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Carnegie Mellon University Comprehensive Profile

484 awards Ranking Badges
Fair Price Value for Your Money
12% Acceptance Rate

If you want to know more about Carnegie Mellon University, such as what majors does it offer, how diverse it is, how well it ranks, and more, this is your one-stop resource.

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* Rankings

How Does Carnegie Mellon University Stack Up?

#18 Best Colleges in Nation
#3 Best Colleges in PA
Carnegie Mellon University ranking badge

2026 Best Colleges Rankings

College Factual recognizes the best colleges and universities in its annual rankings. These rankings include categories for best overall colleges, best colleges for each major, best value schools, and much more.

Carnegie Mellon University was awarded 484 badges in the 2026 rankings.

National Standing

Carnegie Mellon; CMU is ranked #18 out of 3,449 schools in the nation for overall quality on College Factual’s 2026 Best Colleges list. This puts it in the top 1% of all schools in the nation!

Within the state, Carnegie Mellon; CMU holds the #3 spot on the Best Colleges in Pennsylvania ranking.

See all of the rankings for Carnegie Mellon University.

Is It Hard to Get Into Carnegie Mellon University?

12% Acceptance Rate
15% Of Accepted Are Women
53% Submit SAT Scores

Acceptance Rate

With an acceptance rate of 12%, Carnegie Mellon; CMU is one of the most selective schools in the country. Good grades and high test scores alone may not be enough to get you into the school, so do your best to submit a stellar application.

Standardized Test Scores

About 53% of students accepted to Carnegie Mellon; CMU submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 730 and 770. Math scores were between 770 and 800.

SAT Reading and Writing Scores for Carnegie Mellon University  ( 730 to 770 )
200
800
SAT Math Scores for Carnegie Mellon University  ( 770 to 800 )
200
800

Carnegie Mellon; CMU received ACT scores from 22% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 34 and 35.

ACT Composite Scores for Carnegie Mellon University  ( 34 to 35 )
1
36

Learn more about Carnegie Mellon University admissions.

Faculty at Carnegie Mellon University

5 to 1 Student to Faculty
92% Full Time Teachers

Class Sizes

At Carnegie Mellon; CMU, the student to faculty ratio is an excellent 5 to 1. That’s much better than the national average of 15 to 1. This indicates that many classes will probably be small, and students will have ample opportunities to work closely with their professors and classmates.

Full-Time Instructors

When estimating how much access students will have to their teachers, some people like to look at what percentage of faculty members are full time. This is because part-time teachers may not have as much time to spend on campus as their full-time counterparts.

The full-time faculty percentage at Carnegie Mellon University is 92%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  92 out of 100
0
100

Academic Performance at Carnegie Mellon University

97% Freshmen Retention
93% On-Time Graduation Rate

Freshman Success

Carnegie Mellon University has a freshmen retention rate of 97%. That’s a good sign that full-time students like the school and their professors enough to want to stick around for another year. It’s also a sign that the admissions team did a good job in choosing applicants who were a good fit for the school.

Freshmen Retention Rate  97 out of 100
0
100

Graduation Rate

Students are considered to have graduated on time if they finish their studies within four years. At Carnegie Mellon; CMU the on-time graduation rate of first-time, full-time students is 93%. That is great when compared to the national average of 33.3%.

On-Time Graduation Rate  93 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Carnegie Mellon University.

Diversity Profile of Carnegie Mellon University

7,187 Undergraduate Students
53.6% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
48.7% Percent Women

In the current academic year, there are 7,187 undergraduates at Carnegie Mellon; CMU.

Get more detailed information on the diversity at Carnegie Mellon University.

Cost of Attending Carnegie Mellon University

$16,772 Net Price
34% Take Out Loans
$19,140 Total Student Loans

The typical net cost at Carnegie Mellon; CMU is $16,772. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.### Net Price by Income Group for Carnegie Mellon; CMU

$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K +
$8,460 $12,600 $17,534 $27,827 $52,593

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid. Note that the net price is typically less than the published price for a school. For more information on the sticker price of Carnegie Mellon; CMU, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

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; CMU, approximately 34% of students took out student loans averaging $4,785 a year. That adds up to $19,140 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 0.9%. 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. Get more details about paying for Carnegie Mellon University.

How Much Money Do Carnegie Mellon University Graduates Make?

$114,862 Avg Salary of Grads
High Earnings Boost

Although some majors pay more than others, students who graduate from Carnegie Mellon University with a bachelor’s degree go on to jobs where they make an average salary of $114,862 in their early years. This is good news for future Carnegie Mellon University graduates since it is 133% more than the average college graduate’s salary of $49,219 per year.

See which majors at Carnegie Mellon University make the most money.

Location of Carnegie Mellon University

Pennsylvania State
7,187 Undergraduate Students
Large City Campus Setting

Carnegie Mellon University is an private not-for-profit institution located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The surrounding area of the school is a good match for students who enjoy city life. Get more details about the location of Carnegie Mellon University.

Location of Carnegie Mellon University

Contact details for Carnegie Mellon University are given below.

Contact Details
Address: 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890
Phone: 4122682000
Website: www.cmu.edu/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/carnegiemellonu
Twitter: twitter.com/carnegiemellon

Carnegie Mellon University Majors

22 Majors With Completions
12,044 Undergraduate Degrees

During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 22 majors graduated from Carnegie Mellon University. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.

Most Popular Majors Completions Average Salary of Graduates
Multi-Disciplinary Studies 6,022 NA
Computer Information Systems 990 $109,615
Electrical Engineering 556 $112,081
Computer Science 370 $161,723
Management Sciences & Methods 312 NA
Mechanical Engineering 293 $77,527
Computer Engineering 239 NA
Information Technology 223 $91,653
Business Administration & Management 191 $78,783
Statistics 188 $89,395

Learn more about the majors offered at Carnegie Mellon University along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Online Study Options at Carnegie Mellon; CMU

32% Take At Least One Class Online
0% Take All Classes Online

Online courses are a great option for busy, working students as well as for those who have scheduling conflicts and want to study on their own time. As time goes by, expect to see more and more online learning options become available.

2,331 students took at least one online class at Carnegie Mellon University.

Learn more about online learning at Carnegie Mellon University.

Similar InstitutionsCurious how schools stack up against Carnegie Mellon; CMU? Pit them head to head with College Combat, our free interactive tool that lets you compare colleges on the features that matter most to you.

Notes and References

Footnotes

*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.

References

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