cmu scs video essay

Master of Software Engineering Programs

Software and societal systems department.

All aspects of the candidate's packet are given equal weight and consideration. No single admission criterion overshadows another; rather, it is the composite of all of the application materials that determines the admission decision. The ability to perform graduate-level work, a solid undergraduate background in computer science or related disciplines, software development maturity, and industry experience are several factors considered for admission. In some cases, excellence and promise can balance a lack of formal preparation. 

Word to the Wise

We encourage all prospective students to review important  consumer information  regarding study at Carnegie Mellon; this information is available via  The Hub .

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Admission requirements.

MSE for Recent Grads

• An undergraduate degree in Computer Science or other scientific or technical discipline.
• Cumulative QPA higher than 2.5.
• Less than two years of industry experience. Preference is given to applicants with at least one year of experience, such as an internship in a software development role.
• Knowledge — at least at the level of an undergraduate course — of discrete mathematics, algorithms and data structures, and programming languages.
• Skills in programming-in-the-small, as well as competence in using imperative block-structured or objective-oriented languages such as Java, C++, and Python.

MSE for Professionals

• An undergraduate degree, preferably in Computer Science or other scientific or technical discipline.
• At least two years of industry experience in one or more software development roles, including the ability to describe specific tasks performed in those roles.
• Knowledge — at least at the level of an undergraduate course — of discrete mathematics, algorithms and data structures, and programming languages.
• Statement of Purpose: Your statement should include specific details about your professional goals and about your software engineering experience on teams and projects. The Statement of Purpose guidelines can be found here .
• Letters of Recommendation: At least three letters of recommendation should be submitted on your behalf from academic and/or industry personnel who have worked closely with you recently. Letters are typically written by faculty and supervisors. It is encouraged that you contact your recommenders as soon as possible in order to allow them enough time to compose your letter. The deadline for recommenders to submit your letter is approximately one week after the application deadline.
• Video Essay: Prepare a personal video, no more than 3 minutes in length, that covers one of the following prompts from the guidelines which can be found here .
• Unofficial Transcripts: You are required to upload electronic transcripts from each college/university that you attended in which you completed coursework. Do not send official transcripts at this time.
• Unofficial GRE Scores (optional) :  GRE scores are optional. An application without GRE scores is not at a disadvantage; however, applicants who have taken the GREs are encouraged to submit their scores. The GRE at Home Test is accepted. 
• If you have not received a bachelor’s degree in the U.S., you will need to submit an English proficiency score no older than two years. (Scores from exams taken before Sept. 1, 2022, will not be accepted.)
• If you are currently working on or have received a bachelor's and/or a master's degree in the U.S., you may submit an expired test score up to five years old. (Scores from exams taken before Sept. 1, 2019, will not be accepted.)
• Online Coding Assessment: Invitations will be sent out two days after the application deadline. Applicants have approximately one week to complete the assessment. Previously, there have been anywhere from 3-4 coding tests of varying levels of difficulty that candidates must complete. There is a time limit, but it is rare for an applicant to run out of time. Additionally, applicants may have the opportunity to complete a practice test. Tests may be submitted in any coding language. Instructions on how to access and complete the assessment will be included in the invitation. This test is only an assessment, students are accepted with both strong and weak programming ability. Any evidence of cheating will result in rejection of the application.

Admissions Timeline

* Invitations are sent to the email listed on your application. If you submitted an application but do not receive a coding invitation on December 13th, please contact [email protected] as soon as possible. The deadline to submit a coding test is December 19th.

Should I send official transcripts and score reports?

If accepted into the program, you will receive instructions for submitting official transcripts and test scores (if applicable). Please note that official documents cannot be tracked or accepted during the initial application process. You only need to provide official transcripts and test scores after being admitted to the program and receiving instructions.

How do I calculate my years of experience?

The cutoff date to use in your calculation is December 2024 which is the month in which this application is due. For example, if you started working at a company in March 2021 and you currently work there and intend to continue working there until August 2025, you would calculate the start date as March 2021 and the end date as December 2024. You would report on the application that you worked at the company for 3 years, 9 months.

Should I include internships in my years of experience calculation?

It is reasonable to include software engineering internships in your calculation as long as the internship was with a legitimate company and led to an increase of knowledge in software engineering.

Is there an application fee?

Yes, the application fee is $100.

Is it possible to take courses without being admitted to a program?

Non-degree seeking students may take a maximum of 36 units (three full-semester courses). To continue taking courses beyond the 36 unit limit, the non-degree student must formally apply and be admitted to one of the graduate software engineering programs.

Can I see a sample SOP?

Although we do not provide samples, we do have  guidelines [pdf] which you should read before you start writing your SOP.

Is it possible to get an MSE degree online?

Yes. You can find information about the MSE Online program and application requirements in the MSE Online section of the website.

Ask me anything!

Have questions about the application process? Senior Admissions Officer Marlana Ivey is here to help. Get in touch.

Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science

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Learn With Us - Admission & FAQs

Applications for Fall 2025 will open on September 4, 2024. The School of Computer Science has a centralized online application process for graduate admissions. Additional information may be found on the  SCS Master's Admissions page .

Application Deadlines for Fall 2025

Applications open on September 4, 2024

Early deadline - November 20, 2024 (3pm EST)

Final deadline - December 11, 2024 (3pm EST)

Requirements The School of Computer Science requires the following for all applications:

• A GPA of 3.0 or higher (Students should report raw university GPA scores and NOT converted scores.   Please DO NOT convert your international score to a US GPA or weighted GPA or other system).
• GRE scores: GRE is required. These must be less than five years old. A GRE subject test in science, engineering, computer science, math, etc. is recommended but not required. Our Institution Code is 2074; Department Code is 0402. 
• TOEFL/IELTS/Duolingo scores: If you will be studying on an F-1 or J-1 visa, and English is not a native language for you (native language…meaning spoken at home and from birth), we are required to formally evaluate your English proficiency. We require applicants who will be studying on an F-1 or J-1 visa, and for whom English is not a native language, to demonstrate English proficiency via one of these standardized tests: TOEFL (preferred), IELTS, or Duolingo.  We discourage the use of the "TOEFL ITP Plus for China," since speaking is not scored. 

            We do not issue waivers for non-native speakers of English .  In particular, we do not issue waivers based on previous study at a U.S. high school, college, or university.  We also do not issue waivers based on previous study at an English-language high school, college, or university outside of the United States.  No amount of educational experience in English, regardless of which country it occurred in, will result in a test waiver. Submit valid, recent scores: If as described above you are required to submit proof of English proficiency, your TOEFL, IELTS or Duolingo test scores will be considered valid as follows: If you have not received a bachelor’s degree in the U.S., you will need to submit an English proficiency score no older than two years. (scores from exams taken before Sept. 1, 2021, will not be accepted.)

            I f you are currently working on or have received a bachelor's and/or a master's degree in the U.S., you may submit an expired test score up to five years old. (scores from exams taken before Sept. 1, 2018, will not be accepted.)Additional details about English proficiency requirements are provided              on the FAQ page.  Successful applicants will have a minimum TOEFL score of 100. Our Institution Code is 4256; the Department Code is 78.

• Official transcripts from each university you have attended, regardless of whether you received your degree there.
• Current resume.
• Statement of Purpose. A statement of Purpose is not a resume. It should discuss your reasons for choosing the MIIS program and indicate your intended career path.
• Three letters of recommendation.
• A short (1-3 minute) video of yourself. There will be a prompt question that you will respond to. You will have three attempts.

Hard copies of transcripts, test scores, etc. are not required at the time of application . You will be asked to provide these if you are admitted to the program.

No incomplete applications will be eligible for consideration.

For specific application/admissions questions, please contact Brianna Eriksen.

