Carnegie

Carnegie Mellon University

Carnegie
#47 / #22
Global Influence / U.S. Influence
#35
Most Desirable School
Private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

Carnegie Mellon University Featured Rankings

About Carnegie Mellon University

By James Barham, PhD

In 1900, the Scottish-born industrialist and philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie, donated the funds to establish a vocational college called the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, the Technical Schools’ name was changed to the Carnegie Institute of Technology (CIT).

Carnegie based CIT in Pittsburgh, where he had worked as a messenger boy for the Ohio Telegraph Company not long after arriving with his family in the US. By the turn of the twentieth century, that thriving industrial city had become the main base of operations for Carnegie’s vast steel factories. CIT’s site was adjacent to that of the campus of the University of Pittsburgh.

In 1913, the brothers, Andrew W. and Richard B. Mellon—scions of a wealthy Pittsburgh banking family (also of Scottish ancestry)—donated money to the University of Pittsburgh for the creation of a Department of Industrial Research. Andrew Mellon would go on to serve as US Secretary of the Treasury under President Warren G. Harding during the early 1920s.

In 1928, the Department of Industrial Research was reconstituted as a nonprofit corporation and renamed the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research (MIIR). In 1937, MIIR moved into a new facility on the Pitt campus, across the street from the world-famous Cathedral of Learning.

In 1967, CIT and MIIR merged to create a new, technically oriented university called Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). CMU’s campus is physically adjacent to, and partially overlaps, the University of Pittsburgh campus.

A total of 20 CMU-related individuals have received the Nobel Prize, including:

  • John L. Hall & Otto Stern — physics
  • Ada Yonath & Paul Flory — chemistry
  • John F. Nash, Herbert A. Simon, Oliver Williamson & John Lucas — economics

Computer science is a special strength of CMU, as is shown by its large number of Turing Award–recipients—13 in all—including:

  • Alan J. Perlis
  • Ivan Sutherland
  • Allen Newell
  • Geoffrey Hinton
  • Edward Feigenbaum
  • Edward M. Clarke
  • Manuel Blum
  • Raj Reddy
  • Shafi Goldwasser
  • Herbert A. Simon (the only person to win both a Turing Award and a Nobel Prize)

Also, one might say that CMU is not unlike a startup accelerator, given the number of CMU-connected engineers and entrepreneurs who have gone on to found important IT companies, including, notably, Xerox PARC, Adobe Systems, Sun Microsystems, Lycos, Red Hat, and Nest.

Finally, among other CMU-connected individuals, we may mention:

  • Painters, Andy Warhol & Philip Pearlstein
  • Novelist, Kurt Vonnegut
  • Actors, Holly Hunter, Christopher Reeve, Ethan Hawke, Patrick Wilson, & Ted Danson
  • Java programming language inventor, James Gosling
  • Statistician and machine-learning pioneer, Andrew Ng
  • NASA astronauts, Edgar Mitchell & Judith Resnik

According to Wikipedia, Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The institution was originally established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology and began granting four-year degrees. In 1967, it became the current-day Carnegie Mellon University through its merger with the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research, founded in 1913 by Andrew Mellon and Richard B. Mellon and formerly a part of the University of Pittsburgh.

Carnegie Mellon University's Online Degrees

Carnegie Mellon University Admissions, Retention, and Graduation Information

Annual ApplicationsAcceptanceGraduation RateMedian SAT ScoreMedian ACT Score
32,89614%93%151034

How Much Does Carnegie Mellon University Cost To Attend?

Tuition (in-state)
$58,924
Price by Family Income
IncomeAverage Net Cost
0 - 30K$16,456
30K - 48K$13,608
48K - 75K$21,526
75K - 110K$31,094
110K+$52,564

Source: National Center for Education Statistics

How Much Do Carnegie Mellon University Graduates Make?

If you graduate from Carnegie Mellon University, then you can expect to earn an average of $103,000 per year. You also have a 89% chance of being employed after 10 years.

Carnegie Mellon University's Demographics

Demographic data is for full-time, on-campus students.

Student BodyUnder-GradsGraduates
15,1657,0948,071

Where is Carnegie Mellon University?

