If you know as much as possible about the school's criteria for admission, you can make a better judgment about your eligibility and boost your chances of getting accepted. Here are the most essential facts you need to know about admission at Carnegie Mellon University.

According to the most recent data, this school uses standardized test scores for admission and it admitted 3,959 in 2025. Carnegie Mellon University has an official test-optional admission policy but takes into consideration standardized test scores for the applicants who choose to submit them. Looking at entrance difficulty level for all or most incoming freshmen, based on data self-reported by the institution this school is one of the most difficult schools to get into. This prominent institution with a rich history offers an excellent learning experience to its students.

Test Scores

52.6% of first-time, first-year degree-seeking students submitted their SAT scores for admission, and 22.4% submitted ACT scores, out of the total number of those who submitted test scores. 96.32% of the enrolled students submitted SAT composite scores between 1,400 and 1,600, 3.47% between 1,200 and 1,399, 0.11% between 1,000 and 1,199, and 0.11% between 800 and 999. The percent of freshman students who submitted ACT Composite scores in the range between 30-36 was 97.78, 2.22 between 24-29 and 0.35 in the range between 18-23.

The latest reported average GPA of the enrolled students was 3.89. That means that you need a GPA that's above average in order to get into Carnegie Mellon University.

Deadlines

The cutoff date for submitting applications to this school is January 1. When filling out the application as a transfer student, the application deadline is February 15.

Getting some financial help in forms of grants, loans, scholarships or work-study programs can be very important for completing your studies. If you are interested in finding out more about need-based and non-need-based aid at Carnegie Mellon University, here are some recent data you should consider.

The most recent figures show that financial help was given to 649 freshmen. Students of this school received an average of $60,909 in financial help.

Need-based

If you need help with paying for your studies and you meet certain eligibility requirements, you may be eligible for need-based aid.

2,881 students secured some form of need-based financial aid. Need-based college-administered scholarship and grant aid at Carnegie Mellon University isn't available to international students. The overall number of students (including freshmen) who were determined to have financial need came to be 2,988. The amount of federal need-based scholarships/grants awarded to the students at this institution reached $10,753,366, and state $927,236. The students of Carnegie Mellon University received the -institutional need-based aid in the amount of $152,561,532, and external in the amount of $1,900,192.