Frequently Asked Questions

• I think that I may want a career in research, or that I may want to pursue a PhD later. Will the MIIS degree help me achieve those goals? The MIIS degree is a practice-oriented professional degree designed for students who want to quickly obtain an MS degree prior to beginning or resuming a career in industry or government. If you know that you want a career in research, the LTI's MLT and PhD degree programs may be better choices. However, if you select the MIIS degree now and later decide to pursue a career in research, you will find that the MIIS degree offers a very solid foundation from which to begin a research career. The classroom preparation is very similar.
• What are the admission criteria for this program? Like many MS degree programs at CMU, the MIIS program is very selective. Our focus is on the quality of our students and the quality of educational experience. All of our students have strong backgrounds in mathematics and computer science, along with the preparation in probability and statistics that accompanies most computer science, computer engineering, or other related technical degrees. Many of our students also have significant professional experience, either in internships or in their current job. This is not required, but it is very helpful. English language competency is strongly correlated to academic and professional success. Therefore, our degree program adheres to the SCS minimum standards for TOEFL and IELTS scores (TOEFL = minimum of 100; IELTS = minimum of 7.5). Ideally, no TOEFL sub-score will be under 22. There is no minimum GRE score requirement. The definition of "good GRE score" depends on the region where the test was taken, so we compare applicant's GRE scores to other GRE scores from the region where you were educated, or where you took your test. Undergraduate academic performance is the strongest predictor of success in this degree program. Typically, applicants have a minimum GPA of 3.33 (or its equivalent) or higher. GPA is evaluated in the context of the institution you attended, due to variations in how grades are awarded.
• Is a B.S. in Computer Science required for admission to the MIIS program? No. While an undergraduate degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or another related technical or scientific discipline is preferred, it is not required. Applicants must demonstrate that they have strong computer science skills, good math skills, and a firm grasp of statistics. We look for  evidence that you have these skills (project work, internships, coursework, significant professional experience, etc.). Simply saying that you have been a programmer for many years, or that you have been coding since you were young, is not sufficient.
• The application requires a statement of purpose. What makes a good statement? A good statement conveys three different types of information about you. First, we look for strong evidence that you can do well in the MIIS degree program. For example, a description of your academic experience; a description of a software project that you were involved in (including your role in its implementation and its impact); a description of an internship or other professional experience, etc. are all good pieces of evidence. The descriptions are stronger the more specific you can make them-- i.e., details about what you did, what you liked, and what you learned from these experiences. Second, your essay is stronger if you explain why you want to be in the MIIS program  specifically. We understand that you may be applying to more than one degree program, but you should tell us why you want to apply to  this  one in particular, how it relates to your career goals, and what you hope to get out of your experience here. Third, a discussion of your career goals is useful-- what you enjoy, what you hope to accomplish after receiving your degree, why you think the MIIS program is the right choice for what you want to do. Just wanting to go to graduate school at CMU is too vague. Please do not tell us that CMU is your "dream school." The essay must be written by you. You may have others proofread your essay to help you improve your English quality, or the style, but it must be substantially your own words.
• The application requires letters of recommendation. From whom should I solicit letters? The strongest letters come from respected advisors and managers who know you well and have experience directly supervising your work. They often focus on your specific accomplishments while working under them, and what specific traits, skills or achievements make you remarkable. A letter from a professor who taught you in a class is acceptable, but often does not provide great depth of detail. Letters from people who know you only in a personal capacity and cannot comment on your academic or professional work are not appropriate. Letters from high-ranking univeristy officials, such as deans, provosts and vice-presidents, but who have not observed your work should not be submitted
• I have worked in industry for several years/I did an internship when I was an undergrad. Will I be required to do an internship? During your first semester, you may petition the MIIS Program Director to waive the internship requirement. Their decision will be based on length, location, and type of your previous employment.
• I am a CMU student in another degree program. Can I transfer into the MIIS program? Transfer into the MIIS program is not permitted during a student's first semester at CMU. Students must begin their study at CMU in the program that admitted them. This is a universal rule in the School of Computer Science. Students may transfer into the MIIS program between the end of the first semester and the add/drop deadline of the second semester. The MIIS program will conduct an expedited admissions process for the student during this period. The program will consider explicitly whether the coursework done during the student's first semester will allow the student to be more-or-less "on schedule" by the end of the second semester, so that the student may participate in a capstone project with the other MIIS students during the final semester.
• I have been admitted to the MIIS program. What should I do to prepare? Mathematics and statistics are central to many CMU courses. Probably you had linear algebra, introduction to statistics, and/or introduction to probability courses as an undergraduate. However, your courses may not have been very deep, or your skills may be a little rusty now. You will be expected to have skills comparable to our 21-325 (Probability), 36-202 (Statistical Methods), and 21-341 (Linear Algebra) courses. You may wish to review CMU's free Open Learning Initiative courses for some of these skills. You may also find it useful to know MATLAB . MATLAB is not a required skill, but it is convenient and widely-used at CMU.
• I applied, but was not admitted. Can you tell me why? Unfortunately, the number of available slots in our program and the high volume of applicants mean that many qualified applicants will not be accepted. Due to the large number of applicants, we do not respond individually to applicants that were not accepted. The generic reason that an application is turned down is that we were able to fill the entering class with students who were believed to have a greater chance of success in the program.  Not being admitted is not a reflection on your qualifications or your preparations, but merely on how you ranked with respect to a large number of other aspirants.  Previous unsuccessful applicants are not prohibited from re-applying in future cycles.

Carnegie Mellon University 2024-25 Supplemental Essay Prompt Guide 

Early Decision: Nov 1

Regular Decision Deadline: Jan 3

Carnegie Mellon University 2024-25 Application Essay Question Explanations

The Requirements: 3 short essays of 300 words

Supplemental Essay Type(s):   Why ,  Short Answer

Many students pursue college for a specific degree, career opportunity or personal goal. Whichever it may be, learning will be critical to achieve your ultimate goal. As you think ahead to the process of learning during your college years, how will you define a successful college experience?

So many factors go into shaping your educational experience: course selection, professors, classmates, campus culture, even the city where you’ll live. Think through how each of these will affect you and jot down some examples of what you’re looking for in each. Do you value a professor who is accessible via office hours? Do you focus well in a stadium-seating lecture hall? Are you excited to start a small study group for your Shakespeare: Comedies and Romances  literature course? Additionally, do some research on their website and show them that you value what they specifically have to offer. Give them a peek into how you learn and help them visualize you as a thriving student in their community.

Most students choose their intended major or area of study based on a passion or inspiration that’s developed over time – what passion or inspiration led you to choose this area of study?

This prompt sounds simple enough: describe what you want to study and why you like it so much so that you’re willing to dedicate four years of your life to it (at the very least). While you might be tempted to get technical or poetic in your response, your reader will expect you to connect your intended major with some prior experience and/or passion. In other words, tell a story. Lucky for you, we would have advised you to start with an anecdote anyway. The most personal, memorable essays spring from concrete descriptions of your lived experience. What excites you and why? When was the last time you got drawn down a Reddit rabbit hole – and what was the topic? While you don’t need to drill to the origin of your interest in a given topic, try to zero in on some formative experience: the best TED Talk you ever watched, the first time you spoke to your new friend in ASL, that one time when you shadowed an EMT and saw what it’s like to help people in need! Your story should showcase your unique connection to your chosen course of study. And don’t forget: CMU asks what passion OR inspiration led you to choose this area of study. You can also talk about a particularly powerful book you read or a life-changing experience that set you on this path. Just make sure to use details to bring your story to life.

Consider your application as a whole. What do you personally want to emphasize about your application for the admission committee’s consideration? Highlight something that’s important to you or something you haven’t had a chance to share. Tell us, don’t show us (no websites please).

This prompt is a kind of free for all opportunity. Much like Common App’s prompt #7 , CMU is giving you free reign to write about any topic under the sun. If you’re overwhelmed by all the potential possibilities, don’t fret. Instead take a breath and ask yourself: What doesn’t admissions know about me yet? What do I wish I’d had more space to write about on my resume or activity list? If you’ve written a supplemental essay for another school about a particularly rewarding activity, this is an excellent place to tweak and recycle that essay. Almost any essay that you have already written in response to supplemental essay prompts for other schools will be applicable here, as long as it doesn’t address what you want to study or how you work with others. If you haven’t already drafted any others supplemental essays that would fit here, feel free to seek inspiration in the prompts for other schools (ideally the ones on your list). Worst case scenario, revisit your personal statement brainstorming notes and think about the topics that you almost wrote about. Can you write about any of those memories or stories in 200 words?

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Leave of absence and return from leave of absence, internal transfer within scs, transfer into scs / dual-degree, external transfer, graduation requirements, science and engineering, humanities and arts, honors research thesis, scs interdisciplinary courses, computational biology courses, computer science courses, human-computer interaction courses, institute for software research courses, language technologies institute courses, machine learning courses, robotics courses, software engineering courses, undergraduate catalog, school of computer science.

Martial Hebert, Dean Thomas Cortina, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs Veronica Peet, Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Experience Location: GHC 4115 www.cs.cmu.edu/undergraduate-programs

Carnegie Mellon founded one of the first Computer Science departments in the world in 1965. As research and teaching in computing grew at a tremendous pace at Carnegie Mellon, the university formed the School of Computer Science (SCS) at the end of 1988. Carnegie Mellon was one of the first universities to elevate Computer Science into its own academic college at the same level as the Mellon College of Science and the College of Engineering. Today, SCS consists of seven departments and institutes, including the Computer Science Department that started it all, along with the Computational Biology Department, the Human-Computer Interaction Institute, the Language Technologies Institute, the Machine Learning Department, the Robotics Institute and the Software and Societal Systems Department (formerly the Institute for Software Research). Together, these units make SCS a world leader in research and education. Over the last six years, SCS has launched four new primary undergraduate majors in Computational Biology, Artificial Intelligence (the first of its kind in the United States), Human-Computer Interaction, and Robotics. This year, we will launch a new primary major in Robotics. These new majors, along with the highly-ranked Computer Science major, give students in SCS distinct paths in the field of computing with ample opportunities in industry and advanced research. 

The School of Computer Science offers the following majors and minors:

• B.S. in Artificial Intelligence
• B.S. in Computational Biology
• B.S. in Computer Science
• B.S. in Human-Computer Interaction
• B.S. in Robotics
• Bachelor's in Computer Science and Art (joint with the College of Fine Arts)
• Additional major in Artificial Intelligence
• Additional major in Computational Biology
• Additional major in Computer Science
• Additional major in Human-Computer Interaction (Interdisciplinary)
• Additional major in Robotics
• Minor in Artificial Intelligence
• Minor in Computational Biology
• Minor in Computer Science
• Minor in Human-Computer Interaction
• Minor in Information Security, Privacy and Policy
• Minor in Language Technologies
• Minor in Machine Learning
• Minor in Neural Computation
• Minor in Robotics
• Minor in Software Engineering

Information for these majors and minors can be found through the navigation menu or through the links below:

• Artificial Intelligence (B.S. degree, additional major, minor)
• Computational Biology (B.S. degree, additional major, minor)
• Computer Science  (B.S. degree, additional major, minor)
• Human-Computer Interaction (B.S. degree, additional interdisciplinary major, minor)
• Robotics (B.S. degree, additional major, minor)
• SCS additional majors and minors

Students who apply to, and are directly admitted into, the School of Computer Science can choose between five primary majors: Artificial Intelligence, Computational Biology, Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction and Roboitics. Students with artistic and computing interests may be given the option to pursue a major in Computer Science and Art. Suitably prepared students from other Carnegie Mellon colleges are eligible to apply for internal transfer to the School of Computer Science and will be considered for transfer if grades in specific requirements are sufficiently high and space is available. Consult the program websites for specific requirements for transfer requests. Computation-oriented programs are also available within the Mellon College of Science, the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences, the College of Engineering and the College of Fine Arts. 

Policies & Procedures

Grading practices.

Grades given to record academic performance in SCS are detailed under Grading Practices at  Undergraduate Academic Regulations .

Dean's List WITH HIGH HONORS

SCS recognizes each semester those undergraduates who have earned outstanding academic records by naming them to the Dean's List with High Honors. The criterion for such recognition is a semester quality point average of at least 3.75 while completing a minimum of 36 factorable units and earning no incomplete grades.

Academic Actions

In the first year, quality point averages below 1.75 in either semester invoke an academic action. For all subsequent semesters an academic action will be taken if the semester quality point average or the cumulative quality point average (excluding the first year) is below 2.00.

