Carnegie Mellon University Data & Information Overview
Want the scoop on Carnegie Mellon University? We’ve put together a comprehensive report on the school that covers what majors Carnegie Mellon offers, how the school ranks, how diverse it is, and much more. Want to dig deeper into a particular stat? Just click on its tile and you’ll be taked to a more in-depth page on the figure. In addition, you can use the links below to quickly jump to any section on this page.- Rankings
- Admission and Acceptance
- Faculty
- Retention and Graduation Rates
- Diversity
- Cost
- Student Debt
- Average Earnings
- Location
- Majors
- Online Learning
- Related Schools
How Well Is Carnegie Mellon University Ranked?
2023 Rankings
College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities in its annual rankings and ranks them in a variety of ways, including most diverse, best overall quality, best for non-traditional students, and much more.
Carnegie Mellon University was awarded 1,491 badges in the 2023 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is rhetoric and composition.
Overall Quality
College Factual ranked Carnegie Mellon as #8 out of 2,241 colleges and universities in the country on its 2023 Best Colleges list. This puts it in the top 1% of all schools in the nation! This is an improvement over the previous year, when Carnegie Mellon held the #20 spot on the Best Overall Colleges list.
Out of the 117 colleges in Pennsylvania, Carnegie Mellon is ranked at #2.
See all of the rankings for Carnegie Mellon University.
Is It Hard to Get Into Carnegie Mellon?
Acceptance Rate
With an acceptance rate of 17%, Carnegie Mellon 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.
Average Test Scores
About 76% 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 760 and 800.
Learn more about Carnegie Mellon University admissions.
Carnegie Mellon University Faculty
Student to Faculty Ratio
The student to faculty ratio at Carnegie Mellon is an impressive 5 to 1. That's quite good when you compare it to the national average of 15 to 1. This is a good sign that students at the school will have more opportunities for one-on-one interactions with their professors.
Percent of Full-Time Faculty
Another measure that is often used to estimate how much access students will have to their professors is how many faculty members are full-time. The idea here is that part-time faculty tend to spend less time on campus, so they may not be as available to students as full-timers.
The full-time faculty percentage at Carnegie Mellon University is 92%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.
Retention and Graduation Rates at Carnegie Mellon University
Freshmen Retention Rate
Carnegie Mellon University has a freshmen retention rate of 96%. 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.
Graduation Rate
Students are considered to have graduated on time if they finish their studies within four years. At Carnegie Mellon the on-time graduation rate of first-time, full-time students is 75%. That is great when compared to the national average of 33.3%
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Carnegie Mellon University.
Carnegie Mellon University Undergraduate Student Diversity
During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 6,622 undergraduates at Carnegie Mellon with 6,341 being full-time and 281 being part-time.
How Much Does Carnegie Mellon University Cost?
The overall average net price of Carnegie Mellon is $36,775. 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
| $0-30 K | $30K-48K | $48-75 | $75-110K | $110K + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $16,456 | $13,608 | $21,526 | $31,094 | $52,564 |
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 for a school. For more information on the sticker price of Carnegie Mellon, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.
Student Loan Debt
It's not uncommon for college students to take out loans to pay for school. In fact, almost 66% of students nationwide depend at least partially on loans. At Carnegie Mellon, approximately 41% of students took out student loans averaging $6,601 a year. That adds up to $26,404 over four years for those students.
The student loan default rate at Carnegie Mellon is 0.7%. 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 Graduates Make?
Yearly salaries vary depending on what you major in, but on average, bachelor's degree recipients from Carnegie Mellon make around $99,998 per year during the early years of their employment. That's great news for Carnegie Mellon students since it is 135% more than the average college graduate's salary of $42,485 per year.
See which majors at Carnegie Mellon University make the most money.
Location of Carnegie Mellon University
Located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Carnegie Mellon University is a private not-for-profit institution. The location of Carnegie Mellon is great for students who prefer living in an urban area.Get more details about the location of 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 |
Carnegie Mellon University Majors
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 106 majors graduated from Carnegie Mellon University. Of these students, 1,951 received undergraduate degrees and 3,365 graduated with a master's or doctor's degree. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.| Most Popular Majors | Bachelor’s Degrees | Average Salary of Graduates |
|---|---|---|
| Computer Science | 247 | $161,723 |
| Statistics | 171 | $89,636 |
| Electrical Engineering | 164 | $116,935 |
| Business Administration & Management | 141 | $78,783 |
| Mechanical Engineering | 121 | $68,038 |
| Systems Theory | 109 | $82,123 |
| Computer Information Systems | 66 | NA |
| Economics | 63 | $78,188 |
| Biomedical Engineering | 54 | NA |
| Chemical Engineering | 50 | $80,722 |
Online Learning at Carnegie Mellon
Online learning is becoming popular at even the oldest colleges and universities in the United States. Not only are online classes great for returning adults with busy schedules, they are also frequented by a growing number of traditional students.
In 2019-2020, 431 students took at least one online class at Carnegie Mellon University. This is a decrease from the 833 students who took online classes the previous year.
| Year | Took at Least One Online Class | Took All Classes Online |
|---|---|---|
| 2019-2020 | 431 | 15 |
| 2018-2019 | 833 | 24 |
| 2017-2018 | 1,324 | 27 |
| 2016-2017 | 1,311 | 37 |
| 2015-2016 | 1,145 | 46 |
Learn more about online learning at Carnegie Mellon University.
Find Out More About Carnegie Mellon University
Related Schools
If you’re considering Carnegie Mellon University, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.
- Cornell University
- Johns Hopkins University
- Northwestern University
- University of Rochester
- Yale University
Curious on how these schools stack up against Carnegie Mellon? Pit them head to head with College Combat, our free interactive tool that lets you compare college 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
- National Center for Education Statistics
- College Scorecard
- Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System
- Image Credit: By Daderot under License
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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