Carnegie Mellon University is located at 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh PA 15213-3890

How Safe is Carnegie Mellon University?

Pittsburgh has a violent crime rate of less than .01% and a property crime rate of less than .01%.

What Is Carnegie Mellon University Known For?

Carnegie Mellon University is known for it's academic work in the following disciplines:

Carnegie Mellon University's Top Areas of Influence With Degrees Offered

Computer Science
#4
World Rank
#4
Historical Rank
#4
USA Rank
computer-science Degrees
Engineering
#16
World Rank
#21
Historical Rank
#11
USA Rank
engineering Degrees
Economics
#21
World Rank
#29
Historical Rank
#13
USA Rank
economics Degrees
Business
#26
World Rank
#26
Historical Rank
#16
USA Rank
business Degrees
Chemistry
#56
World Rank
#81
Historical Rank
#16
USA Rank
chemistry Degrees
Mathematics
#64
World Rank
#101
Historical Rank
#20
USA Rank
math Degrees
Psychology
#36
World Rank
#48
Historical Rank
#24
USA Rank
psychology Degrees
Physics
#97
World Rank
#121
Historical Rank
#26
USA Rank
physics Degrees
Education
#82
World Rank
#88
Historical Rank
#27
USA Rank
education Degrees
Political Science
#109
World Rank
#120
Historical Rank
#34
USA Rank
political-science Degrees
Communications
#136
World Rank
#149
Historical Rank
#42
USA Rank
communications Degrees
Biology
#128
World Rank
#158
Historical Rank
#44
USA Rank
biology Degrees
Philosophy
#170
World Rank
#208
Historical Rank
#54
USA Rank
philosophy Degrees
History
#141
World Rank
#155
Historical Rank
#55
USA Rank
history Degrees
Sociology
#166
World Rank
#176
Historical Rank
#58
USA Rank
sociology Degrees
Medical
#212
World Rank
#217
Historical Rank
#73
USA Rank
medicine Degrees
Literature
#194
World Rank
#228
Historical Rank
#74
USA Rank
literature Degrees

Who Are Carnegie Mellon University's Most Influential Alumni?

Carnegie Mellon University's most influential alumni include professors and professionals in the fields of Computer Science, Engineering, and Criminal Justice. Here are some of Carnegie Mellon University's most famous alumni:

Allen Newell
Allen Newell
An American cognitive scientist.
Ivan Sutherland
Ivan Sutherland
An American computer scientist and Internet pioneer.
Oliver E. Williamson
Oliver E. Williamson
An American economist .
James Gosling
James Gosling
A Canadian computer scientist.
Raoul Bott
Raoul Bott
A Hungarian-born mathematician.
Edward Feigenbaum
Edward Feigenbaum
An American computer scientist.
John Forbes Nash Jr.
John Forbes Nash Jr.
An American mathematician and economist .
Henry Giroux
An American academic.
Edward C. Prescott
Edward C. Prescott
An American economist .
Shafi Goldwasser
Shafi Goldwasser
An American computer scientist, (1958 - ), New York, New York.
Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut
An American writer .
Robert H. Dennard
Robert H. Dennard
An American engineer and inventor.

Who Are Carnegie Mellon University's Most Influential Faculty?

Carnegie Mellon University's most influential faculty include professors in the fields of Computer Science, Engineering, and Criminal Justice. Here are some of Carnegie Mellon University's most famous alumni:

David H. D. Warren
An Artificial intelligence researcher.
Zoubin Ghahramani
Zoubin Ghahramani
A British intelligence researcher.
Shree K. Nayar
An Indian-American engineer.
Cosma Shalizi
Cosma Shalizi
An American academic.
Russ Salakhutdinov
Russ Salakhutdinov
A Computer scientist.
Eric Xing
Eric Xing
An American artificial intelligence researcher.
David S. Touretzky
David S. Touretzky
An American computer scientist.
Yoky Matsuoka
Yoky Matsuoka
A Japanese computer scientist.
Dawn Song
An American computer security expert.
Anthony Foxx
Anthony Foxx
A 17th United States Secretary of Transportation.
Po-Shen Loh
Po-Shen Loh
An American mathematician.
Chris Urmson
Chris Urmson
A CEO of self-driving technology company Aurora.