Carnegie Mellon University: acceptance rate by major

Carnegie Mellon University admits about 11.07% of applicants overall. That number is the one everybody quotes, and for most applicants it is the wrong one — you are not admitted by the university, you are admitted by a college or programme inside it, and those rates differ sharply.

The short version: Computer Science is the hardest route in at 4%, roughly 2.8× harder than the headline rate. Communications and Media admits 24%.

Published admit rates by major

Major	Admit rate	GPA (mid 50%)	SAT (mid 50%)
Computer Science	4%	3.90–4.00	1520–1580
Robotics	5%	3.88–4.00	1500–1570
Political Science and Policy	24%	3.75–4.00	1420–1540
Communications and Media	24%	3.75–4.00	1420–1540
Whole university	11.07%	3.85–4.00	1500–1570

What this means if you are applying from outside the US

Two things follow from the table above.

Your odds depend on what you write in the major box. At Carnegie Mellon University the gap between the hardest and most accessible programme is 4% against 24% — a bigger difference than almost anything you can change about your profile this year.
International admit rates run below the published figure at most US universities. Carnegie Mellon University charges international students about $62,012 in tuition, and its aid policy for them is: Need-based (limited for international).

Switching major purely for the admit rate is usually a mistake — a "why this major" essay written about a subject chosen for its odds reads exactly like one, and internal transfer after enrolment is capped and competitive at most schools. But if you were genuinely choosing between two subjects, the difference above is real and worth knowing.

Calculate your own odds at Carnegie Mellon University →

Other schools that publish by-major data

By-major rates University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Purdue University University of Washington Cornell University Georgia Tech

Source: CMU Class of 2029 admit data.

These are published institutional figures, not predictions. Admission decisions also rest on essays, recommendations and institutional priorities, which no calculator can see. Not affiliated with any university.