Probation : The action of probation will be taken in the following cases based on QPA:

• One semester of the first year is below 1.75 QPA;
• The semester QPA of a student in good standing beyond the first year falls below 2.00.

The term of probation is one semester as a full-time student. First year students are no longer on probation at the end of the second semester if the second semester's QPA and the cumulative QPA is 1.75 or above. Students in the third or subsequent semester of study are no longer on probation at the end of one semester if the semester QPA and cumulative QPA (excluding the first year) are 2.00 or above.

Probation Continued : A student who has had one semester on probation and is not yet meeting minimum requirements but whose record indicates that the standards are likely to be met at the end of the next semester of study may be continued on probation, based on advisor recommendation. This action is normally taken only when a student's semester QPA is above 2.0 but their cumulative QPA is not yet above 2.0.

Suspension : A student who does not meet minimum standards based on QPA at the end of one semester of probation can be suspended:

• A first year student will be suspended if the QPA from each semester is below 1.75.
• A student on probation in the third or subsequent semester of study will be suspended if the semester QPA is below 2.00.

The minimum period of suspension is one academic year (two non-summer semesters). Suspension is meant to allow a student to take a pause from their academic studies to address the issues that are causing poor academic performance. At the end of that period a student may return to campus (on probation) by:

• completing a Return from Leave form from the HUB and submitting this form to their academic advisor, and
• submitting an additional written statement to their academic advisor and the SCS Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs, minimum one page, that outlines what the student did while on leave to address the issues that led to the suspension and that would indicate future success on return, and
• (optional) submitting up to two letters of support from individuals supporting the student's return to the academic advisor and the SCS Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs.

Upon review by the student's academic advisor and the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs, in consultation with the Office of Student Affairs and the Office of International Education as appropriate, the student may be approved to continue their studies.

Students who have been suspended or have withdrawn are required to absent themselves from the campus (including residence halls and Greek houses) within a maximum of two days after the action and to remain off the campus for the duration of the time specified. This action includes debarment from part-time or summer courses at the university for the duration of the period of the action. Although suspended students may not hold student jobs, students on academic suspension may, under certain circumstances, have a non-student job with the university. Students on disciplinary or administrative suspension may not.

Drop : This is a permanent severance. Students who have been suspended and who fail to meet minimum standards in the subsequent semester(s) after they return to school on probation will be dropped from the School of Computer Science.  Students who have been dropped and are not admitted to another program at the university are required to absent themselves from the campus (including residence halls and Greek houses) within a maximum of two days after the action.

Appeal:   Students may appeal a suspension or drop decision in writing within 10 business days of notification if, under consultation with their academic advisor, they feel that the decision was made in error and they have additional information that would indicate that they can continue in the next semester and exit their probationary status. Instructions on the appeal process are given in the suspension letter that is sent to the student.

Other Actions :  In addition to academic actions based on QPA, the Associate Dean  for Undergraduate Programs may place students on probation, subsequent suspension or drop, if they do not demonstrate reasonable  progress through the core curriculum of their major (e.g., not completing a core c lass after 3 attempts, not completing the required 100-level core  courses by the end of the sophomore year, etc.). Students are encouraged to  consult with their academic advisor about any concerns with regard to lack  of progress in their chosen SCS major to determine if any course drop or withdrawal will lead to an action.

The relation indicated above between probation, suspension and drop is nominal. In unusual circumstances, SCS College Council may suspend or drop a student without prior probation.

SCS undergraduate students may elect to take a leave of absence for a variety of reasons, after consultation with their academic advisor. Students who wish to take a leave of absence must do so by the last day of classes before final exams begin and before final grades are posted (in case this is earlier). Students requesting a leave of absence must complete a form from the HUB and have this signed by their academic advisor and SCS Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs. Students who take a leave of absence up to the last day to drop classes will have all of their classes dropped. Students who take a leave of absence after the last day to drop classes will be assigned a grade of W (withdrawal) for all of their classes. 

Students returning from a leave of absence are required to submit a Return from Leave of Absence form to their academic advisor for approval by the student's academic advisor and the SCS Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs. In addition, for students taking a leave for academic reasons, the student must also supply a letter that explains the reason for the leave, the actions that were performed during the leave to prepare the student for a successful return, and a description of the on-campus resources, if required, that would be used by the student in order to increase the likelihood of success. Students returning from a leave are also encouraged to provide up to two letters of support from people close to the student (e.g. family, friends, clergy, teachers, coaches, others as appropriate). Requests to return are reviewed by the student's academic advisor, the Associate Dean and the Student Affairs liaison to determine eligibility and any resources that need to be put into place to assist the student upon return. Contact the SCS Undergraduate Office (GHC 4115) for more information.

First year students admitted to SCS are considered undeclared during their first year. These students declare their SCS major in the middle of the second semester of their first year of study. SCS students who wish to transfer from one SCS major to another SCS major may do so by applying for transfer by mid-semester break during the semester the transfer is desired (or the end of the summer session for summer transfers). These students should consult with their academic advisor and the program director of the intended major for more information about specific course requirements and academic plans. Internal SCS transfers do not have any grade requirements. Transfers are approved based on demonstrated interest, ability, and available space in the intended major. Consult the website for the individual SCS major for more information about expected courses to take to demonstrate interest and ability. The transfer request form is available on the SCS website.

Undergraduate students admitted to colleges at CMU other than SCS and wishing to transfer to SCS or pursue a dual degree in SCS should consult with the Director or Program Coordinator of the desired SCS major during their first year. See the individual program pages for the names of the current directors and program coordinators, along with their contact information.

• For the Artificial Intelligence primary major, students must complete  15-122 ,  15-150 ,  15-281 ,  10-315 , one of  15-210 ,  15-213  or  15-251 , and one of  36-225 ,  21-325 ,  36-218  or  15-259 , with an expected overall QPA over these six courses of 3.6 or higher.and an overall QPA of at least 3.0, in order to be considered for transfer or dual degree.
• For the Computational Biology primary major, students must complete  21-127  (or equivalent),  15-122 ,  15-251 ,  15-351  (or  15-210 *),  03-121  and either 02-251 or  02-250  with an expected overall QPA over these six courses of 3.6 or higher and an overall QPA of at least 3.0, in order to be considered for transfer or dual degree. (*Students who take  15-210  will need to also take  15-150 ; this course is not required for the B.S. in Computational Biology but can count as an elective.)
• For the Computer Science primary major, students must complete 21-127  (or equivalent), 15-122 , 15-150 , 15-210 , 15-213 , 15-251 with an expected overall QPA over these six courses of 3.6 or higher and an overall QPA of at least 3.0, in order to be considered for transfer or dual degree.
• For the Human-Computer Interaction primary major, students must complete 21-127 (or equivalent), 15-122 , 15-150 , 05-410 , one of 15-210 or 15-213 , and one of 05-470 or 05-651 , with an expected overall QPA over these six courses of 3.6 or higher and an overall QPA of at least 3.0, in order to be considered for transfer or dual degree. 
• For the Robotics primary major, students must complete  21-127  (or equivalent),  15-122 ,  15-213 ,  15-251 , one of the following robotics courses: 16-211 , 16-299 , 16-311  (or Robot Building when launched), and one of  36-225 ,  21-325 ,  36-218  or  15-259 , with an expected overall QPA over these 6 courses of 3.6 or higher and an overall QPA of at least 3.0, in order to be considered for transfer or dual degree.  

Students may apply for transfer by the start of the mid-semester break in the semester when the final course(s) of the six required courses will be completed (or the end of the summer session for summer transfer requests). In the case of course(s) in progress, the mid-semester grades will be used in the QPA calculation. The decision to allow transfer or dual degree will be made by committee based on the student's academic performance (in the specified courses and in their courses overall if necessary), additional involvement in SCS and other computing-related activities, and availability of space in the student's class level. Students should consult the SCS Undergraduate Office for complete information concerning minimum requirements, instructions and deadlines.

A student currently enrolled at another university or college who wishes to transfer to SCS should first apply through the Office of Admission. If the Office of Admission believes the applicant meets admission guidelines, the student's record is sent to SCS for evaluation. Admission is based on seat availability, overall academic performance and course rigor from the student's current institution, ability to complete the rigorous SCS program on time, and the application material including recommendations and reflection essay(s). It is important to note that extremely few external transfers are admitted to the SCS program at Carnegie Mellon University due to space limitations.

• A requirement for graduation is the completion of the program specified for a degree with a cumulative quality point average of 2.00 or higher for all courses taken at CMU. (Students who start their undergraduate study at CMU may meet this requirement without the first year of study, if necessary.)
• Students must be recommended for a degree by the faculty of SCS.
• A candidate for the bachelor's degree must complete at the University a minimum of four semesters of full-time study, or the equivalent of part-time study, comprising at least 180 units of course work.
• Students will be required to have met all financial obligations to the university before being awarded a degree.

A student who does not meet the QPA requirement above must petition SCS College Council for a waiver of the first requirement. 

General Education Requirements

All undergraduate degrees in the School of Computer Science include depth in their particular field of study but also breadth through the general education requirements. General education requirements are part of SCS degrees to give students an opportunity to learn more about the world from scientific and humanistic points of view. These additional skills are useful for graduates since computing is often embedded in domains that are not entirely within the bounds of computing. SCS students will need to use their computing skills to solve problems alongside scientists and engineers, artists, social and cognitive scientists, historians, linguists, economists and business experts, and SCS students will need to communicate effectively and understand the ethical implications of their work. The general education requirements help SCS students gain this broad perspective so they can work well in a wide variety of domains.

All candidates for a B.S. degree in the School of Computer Science must complete a minimum of 36 units offered by the Mellon College of Science and/or the College of Engineering (CIT). 

Computational Biology majors

For Computational Biology majors, consult the Computational Biology program page for specific science and engineering requirements. The required science and engineering courses for the Computational Biology major also satisfy the General Education requirement for SCS by default.

Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science and Human-Computer Interaction majors

For Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science and Human-Computer Interaction majors, four courses in science and engineering are required, 9 units or more for each course, at least one course must have a laboratory component and at least two courses must be from the same department. Consult with your SCS undergraduate advisor for possible use of any mini course for this requirement which needs to be reviewed by your advisor and the SCS Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs.

Non-lab courses that are usually taken by AI, CS and HCI majors to satisfy this requirement are given in the list below. (Consult your academic advisor for additional choices available each semester.)

At present, courses meeting the lab requirement include:

The following MCS and CIT courses cannot be used to satisfy the Science and Engineering requirement (see note below this list for additional exceptions and conditions): 

All Electrical and Computer Engineering graduate courses [18-6xx, 18-7xx, 18-8xx, 18-9xx]  cannot  be used for this requirement.  Students interested in Engineering & Public Policy (19-xxx) courses that are not excluded above, including special topics courses, must consult with their SCS undergraduate advisor and the SCS Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs to determine suitability for this requirement.  In general, any MCS or CIT courses that are cross-listed with SCS courses or have significant mathematical or computational content  cannot  be used for this requirement. Students must consult with an SCS undergraduate advisor about any course to be used for the Science and Engineering requirement before registration.

All candidates for a B.S. degree in the School of Computer Science must complete a minimum of 63 units offered by the College of Humanities & Social Sciences and/or the College of Fine Arts as prescribed below. Students pursuing a Bachelor's in Computer Science and Art should consult the general education requirements for that program.

A. Freshman Writing Requirement (9 units)

B. Breadth Requirement (minimum 27 units: 9 units each) Complete three courses, one each from Category 1, Category 2, and Category 3. Students may use two minis totaling 9 units or more to satisfy one of the categories, with permission of the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education, if the minis meet the goals of the desired category.  NOTE: Artificial Intelligence majors replace Category 1 with Category 1A: Cognitive Studies which is a subset of Category 1.

C. Humanities and Arts Electives (minimum 27 units) Complete 3 non-technical courses of at least 9 units each from any of the departments in the Dietrich College of Humanities & Social Sciences or the College of Fine Arts. Some of the courses taught in these units are considered technical courses and may not be used to satisfy this requirement (see Deletions below). Additionally, a select set of courses from Business Administration and from Environmental and Public Policy can also count for this requirement (see Additions below). Students may combine humanities/arts courses with lower units together to form a single course of 9 units or more. Students are encouraged, but not required, to take courses from different departments to gain additional breadth and to create new opportunities for engagement with the university community. 

Some courses from the Dietrich College or the College of Fine Arts may  not  count toward the unconstrained electives in Humanities and Arts in SCS due to the technical (computing and/or mathematical) nature of the courses.  Courses from the following departments do not count toward the unconstrained Humanities and Arts electives:

• Statistics and Data Science (36), except  36-303 Sampling, Survey and Society  
• Information Systems (67)
• Economics (73), except 73-102 Principles of Microeconomics and 73-103 Principles of Macroeconomics

Additionally, the following courses do NOT count toward the unconstrained Humanities and Arts electives:

The following courses outside of Dietrich College and the College of Fine Arts may count toward the unconstrained Humanities and Arts electives:

Students considering going on to graduate school in Computer Science or related disciplines should take a wide variety of Computer Science and Mathematics courses, as well as consider getting involved in independent research as early as possible. This would be no later than the junior year and can begin even earlier.  Students interested in graduate school in computer science or its related areas are strongly encouraged to participate in the SCS Honors Undergraduate Research Thesis program. Additionally, graduate CS courses can be taken with permission of the instructor and in consultation with an academic advisor.

The goal of the SCS Honors Undergraduate Research Thesis Program is to introduce students to the breadth of tasks involved in independent research, including library work, problem formulation, experimentation, analysis, technical writing and public speaking. In particular, students write a short paper summarizing prior results and current progress in their desired area of research, present a public poster session in December of their senior year describing their current progress, present their final results with a poster and an oral presentation in the year-end university-wide Undergraduate Research Symposium (Meeting of the Minds) and submit a written thesis at the end of their senior year. Students work closely with faculty research advisors to plan and carry out their research. The  07-599 SCS Honors Undergraduate Research Thesis  typically starts in the fall semester of the senior year, and spans the entire senior year. Students receive a total of 36 units of academic credit for the thesis work, 18 units per semester. Students should prepare their research prospectus (i.e. proposal of work) during the spring semester of their junior year, and students in this program are advised to plan their schedules carefully to ensure there is ample time to perform the required research for the thesis during the senior year.

Students interested in research are urged to consult with their undergraduate advisor and the SCS Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs no later than the end of their sophomore year in order to plan their workload effectively. Although there is no specific QPA requirement to participate, students are expected to have at least a 3.5 QPA in the core SCS topics relevant to their proposed research to be successful in their work. For those students with no background in research, they may consider using  07-300 Research and Innovation in Computer Science (9 units)  as an introduction to the research process in their junior year since this course will introduce students to various research projects going on in the School of Computer Science and important skills that are needed to be an effective researcher. This course leads to a subsequent research practicum,  07-400 Research Practicum in Computer Science (12 units) , that allows students to complete a small-scale research study or experiment and present a research poster. Students who use this practicum to start their senior thesis can use the units toward the required 36 units. Students should consult with their academic advisor concerning how the units earned toward the senior thesis can be used toward elective requirements for their major. 

Interested juniors should submit a project prospectus of 3-4 pages by the end of their junior year, although submissions over the summer prior to the senior year will also be considered for review. A prospectus must include:

• The name of the research advisor (an SCS faculty member)
• A short abstract (two paragraphs, max)
• A description of the problem to be worked on and its significance
• a description of the background reading to be carried out,
• a description of the research contribution,
• a description of the expected results of the research, and
• a reasonably detailed timeline for the thesis work
• A bibliography of related work (all references belong here)
• The signature of the research advisor, signifying endorsement of the project and willingness to supervise and evaluate it (or an email confirmation from the research advisor)

Students who need help finding potential advisors should get in touch with their academic advisor or the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs. Applications to the program are due by the start of the senior year, although submission of applications in the junior year is encouraged.

Students completing an outstanding senior thesis based on the judgement of the SCS Undergraduate Review Committee will earn SCS College Honors and can compete for various SCS research awards given out during commencement.

About Course Numbers:

Each Carnegie Mellon course number begins with a two-digit prefix that designates the department offering the course (i.e., 76-xxx courses are offered by the Department of English). Although each department maintains its own course numbering practices, typically, the first digit after the prefix indicates the class level: xx-1xx courses are freshmen-level, xx-2xx courses are sophomore level, etc. Depending on the department, xx-6xx courses may be either undergraduate senior-level or graduate-level, and xx-7xx courses and higher are graduate-level. Consult the Schedule of Classes each semester for course offerings and for any necessary pre-requisites or co-requisites.

School of Computer Science Courses

Undergraduate students within SCS are encouraged to explore courses college-wide which may be available to them.

UMUT ACAR, Associate Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2012–

ANIL ADA, Associate Teaching Professor, Carnegie Mellon University – Ph.D., McGill University; Carnegie Mellon, 2014–

HENNY ADMONI, Associate Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., Yale University; Carnegie Mellon, 2017–

YUVRAJ AGARWAL, Associate Professor, Institute for Software Research – Ph.D., University of California, San Diego; Carnegie Mellon, 2013–

JONATHAN ALDRICH, Professor, Institute for Software Research – Ph.D., University Of Washington; Carnegie Mellon, 2003–

VINCENT ALEVEN, Professor, Human-Computer Interaction Institute – Ph.D., University Of Pittsburgh; Carnegie Mellon, 2000–

DANIEL ANDERSON, Assistant Teaching Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2023–

DAVID ANDERSEN, Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute Of Technology; Carnegie Mellon, 2005–

JOHN ANDERSON, R.K. Mellon University Professor – Ph.D., Stanford University; Carnegie Mellon, 1978–

DIMITRIOS APOSTOLOPOULOS, Principal Systems Scientist, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 1989–

SWARNALATHA ASHOK, Associate Teaching Professor, Institute for Software Research – MSc(Tech), Birla Institute of Technology and Science; Carnegie Mellon, 2022–

CHRISTOPHER ATKESON, Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute Of Technology; Carnegie Mellon, 2000–

JAMES BAGNELL, Associate Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2004–

ANDREA BAJCSY, Assistant Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley; Carnegie Mellon, 2023–

MARIA FLORINA BALCAN, Professor, Machine Learning Department – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2014–

STEPHANIE BALZER, Assistant Research Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., ETH Zurich; Carnegie Mellon, 2016–

ZIV BAR-JOSEPH, Professor, Computational Biology Department – Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute Of Technology; Carnegie Mellon, 2003–

MATTHEW BASS, Assistant Teaching Professor, Institute for Software Research – M.S., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2012–

LUJO BAUER, Professor, Institute for Software Research – Ph.D., Princeton University; Carnegie Mellon, 2015–

NATHAN BECKMANN, Associate Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Carnegie Mellon, 2017–

TAYLOR BERG-KIRKPATRICK, Assistant Professor, Language Technologies Institute – Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley; Carnegie Mellon, 2016–

JEFFREY BIGHAM, Associate Professor, Human-Computer Interaction Institute – Ph.D., University of Washington; Carnegie Mellon, 2013–

YONATAN BISK, Assistant Professor, Language Technologies Institute – Ph.D, University of Illinois, Urbana- Champaign; Carnegie Mellon, 2020–

GUY BLELLOCH, Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute Of Technology; Carnegie Mellon, 1988–

MANUEL BLUM, University Professor Emeritus, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Carnegie Mellon, 2001–

CHRISTOPHER BOGART, Systems Scientist, Institute for Sofrware research – Ph.D., Oregon State University; Carnegie Mellon, 2017–

DAVID BOURNE, Principal Systems Scientist, Robotics Institute – M.S., University Of Pennsylvania; Carnegie Mellon, 1980–

DANIEL BOYARSKI, Professor – M.F.A., Indiana University; Carnegie Mellon, 1982–

TRAVIS BREAUX, Associate Professor, Institute for Software Research – Ph.D., North Carolina State University; Carnegie Mellon, 2010–

