Carnegie Mellon University
What Carnegie Mellon University's own numbers say, from its Common Data Set 2025-26.
See your odds at Carnegie Mellon University →All 3 insights at Carnegie Mellon University PRO
Early DecisionCarnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University's ED number is inflated.
21% of Early Decision applicants get in, but that pool includes recruited athletes and legacies, admitted at far higher rates. Without them, our estimate is about 16%. Everyone else: 10%.
ED, as reported21%
ED, without hooks (estimate)≈16%
Everyone else10%
Source: Carnegie Mellon University's Common Data Set 2025-26; hooked share is an estimate (A12)
Getting harderCarnegie Mellon University
Getting into Carnegie Mellon University is 1.4× harder than in 2019.
The admit rate fell from 15% (2019-20) to 11% (2025-26).
2019-2015%
2025-2611%
Source: Carnegie Mellon University's Common Data Set 2025-26
WaitlistCarnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University's waitlist is a long shot: 0.7%.
36 of 4,937 students who stayed on the list got in.
Admitted off the list0.7%
Not admitted99%
Source: Carnegie Mellon University's Common Data Set 2025-26
9 more things the data says PRO
- The share of women in the first-year class has fallen from 50% to 39% since 2019-20, about 1.7 points a year.
- The admit rate has moved down steadily, from 15.4% in 2019-20 to 11.1% in 2025-26. If the trend holds, expect about 9.3% in 2026-27.
- 4,937 students stayed on the waitlist and 36 were admitted from it (0.7%).
- ED applicants were admitted at 21%, against 10.3% for everyone else: 2.0 times the rate.
- 47% of admitted students chose to enroll, higher than 87% of similar colleges.
- After ED, 1,251 of 1,804 seats were left for 32,187 other applicants: about one seat for every 26.
- Early Decision filled about 31% of the 2025-26 first-year class, less than most similar colleges.
- Men were admitted at a lower rate: 12.6% for women against 10.2% for men.
- Applications rose 43% from 2018-19 to 2025-26 (24,351 to 34,867), faster than 62% of colleges here.
What students say PRO
From students' own posts on Reddit and admissions forums: self-reported, unverified, never used in your odds.
- Admits who posted had top scores: most shared an SAT of 1490-1600 or an ACT of 32-36, with GPAs mostly 3.9-4.0.
- Many admits had research or publications, from university labs and journal papers to preprints, grants and summer research programs.
- Many admits did serious builder work or competitions: robotics (often captain or programming lead), math/CS contests, hackathons, apps and games.
- Many admits founded a nonprofit, business or program, such as a tutoring organization, a free music school or a medical advocacy group.
- Admits who named a round were mostly Regular Decision (about 17 of 27), with a few Early Decision and ED II.
- Students report CMU waitlists huge numbers and rarely admits from them: roughly 55% of non-accepted applicants waitlisted, with only about 4 admitted from about 800 in one account.
- Students report standards likely differ across CMU's colleges, and the School of Computer Science is said to weigh competition results heavily.
- Students report CMU's aid is need-based apart from a few merit awards, and international applicants get little or no aid.
- Students report decisions come out mixed rather than in a fixed order, so silence does not signal rejection, with ED results released in mid-December.
Every number, year by year: Carnegie Mellon University on Open College Data. Something wrong? Suggest a correction.