State University, Michigan State University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the University of Alabama.

Cornell University

Out of all the Ivy League schools, Cornell has the highest admissions rate: 8.7%. For reference, you should be aware that 84.2% of Cornell matriculants were in the top 10% of their graduating class and 96.4% of Cornell matriculants were in the top 25% of their graduating class.

In 2021, we admitted 23 students from our Waiting Lists. Over the past five years, we've averaged 112 students per year admitted from our Waiting Lists.

Is Carnegie Mellon a little ivy? ›

Carnegie Mellon is not an Ivy League school. However, it is one of the many New Ivies, which was coined by Newsweek in 2006. The New Ivies consist of private and public US schools that may not have the same elite status as Ivy League schools but are just as impressive academic- and faculty-wise.

Why are college acceptance rates decreasing? This year there was an influx of college applicants, with Common App experiencing a 22% surge in total applications submitted. This can partially be accounted for by the rising trend in test-optional admissions policies.

The MSAII program is highly competitive, with a typical acceptance rate of about ten percent. Qualified applicants generally have a bachelor's degree in computer science or a related field. Regardless of your undergraduate major, a strong background in computer science and mathematics is a prerequisite for acceptance.

The most popular majors at Carnegie Mellon University include: Computer Science; Business Administration and Management, General; Electrical and Electronics Engineering; Mechanical Engineering; Statistics, General; Systems Science and Theory; Architectural and Building Sciences/Technology; Chemical Engineering; Drama ...

Admission odds

Generally speaking, early action programs do not significantly increase your child's odds of getting into colleges, especially at highly selective schools. They simply allow your child to find out sooner whether or not they've gotten in.

Carnegie Mellon offers students the option of joining their “Priority Waitlist,” which means you pledge to attend if admitted. While this will improve your odds, it is worth pointing out that only 4 of 2,835 students were offered spots in Carnegie Mellon's freshman class last fall.

If you are accepted through the priority waitlist, you are expected to attend CMU. According to the letter, the odds of being accepted through this waitlist are around 50%, very good odds indeed.

If you choose to participate in our priority waiting list option, you will be among the first students admitted to Carnegie Mellon from the waiting list.”

The Hidden Ivies include many small colleges, such as Davidson College, Pomona College, Carleton College, and Oberlin College, as well as some large research universities, like Georgetown University, Vanderbilt University, Washington University in St. Louis, and the University of Southern California.

The most affordable Ivy League school is the University of Pennsylvania, with a $61,170 per year average cost for tuition for undergraduate programs. These college costs include tuition, general fees, clinical fees, and technology fees.

Is CMU better than Ivy? ›

Is Carnegie Mellon an Ivy League School? Carnegie Mellon is not an Ivy League school. The Ivies consist of Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Cornell, Dartmouth, Brown, Columbia, and the University of Pennsylvania. The Ivy League schools are known for their stellar academics, low acceptance rates, and social prestige.

The University of California, Irvine has received over 142,000 applications for fall 2022, setting a new record and continuing to solidify its position as one of the most desired schools in the country.