STEPHEN BROOKES, Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Oxford University; Carnegie Mellon, 1981–

RALF BROWN, Principal Systems Scientist, Language Technologies Institute – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 1993–

FRASER BROWN, Assistant Professor, Institute for Software Research – Ph.D., Stanford University; Carnegie Mellon, 2022–

RANDAL BRYANT, University Professor Emeritus, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Carnegie Mellon, 1984–

JAMES CALLAN, Professor and Director, Language Technologies Institute – Ph.D., University Of Massachusetts; Carnegie Mellon, 1999–

JAVIER CAMARA-MORENO, Systems Scientist, Institute for Software Research – Ph.D., University of Malaga; Carnegie Mellon, 2015–

OANA CARJA, Assistant Professor, Computational Biology – Ph.D., Stanford University; Carnegie Mellon, 2019–

KATHLEEN CARLEY, Professor, Institute for Software Research – Ph.D., Harvard University; Carnegie Mellon, 1984–

JACOBO CARRASQUEL, Associate Teaching Professor Emeritus, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 1983–

PATRICK CARRINGTON, Assistant Professor, Human Computer Interaction Institute – Ph.D., University of Maryland; Carnegie Mellon, 2019–

JUSTINE CASSELL, Professor, Language Technologies Institute – Ph.D., University of Chicago; Carnegie Mellon, 2010–

ILIANO CERVESATO, Teaching Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., University of Torino; Carnegie Mellon, 2016–

HENRY CHAI, Assistant Teaching Professor, Machine Learning Department – Ph.D., Washington University, Saint Louis; Carnegie Mellon, 2022–

TIANQI CHEN, Assistant Professor, Machine Learning Department / Computer Science Department – Ph.D, University of Washington; Carnegie Mellon, 2020–

HOWARD CHOSET, Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., California Institute Of Technology; Carnegie Mellon, 1996–

NICOLAS CHRISTIN, Professor, Institute for Software Research – Ph.D., University of Virginia; Carnegie Mellon, 2017–

WILLIAM COHEN, Professor, Machine Learning Department – Ph.D., Rutgers University; Carnegie Mellon, 2003–

PHILLIP COMPEAU, Associate Teaching Professor, Computational Biology Department – Ph.D., University of California, San Diego; Carnegie Mellon, 2015–

VINCENT CONITZER, Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2022–

ALBERT CORBETT, Associate Research Professor Emeritus, Human-Computer Interaction Institute – Ph.D., University Of Oregon; Carnegie Mellon, 1983–

THOMAS CORTINA, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs and Teaching Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Polytechnic University (Brooklyn); Carnegie Mellon, 2004–

KEENAN CRANE, Associate Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., California Institute of Technology; Carnegie Mellon, 2015–

LORRIE CRANOR, Professor, Institute for Software Research – Ph.D., Washington University; Carnegie Mellon, 2003–

KARL CRARY, Associate Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Cornell University; Carnegie Mellon, 1998–

LAURA DABBISH, Professor, Human Computer Interaction Institute – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2007–

ROGER DANNENBERG, Professor Emeritus, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 1982–

SAUVIK DAS, Assistant Professor, Human Computer Interaction Institute – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2022–

PATHAK DEEPAK, Assistant Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley; Carnegie Mellon, 2020–

FERNANDO DE LA TORRE FRADE, Associate Research Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., La Salle School of Engineering; Carnegie Mellon, 2002–

DAN DEBLASIO, Assistant Teaching Professor, Computational Biology Department – Ph.D., University of Arizona; Carnegie Mellon, 2023–

MONA DIAB, Professor, Language Technologies Institute – Ph.D., George Washington University; Carnegie Mellon, 2023–

FERNANDO DIAZ, Associate Professor, Language Technologies Institute – Ph.D., University of Massachusetts Amherst; Carnegie Mellon, 2023–

JOHN DOLAN, Principal Systems Scientist, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 1991–

CHRIS DONAHUE, Assistant Professor, Language Technologies Institute – Ph.D., University of California San Diego; Carnegie Mellon, 2023–

ARTUR DUBRAWSKI, Research Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., Institute of Fundamental Technological Research; Carnegie Mellon, 2003–

DAVID ECKHARDT, Teaching Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2003–

WILLIAM EDDY, Professor – Ph.D., Yale University; Carnegie Mellon, 1976–

JEFFREY EPPINGER, Professor Of The Practice, Institute for Software Research – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2001–

MICHAEL ERDMANN, Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute Of Technology; Carnegie Mellon, 1989–

ZACKORY ERICKSON, Assistant Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D, Georgia Institute of Technology; Carnegie Mellon, 2021–

MAXINE ESKENAZI, Principal Systems Scientist, Language Technologies Institute – Ph.D., University Of Paris; Carnegie Mellon, 1994–

MOTAHHARE ESLAMI, Assistant Professor, Human Computer Interaction Institute – Ph.D, University of Illinois, Urbana- Champaign; Carnegie Mellon, 2020–

SCOTT FAHLMAN, Professor Emeritus, Language Technologies Institute – Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute Of Technology; Carnegie Mellon, 1978–

CHRISTOS FALOUTSOS, Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., University Of Toronto; Carnegie Mellon, 1997–

FEI FANG, Associate Professor, Institute for Software Research – Ph.D., University of Southern California; Carnegie Mellon, 2017–

JODI FORLIZZI, Professor, Director; Human-Computer Interaction Institute – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2000–

SARAH FOX, Assistant Professor, Human Computer Interaction Institute – Ph.D, University of Washington; Carnegie Mellon, 2020–

KATE FRAGKIADAKI, Associate Professor, Machine Learning Department – Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania ; Carnegie Mellon, 2016–

ROBERT FREDERKING, Principal Systems Scientist, Language Technologies Institute – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 1991–

MATTHEW FREDRIKSON, Associate Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., University of Wisconsin; Carnegie Mellon, 2015–

DANIEL FRIED, Assistant Professor, Language Technologies Institute – Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley; Carnegie Mellon, 2022–

JOHN GALEOTTI, Senior Systems Scientist, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2014–

DAVID GARLAN, Professor, Institute for Software Research – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 1990–

CHARLES GARROD, Associate Teaching Professor, Institute for Software Research – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2012–

ANATOLE GERSHMAN, Distinguished Service Professor, Language Technologies Institute – Ph.D., Yale University; Carnegie Mellon, 2007–

HARTMUT GEYER, Associate Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., Friedrich-Schiller University; Carnegie Mellon, 2010–

PHIL GIBBONS, Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley; Carnegie Mellon, 2015–

IOANNIS GKIOULEKAS, Associate Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., Harvard; Carnegie Mellon, 2017–

CLARK GLYMOUR, University Professor – Ph.D., Indiana University; Carnegie Mellon, 1985–

MAYANK GOEL, Associate Professor, Institute for Software Research – Ph.D., University of Washington; Carnegie Mellon, 2016–

SETH GOLDSTEIN, Associate Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., University Of California; Carnegie Mellon, 1997–

GEOFFREY GORDON, Professor, Machine Learning Department – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2001–

MATTHEW GORMLEY, Associate Teaching Professor, Machine Learning Department – Ph.D., John Hopkins University; Carnegie Mellon, 2015–

ALBERT GU, Assistant Professor, Machine Learning Department – Ph.D., Stanford University; Carnegie Mellon, 2023–

MARCAIS GUILLAUME, Senior Systems Scientist, Computational Biology Department – Ph.D., University of Maryland; Carnegie Mellon, 2020–

ABHINAV GUPTA, Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., University of Maryland; Carnegie Mellon, 2011–

ANUPAM GUPTA, Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., University Of California at Berkeley; Carnegie Mellon, 2003–

ZAKIA HAMMAL, Systems Scientist, Robotics Institute – Ph.D, University of Grenoble, France; Carnegie Mellon, 2021–

JESSICA HAMMER, Associate Professor, Human-Computer Interaction Institute – Ph.D., Columbia University; Carnegie Mellon, 2014–

MOR HARCHOL-BALTER, Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., University Of California at Berkeley; Carnegie Mellon, 1999–

ROBERT HARPER, Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Cornell University; Carnegie Mellon, 1988–

ERIK HARPSTEAD, Senior Systems Scientist, Human-Computer Interaction Institute – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2017–

CHRISTINA HARRINGTON, Assistant Professor, Human Computer Interaction Institute – Ph.D, Georgia Institute of Technology; Carnegie Mellon, 2021–

CHRISTOPHER HARRISON, Associate Professor, Human-Computer Interaction Institute – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2014–

ALEXANDER HAUPTMANN, Research Professor, Language Technologies Institute – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 1994–

MARTIAL HEBERT, Dean of the School of Computer Science and Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., Paris-Xl; Carnegie Mellon, 1984–

HODA HEIDARI, Assistant Professor, Machine Learning Department – Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh; Carnegie Mellon, 2020–

DAVID HELD, Associate Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., Stanford University; Carnegie Mellon, 2017–

VINCENT HELLENDOORN, Assistant Professor, Software and Societal Systems Department – Ph.D., University of California Davis; Carnegie Mellon, 2020–

JAMES HERBSLEB, Director, Professor, Institute for Software Research – Ph.D., University Of Nebraska; Carnegie Mellon, 2002–

MARIJN HEULE, Associate Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Delft University of Technology (Netherlands); Carnegie Mellon, 2019–

LEE HILLMAN, Executive Director of MHCI, Human-Computer Interaction Institute – M.S., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2017–

MICHAEL HILTON, Associate Teaching Professor, Institute for Software Research – Ph.D., Oregon State University; Carnegie Mellon, 2017–

JESSICA HODGINS, Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2001–

JAN HOFFMANN, Associate Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität and TU Munich; Carnegie Mellon, 2015–

RALPH HOLLIS, Research Professor Emeritus, Robotics Institute – Ph.D, University of Colorado; Carnegie Mellon, 1993–

JASON HONG, Associate Professor, Human-Computer Interaction Institute – Ph.D., University Of California at Berkeley; Carnegie Mellon, 2004–

DANIEL HUBER, Senior Systems Scientist, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2002–

