College of the Day: Carnegie Mellon University

Carnegie Mellon University

Quick Facts:

Location: Pittsburgh, PA

Established:1900

Students Enrolled: 10,922

Applicants: 17,313

Male/Female Ratio: 58/42

Carnegie Mellon is the only university that is both a top technical school as well as a university that is strong in the arts. The university is known for it's drama and music programs as well as it's science programs.  Carnegie Mellon has many strong programs, but the strongest are the chemical, electrical, and computer engineer programs.

Students that go to Carnegie Mellon can expect a rigorous workload.  Many study and work hours are expected outside of the classroom.  The class sizes are small though, which allows more interaction and help from the professors.  Almost all classes at Carnegie Mellon have less than 30 students.

Carnegie Mellon has six different undergraduate colleges: the College of Fine Arts, the College of Humanities and Social Science, the School of Computer Science, the Carnegie Institute of Technology, the Mellon College of Science, and the Tepper School of Business. Students agree the most difficult college is the Carnegie Institute of Technology. Each college has it's own distinct character and therefore, they have different application processes for each.

Student Life:

Carnegie Mellon draws two-thirds of it's students from out of state and more than one-third of students are minorities. The student body at Carnegie Mellon is very diverse and culturally aware.  

Because of the rigorous course load, many students find that there isn't much of a social life at Carnegie Mellon.  The Greek system is one of the more popular forms of social life with 25 percent of students participating in either a fraternity or sorority.  Alcohol is banned on campus.  Underage students caught with alcohol can face harsh punishments. 

Students are guaranteed housing for all four years at Carnegie Mellon.  Upperclassmen get first pick of housing assignments; freshmen get their room assignments from a lottery of the remainders. Ninety-nine percent of students choose to remain in campus housing.  

Applying:

If you are interested in applying to Carnegie Mellon University you should have a Critical Reading SAT Score of 630-730 and a Math SAT Score of 680-780. ACT Scores for all sections should be at least 29-33. Carnegie Mellon typically has at least 17,000 applicants each year with only 30% of applicants being accepted.  

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 Source: Fiske, Edward B. "Carnegie Mellon University." Fiske Guide to Colleges. Vol. 2015. N.p: 118-120. Print