SCOTT HUDSON, Professor, Human-Computer Interaction Institute – Ph.D., University Of Colorado; Carnegie Mellon, 1997–

JEFF ICHNOWSKI, Assistant Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Carnegie Mellon, 2023–

DAPHNE IPPOLITO, Assistant Professor, Language Technologies Institute – Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania; Carnegie Mellon, 2023–

FARNAM JAHANIAN, President, Carnegie Mellon University, and Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin; Carnegie Mellon, 2014–

AAYUSH JAIN, Assistant Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D, University of California, Los Angeles; Carnegie Mellon, 2021–

LASZLO JENI, Assistant Research Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., University of Tokyo; Carnegie Mellon, 2018–

MATTHEW JOHNSON-ROBERSON, Professor, Director, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., University of Sydney; Carnegie Mellon, 2022–

MICHAEL KAESS, Associate Professor – Ph.D., Georgia Institute of Technology; Carnegie Mellon, 2013–

TAKEO KANADE, University Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., Kyoto University; Carnegie Mellon, 1980–

EUNSUK KANG, Assistant Professor, Institute for Software Research – Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Carnegie Mellon, 2017–

JOSHUA KANGAS, Assistant Teaching Professor, Computational Biology Department – PhD, Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2018–

GEORGE KANTOR, Research Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., University of Maryland; Carnegie Mellon, 2002–

CHRISTIAN KASTNER, Associate Professor, Institute for Software Research – Ph.D., University of Magdeburg; Carnegie Mellon, 2012–

GEOFF KAUFMAN, Associate Professor, Human Computer Interaction Institute – Ph.D., Ohio State University; Carnegie Mellon, 2015–

DILSUN KAYNUR, Associate Teaching Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., University of Edinburgh; Carnegie Mellon, 2012–

ALONZO KELLY, Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 1998–

SEUNGJUN KIM, Systems Scientist, Human-Computer Interaction Institute – Ph.D., Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology; Carnegie Mellon, 2011–

SEYOUNG KIM, Associate Professor, Computational Biology Department – Ph.D., University of California at Irvine; Carnegie Mellon, 2010–

CARL KINGSFORD, Professor, Computational Biology Department – Ph.D., Princeton University; Carnegie Mellon, 2012–

KRIS KITANI, Associate Research Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., University of Tokyo; Carnegie Mellon, 2016–

ANIKET KITTUR, Professor, Human-Computer Interaction Institute – Ph.D., University of California At Los Angeles; Carnegie Mellon, 2009–

DANIEL KLUG, Systems Scientist, Institute for Software Research – Ph.D., University of Basel; Carnegie Mellon, 2021–

KENNETH KOEDINGER, Professor, Human-Computer Interaction Institute – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 1991–

ANNE KOHLBRENNER, Assistant Teaching Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Princeton University; Carnegie Mellon, 2023–

J. ZICO KOLTER, Associate Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Stanford University; Carnegie Mellon, 2012–

DAVID KOSBIE, Teaching Professor, Computer Science Department – M.S., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2009–

PRAVESH KOTHARI, Assistant Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin; Carnegie Mellon, 2018–

IOANNIS KOUTIS, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2008–

ROBERT KRAUT, Herbert A. Simon Professor Emeritus, Human-Computer Interaction Institute – Ph.D., Yale University; Carnegie Mellon, 1993–

OLIVER KROEMER, Assistant Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., Technische Universität Darmstadt; Carnegie Mellon, 2017–

CLAIRE LE GOUES, Associate Professor, Institute for Software Research – Ph.D., University of Virginia; Carnegie Mellon, 2013–

CHRISTIAN LEBIERE, Research Psychologist, Psychology – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 1999–

EUN SUN LEE, Associate Teaching Professor, Institute for Software Research – M.S., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2014–

TAI-SING LEE, Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Carnegie Mellon, 1996–

TERRY E LEE, Associate Teaching Professor, Software and Societal Systems Department – M.Sc., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2020–

LORRAINE LEVIN, Research Professor, Language Technologies Institute – Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute Of Technology; Carnegie Mellon, 1989–

YUANZHI LI, Assistant Professor, Machine Learning Department – Ph.D., Princeton University; Carnegie Mellon, 2019–

JAIOYANG LI, Assistant professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., University of Southern California; Carnegie Mellon, 2022–

LEI LI, Assistant Professor, Language Technologies Institute – Ph.D., University of California Santa Barbara; Carnegie Mellon, 2023–

MINCHEN LI, Assistant Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania; Carnegie Mellon, 2023–

MAXIM LIKACHEV, Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2010–

CHANGLIU LIU, Assistant Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley; Carnegie Mellon, 2019–

JOSE LUGO-MARTINEZ, Assistant Professor, Computational Biology Department – Ph.D., Indiana University; Carnegie Mellon, 2022–

JIAN MA, Professor, Computational Biology Department – Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University ; Carnegie Mellon, 2016–

JOHN MACKEY, Teaching Professor, Computer Science Department and Mathematics Department – Ph.D., University of Hawaii; Carnegie Mellon, 2003–

ZACHARY MANCHESTER, Assistant Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., Cornell University; Carnegie Mellon, 2020–

MELISA ORTA MARTINEZ, Assistant Professor, Robotics Institute – PH.D., Stanford University; Carnegie Mellon, 2020–

RUBEN MARTINS, Assistant Research Professor, Institute for Software Research – Ph.D, Technical university of Lisbon; Carnegie Mellon, 2018–

NIKOLAS MARTELARO, Assistant Professor, Human Computer Interaction Institute – Ph.D, Stanford University; Carnegie Mellon, 2020–

MATTHEW MASON, Professor Emeritus, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Carnegie Mellon, 1982–

AULDYN MATTHEWS-MCGEE, Assistant Teaching Professor, Human Computer Interaction Institute – MHCI, Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2023–

ROY MAXION, Research Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., University Of Colorado; Carnegie Mellon, 1984–

JAMES MCCANN, Associate Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2017–

BRUCE MCLAREN, Associate Research Professor, Human-Computer Interaction Institute – Ph.D., University Of Pittsburgh; Carnegie Mellon, 2003–

FLORIAN METZE, Associate Research Professor, Language Technologies Institute – Ph.D., Universität Karlsruhe; Carnegie Mellon, 2009–

NATHAN MICHAEL, Assistant Research Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania; Carnegie Mellon, 2012–

HEATHER MILLER, Assistant Professor, Institute for Software Research – Ph.D., École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne; Carnegie Mellon, 2018–

EDUARDO MIRANDA, Teaching Professor, Institute for Software Research – M.S./M.Eng., University of Linköping/University of Ottawa; Carnegie Mellon, 2008–

TERUKO MITAMURA, Research Professor, Language Technologies Institute – Ph.D., University Of Pittsburgh; Carnegie Mellon, 1990–

TOM MITCHELL, University Professor, Machine Learning Department – Ph.D., Stanford University; Carnegie Mellon, 1986–

STEFAN MITSCH, Senior Systems Scientist, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Johannes Kepler University; Carnegie Mellon, 2016–

HOSEIN MOHIMANI, Associate Professor, Computational Biology Department – Ph.D., University of California, San Diego; Carnegie Mellon, 2017–

ALAN MONTGOMERY, Associate Professor of Marketing – Ph.D., University Of Chicago; Carnegie Mellon, 1999–

IGOR MORDATCH, Assistant Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., University of Washington; Carnegie Mellon, 2017–

LOUIS-PHILIPPE MORENCY, Associate Professor, Language Technologies Institute – Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Carnegie Mellon, 2015–

DOMINIK MORITZ, Assistant Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D, University of Washington; Carnegie Mellon, 2020–

JAMES MORRIS, Professor, Emeritus, Human-Computer Interaction Institute – Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute Of Technology; Carnegie Mellon, 1982–

DAVID MORTENSEN, Assistant Research Professor, Language Technologies Institute – Ph.D, University of California, Berkeley; Carnegie Mellon, 2015–

JACK MOSTOW, Research Professor Emeritus, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 1992–

TODD MOWRY, Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Stanford University; Carnegie Mellon, 1997–

KATHARINA MUELLING, Systems Scientist, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems; Carnegie Mellon, 2013–

ROBERT MURPHY, Ray and Stephanie Lane Professor of Computational Biology Emeritus – Ph.D., California Institute of Technology; Carnegie Mellon, 1983–

BRAD MYERS, Professor, Human-Computer Interaction Institute – Ph.D., University Of Toronto; Carnegie Mellon, 1987–

PRIYA NARASIMHAN, Professor – Ph.D., University Of California; Carnegie Mellon, 2001–

SRINIVASA NARASIMHAN, Professor, Interim Director, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., Columbia University; Carnegie Mellon, 2004–

GRAHAM NEUBIG, Associate Professor, Language Technologies Institute – Ph.D., Kyoto University; Carnegie Mellon, 2016–

CHRISTINE NEUWIRTH, Professor – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2004–

ILLAH NOURBAKHSH, Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., Stanford University; Carnegie Mellon, 1997–

ERIC NYBERG, Professor, Language Technologies Institute – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 1989–

RYAN O'DONNELL, Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute Of Technology; Carnegie Mellon, 2006–

KEMAL OFLAZER, Associate Dean of Research, Language Technologies Institute – Ph.D, Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2008–

AMY OGAN, Associate Professor, Human-Computer Interaction Institute – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2014–

DAVID O'HALLARON, Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., University of Virginia; Carnegie Mellon, 1989–

JEAN OH, Associate Research Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D, Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2019–

IRVING OPPENHEIM, Professor – Ph.D., University of Cambridge; Carnegie Mellon, 1973–

MATTHEW O'TOOLE, Assistant Professor, Robotics Institute and Computer Science Department – Ph.D., University of Toronto; Carnegie Mellon, 2018–

RICCARDO PACCAGNELLA, Assistant Professor, Software and Societal Systems Department – Ph.D., University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; Carnegie Mellon, 2023–

ROHAN PADHYE, Assistant Professor, Software and Societal Systems Department – Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley; Carnegie Mellon, 2020–

PATRICK PARK, Assistant Professor, Institute for Software Research – Ph.D, Cornell University; Carnegie Mellon, 2021–

BRYAN PARNO, Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2017–

JIGNESH PATEL, Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., University of Wisconsin Madison; Carnegie Mellon, 2023–

DEEPAK PATHAK, Assistant Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D, University of California, Berkeley; Carnegie Mellon, 2020–

SCOTT PAVETTI, Assistant Teaching Professor, Software and Societal Systems Department – MSE, Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2020–

ANDREW PAVLO, Associate Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Brown University; Carnegie Mellon, 2013–

RICHARD PENG, Associate Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2023–

ADAM PERER, Assistant Professor, Human Computer Interaction Institute – Ph.D., University of Maryland; Carnegie Mellon, 2018–

JUERGEN PFEFFER, Assistant Research Professor, Institute for Software Research – Ph.D., Vienna University of Technology; Carnegie Mellon, 2012–

ANDREAS PFENNING, Associate Professor, Computational Biology Department – Ph.D., Duke University; Carnegie Mellon, 2015–

FRANK PFENNING, Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 1986–

BARNABAS POCZOS, Associate Professor, Machine Learning Department – Ph.D., Eötvös Loránd University; Carnegie Mellon, 2012–

NANCY POLLARD, Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute Of Technology; Carnegie Mellon, 2002–

ADITI RAGHUNATHAN, Assistant Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Stanford University; Carnegie Mellon, 2022–

BRIAN RAILING, Associate Teaching Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Georgia Institute of Technology; Carnegie Mellon, 2016–

BHIKSHA RAJ RAMAKRISHNAN, Professor, Language Technologies Institute – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2008–

DEVA RAMANAN, Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley; Carnegie Mellon, 2015–

PRADEEP RAVIKUMAR, Professor, Machine Learning Department – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2016–

RAJ REDDY, University Professor, Institute for Software Research – Ph.D., Stanford University; Carnegie Mellon, 1969–

ANDREJ RISTESKI, Assistant Professor, Machine Learning Department – Ph.D., Princeton University; Carnegie Mellon, 2019–

KELLY RIVERS, Associate Teaching Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2017–

CAMERON RIVIERE, Research Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University; Carnegie Mellon, 1995–

DAVID ROOT, Associate Teaching Professor, Institute for Software Research – M.P.M., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2002–

CAROLYN ROSE, Professor, Language Technologies Institute – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2003–

RONALD ROSENFELD, Professor and Department Head, Machine Learning Department – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 1995–

STEPHANIE ROSENTHAL, Associate Teaching Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2019–

STEVEN RUDICH, Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., University of California; Carnegie Mellon, 1989–

ALEXANDER RUDNICKY, Professor Emeritus, Language Technologies Institute – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 1980–

MATTHEW RUFFALO, Systems Scientist, Computational Biology Department – Ph.D., Case Western Reserve University; Carnegie Mellon, 2016–

FERAS SAAD, Assistant Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Carnegie Mellon, 2023–

NORMAN SADEH-KONIECPOL, Professor, Institute for Software Research – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 1991–

MAJD SAKR, Teaching Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh; Carnegie Mellon, 2006–

RUSLAN SALAKHUTDINOV, Professor, Machine Learning Department – Ph.D., University of Toronto; Carnegie Mellon, 2016–

TUOMAS SANDHOLM, Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., University of Massachusetts; Carnegie Mellon, 2001–

MAARTEN SAP, Assistant Professor, Language Technologies Institute – Ph.D., University of Washington; Carnegie Mellon, 2022–

MAHADEV SATYANARAYANAN, Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 1983–

RICHARD SCHEINES, Dean, Dietrich College and Professor, Philosophy – Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh; Carnegie Mellon, 1988–

SEBASTIAN SCHERER, Associate Research Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D, Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2010–

BRADLEY SCHMERL, Principal Systems Scientist, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Flinders University of South Australia; Carnegie Mellon, 2000–

JEFF SCHNEIDER, Research Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., University of Rochester; Carnegie Mellon, 1995–

RUSSELL SCHWARTZ, Professor of Biological Sciences and Department Head, Computational Biology Department – Ph.D, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Carnegie Mellon, 2002–

DANA SCOTT, Professor Emeritus, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Princeton University; Carnegie Mellon, 1981–

TEDDY SEIDENFELD, Herbert A. Simon Professor – Ph.D., Columbia University; Carnegie Mellon, 1985–

SRINIVASAN SESHAN, Professor and Department Head, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., University of California; Carnegie Mellon, 2000–

NIHAR SHAH, Associate Professor, Machine Learning Department – Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley; Carnegie Mellon, 2017–

MICHAEL SHAMOS, Teaching Professor, Language Technologies Institute and Institute for Software Research – Ph.D., Yale University; Carnegie Mellon, 1975–

MARY SHAW, University Professor, Institute for Software Research – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 1965–

SKIP SHELLY, Associate Teaching Professor, Human Computer Interaction Institute – B.F.A., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2017–

HONG SHEN, Assistant Research Professor, Human Computer Interaction Institute – Ph.D., University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Carnegie Mellon, 2018–

JUSTINE SHERRY, Associate Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley; Carnegie Mellon, 2017–

GUANYA SHI, Assistant Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., California Institute of Technology; Carnegie Mellon, 2023–

HIROKAZU SHIRADO, Assistant Professor, Human Computer Interaction Institute – Ph.D., Yale University; Carnegie Mellon, 2019–

DOUGLAS SICKER, Professor, Institute for Software Research – Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh; Carnegie Mellon, 2014–

MEL SIEGEL, Associate Research Professor Emeritus, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., University of Colorado; Carnegie Mellon, 1982–

DANIEL SIEWIOREK, Buhl University Professor Emeritus, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Stanford University; Carnegie Mellon, 1972–

REID SIMMONS, Research Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Carnegie Mellon, 1988–

AARTI SINGH, Professor, Machine Learning Department – Ph.D., University of Wisconsin At Madison; Carnegie Mellon, 2009–

RITA SINGH, Associate Research Professor, Language Technologies Institute – Ph.D., National Geophysical Research Institute; Carnegie Mellon, 2010–

MICHAEL SKIRPAN, Assistant Teaching Professor, Software and Societal Systems Department – Ph.D., University of Colorado Boulder; Carnegie Mellon, 2023–

DANIEL SLEATOR, Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Stanford University; Carnegie Mellon, 1985–

STEPHEN SMITH, Research Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh; Carnegie Mellon, 1982–

VIRGINIA SMITH, Assistant Professor, Machine Learning Department – Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley; Carnegie Mellon, 2018–

PETER SPIRTES, Professor, Philosophy – Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh; Carnegie Mellon, 1983–

JOHN STAMPER, Associate Professor, Human-Computer Interaction Institute – Ph.D., University of North Carolina At Charlotte; Carnegie Mellon, 2009–

PETER STEENKISTE, Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Stanford University; Carnegie Mellon, 1987–

MARK STEHLIK, Teaching Professor, Computer Science Department – B.S., Pace University; Carnegie Mellon, 1981–

AARON STEINFELD, Research Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., University of Michigan; Carnegie Mellon, 2001–

GEORGE STETTEN, Adjunct Research Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., University of North Carolina; Carnegie Mellon, 1999–

EMMA STRUBELL, Assistant Professor, Language Technologies Institute – Ph.D, University of Massachusetts, Amherst; Carnegie Mellon, 2020–

JOSHUA SUNSHINE, Systems Scientist, Institute for Software Research – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2014–

KLAUS SUTNER, Teaching Professor, Computer Science – Ph.D., University of Munich; Carnegie Mellon, 1995–

KATIA SYCARA, Research Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., Georgia Institute of Technology; Carnegie Mellon, 1987–

WENNIE TABIB, Systems Scientist, Robotics Institute – Ph.D, Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2021–

AMEET TALWALKAR, Associate Professor, Machine Learning Department – Ph.D., New York University, Courant Institute; Carnegie Mellon, 2017–

MICHAEL TAYLOR, Assistant Teaching Professor, Computer Science Department – MSR, Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2020–

ZEYNEP TEMEL, Assistant Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., Sabanci University (Istanbul, Turkey); Carnegie Mellon, 2019–

CHRIS TIMPERLEY, Senior Systems Scientist, Software and Societal Systems – Ph.D., University of York, UK; Carnegie Mellon, 2018–

DAVID TOURETZKY, Research Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 1984–

MATTHEW TRAVERS, Senior Systems Scientist, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., Northwestern University; Carnegie Mellon, 2013–

BOGDAN VASILESCU, Associate Professor, Institute for Software Research – Ph.D., Eindhoven University of Technology; Carnegie Mellon, 2016–

MARIA MANUELA VELOSO, Professor Emeritus, Machine Learning Department – Ph.D, Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 1992–

RASHMI VINAYAK, Associate Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley; Carnegie Mellon, 2017–

LAURA VINCHESI, Assistant Teaching Professor, Human Computer Interaction Institute – MFA, Cranbrook Art Academy; Carnegie Mellon, 2023–

PAT VIRTUE, Assistant Teaching Professor, Computer Science Department and Machine Learning Department – Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley; Carnegie Mellon, 2018–

ALEXANDER WAIBEL, Professor, Language Technologies Institute – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 1988–

WEINA WANG, Assistant Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Arizona State University; Carnegie Mellon, 2018–

WENSHEN WANG, Systems Scientist, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., Shanghai Jiao Tong University; Carnegie Mellon, 2023–

LEILA WEHBE, Assistant Professor, Machine Learning Department – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2018–

DAVID WETTERGREEN, Research Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2000–

WILLIAM RED WHITTAKER, University Research Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 1973–

BRYAN WILDER, Assistant Professor, Machine Learning Department – Ph.D., Harvard University; Carnegie Mellon, 2022–

DAVID WOODRUFF, Professor, Computer Science Department – Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Carnegie Mellon, 2017–

WEI WU, Senior Systems Scientist, Computational Biology Department – Ph.D., Rutgers University; Carnegie Mellon, 2011–

SHERRY TONGSHUAN WU, Assistant Professor, Human Computer Interaction Institute – Ph.D., Washington University, Saint Louis; Carnegie Mellon, 2022–

STEVEN WU, Assistant Professor, Software and Societal Systems Department – Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania; Carnegie Mellon, 2020–

FRANCESKA XHAKAJ, Assistant Teaching Professor, Computer Science Department/ Human Computer Interaction Institute – Ph.D, Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2021–

POE ERIC XING, Professor, Machine Learning Department – Ph.D., University Of California At Berkeley; Carnegie Mellon, 2004–

CHENYAN XIONG, Associate Professor, Language Technologies Interaction Institute – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2023–

MIN XU, Associate Professor, Computational Biology Department – Ph.D., University of Southern California; Carnegie Mellon, 2016–

YIMING YANG, Professor, Language Technologies Institute – Ph.D., Kyoto University; Carnegie Mellon, 1996–

NESRA YANNIER, Senior Systems Scientist, Human Computer Interaction Institute – Ph.D., Carnegie Melllon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2019–

LINING YAO, Associate Professor, Human Computer Interaction Institute – Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Carnegie Mellon, 2017–

YUN WILLIAM YU, Assistant Professor, Computational Biology Department – Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Carnegie Mellon, 2023–

WENZHEN YUAN, Assistant Professor, Robotics institute – Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Carnegie Mellon, 2019–

MARTIN ZHANG, Assistant Professor, Computational Biology Department – Ph.D., Stanford University; Carnegie Mellon, 2023–

JI ZHANG, System Scientist, Robotics Institute – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2019–

HAIYI ZHU, Associate Professor, Human Computer Interaction Institute – Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2019–

JUN-YAN ZHU, Assistant Professor, Robotics Institute – Ph.D, University of California, Berkeley; Carnegie Mellon, 2020–

JOHN ZIMMERMAN, Professor, Human-Computer Interaction Institute – M.Des., Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Mellon, 2002–

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5 Carnegie Mellon Essay Examples

What’s covered:, essay example #1 – computer science, essay example #2 – healthy self-definition, essay example #3 – future business major, essay example #4 – future international relations major.

• Essay Example # 5 – Politics
• Where to Get Your Carnegie Mellon Essay Edited

Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a school with both impressive technical programs and outstanding creative programs. Because of the university’s multifaceted academic success and the tremendous opportunities students have after graduation, CMU is highly renowned and boasts a low acceptance rate.

In this post, we will go over essays real students have submitted to Carnegie Mellon. We will also share what each essay did well and where they could be improved to inspire your writing.   Names and identifying information have been changed, but all other details are preserved.

Please note: Looking at examples of real essays students have submitted to colleges can be very beneficial to get inspiration for your essays. You should never copy or plagiarize from these examples when writing your own essays. Colleges can tell when an essay isn’t genuine and will not view students favorably if they plagiarized. 

Read our Carnegie Mellon essay breakdown to get a comprehensive overview of this year’s supplemental prompts. 

Prompt: Many students pursue college for a specific degree, career opportunity, or personal goal. Whichever it may be, learning will be critical to achieving your ultimate goal. As you think ahead to the process of learning during your college years, how will you define a successful college experience? (300 words)

7:30 am… As I open my eyes, I look at the pinboard in front of my bed. Written in red block letters are two of the many goals of my life: “Make life better and more independent for the Visually impaired; Inspire kids to explore the field of STEM, making them the future problem solvers.”

9:00 am… Keeping these goals afresh in mind, I freshen up and get ready for the first class of the day, 16-385 Computer Vision, with Professor Ioannis Gkioulekas. As he explains the Applications of Neural Networks in Object identification, a light bulb sparks in my mind: I can modify the head contraption of SPECULUR to identify objects in peripheral vision and alert the wearer via an earpiece using Text to Speech (TTS). 

1:00 pm… After class, I find myself at the CI2CV Lab for Computer Vision, where I brainstorm ways to implement my idea successfully. Frustrated after repeatedly getting bugs in my algorithm, I am surrounded by problem-hungry tartans ready to collaborate with me in no time.

3:00 pm… After lunch, I head off to the Gates and Hillman complex to meet up with Gavin Deiss, an executive board member at Teknowledge, as we discuss ways to open teacher positions for high school students. I propose, “We can include students from AiGoLearning India and teach them a global coding curriculum.”

For me, a successful college learning experience at CMU comprises many things like exploring the unparalleled curriculum, innovative labs, and facilities. However, above all is the resource of people, including my fellow tartans and scholarly professors. The diverse experiences and unique backgrounds they bring cannot be found anywhere else; hence I want to assimilate all the insights I can gather from them, during my time at CMU.

What the Essay Did Well

If you are looking for a way to play with the structure of your essay, this is a great way to go! By describing their ideal day at CMU, we get to see this student’s interests, motivations, aspirations, and drive. Not only that, the essay flows nicely and effortlessly transitions to new ideas by jumping ahead in the schedule.

When students try to employ this schedule-style of an essay they often just discuss their class schedule and maybe an extracurricular activity. This is good, but this student goes above by starting the essay in their dorm and clearly showing us what motivates them with their sticky notes: “ Make life better and more independent for the Visually impaired; Inspire kids to explore the field of STEM, making them the future problem solvers.”  They also include them working at a lab outside of class, which is a nice bridge between their academic and extracurricular interests.

Although they only highlight three opportunities at CMU, the level of detail and elaboration for each one is infinitely more important than a long list of classes and clubs. When they discuss the class, the student incorporates key topics from the class and explains an original idea they develop as a result of being in class. Notice how that’s a bit different than simply name-dropping the course and professor? We also get told about them finding bugs in the algorithm (a common experience that humanizes the student) and we get snippets of a conversation they have at their meeting.

The structure this student chose serves this essay very well until the final paragraph. Breaking from the established pattern of following a daily schedule abruptly disturbs the flow of the essay and makes the ending more mundane than the preceding paragraphs. To fix this, the student should have kept the same style throughout their response.

They don’t need to tell us “ a successful college learning experience at CMU comprises many things like exploring the unparalleled curriculum, innovative labs, and facilities, ” because we saw that in each paragraph. The important aspect of their conclusion is the “ resource of people ,” as they say. This could have been highlighted in a paragraph like this:

“ 8:00pm… Squished between friends from my Biomedical Engineering class and my badminton club on the couch in the common room, I take in the diverse perspectives all coming together to settle the argument of East Coast versus West Coast once and for all. Where else but here would I be a part of such a colorful community?

11:30pm… I drift off to sleep, excited to do it all again tomorrow. “

Prompt: Consider your application as a whole. What do you personally want to emphasize about your application for the admission committee’s consideration? Highlight something that’s important to you or something you haven’t had a chance to share. Tell us, don’t show us (no websites please). (300 words)

I will never forget the feeling I had in Kindergarten when I received a failing grade because I couldn’t answer the question “where do you live?” It was a simple question, one that my classmates answered with ease. I was, however, struck by the recounting of my private home life. The 2009 recession left my family homeless and broke, living in the basement of a close friend. While we were fortunate to have somewhere to sleep, my family, especially me, internalized the negative sentiments from everyone we knew at the time. While my Kindergarten teacher didn’t mean any harm, the question reinforced my feeling of inferiority. No matter what I said, there were serious diminutions to my character: being honest about my homelessness or being dishonest about my own circumstances. I ultimately responded with the latter, saying “I don’t know.”

That day, I accepted the failing grade, and this moment became a stepping stone to a now valuable trait: healthy self-definition. Healthy self-definition relies on improving the objective truths of myself and fixing lacking characteristics into better ones. Lying to my Kindergarten teacher wasn’t healthy nor ethical to do, but the action of choosing who I wanted to be sparked the desire for healthy self-definition throughout high school. For example, I redefined myself from a dispassionate pianist to an authentic music producer. I used track and field to redefine my lack of athleticism growing up and eventually became a top-three sophomore 400-meter hurdler at my school. I had extreme social anxiety, so I used the Tech in Music Club to redefine my social ability and practice leadership and public speaking skills. In all weak aspects of my character and identity, I improved and continue to improve through these healthy redefinitions. Like Kindergarten me, I refuse to be defined by my circumstances.

This essay’s main strength is its content. At its core, this essay tells a beautiful story where a student transformed tragic circumstances into tremendous self-growth. That is exactly the kind of student that a university wants to admit!

The prompt here is very open-ended. From the point of view of admissions, it asks “what else do you want to tell us?” To a student, this can be read as “what additional information will help us get to know you and want you ?” This student identified their ability to see weaknesses as opportunities for improvement—which they label “healthy self-definition”—as something CMU would want, then used a specific anecdote to show that ability.

In addition to the content, this student followed a tried-and-true essay structure that allowed for an engaging, yet reflective essay. Opening with an anecdote, looking back on the experience, explaining the broader implications, and then tying the conclusion back to the anecdote is a simple, but effective, structure to use for your essay.

What Could Be Improved 

While the anecdote/reflection structure can facilitate an engaging essay, this student falls flat with their static writing. Essentially, the story is engaging, but the way the student writes it doesn’t do it justice. It’s repetitive, confusing, and a bit boring at times.

For example, in the first paragraph, the following phrases and sentences are all getting at the same idea and could be condensed into one concise sentence:

• “I was, however, struck by the recounting of my private home life.”
• “…my family, especially me, internalized the negative sentiments from everyone we knew at the time…”
• “…the question reinforced my feeling of inferiority…”

With regards to the second paragraph, the student introduces a value that they call “ healthy self-definition. ” When describing “ healthy self-definition, ” the student is simultaneously repetitive and unclear. The current writing requires too much energy on the part of the reader to parse through what is being said. If the student provided a concise definition of “healthy self-definition” before giving the examples from their life, this paragraph would work better. 

With some simple reorganization and more dynamic writing, the paragraph could be as follows:

“That’s when I established a personal value that I now call “healthy self-definition”—of course, it took about a decade for five-year-old me to figure out the name for my value. Healthy self-definition, at its core, means that I take time to identify my weaknesses, then redefine them as strengths. I acknowledge who I am, then find opportunities for improvement. 

I’m a dispassionate pianist, turned authentic music producer. I’m a struggling athlete, turned “top-three Cedar High hurdler.” I used to nervously linger at the back of club meetings, but now I run the very same meetings. No one could dare call me weak when I’m constantly redefining my weaknesses as strengths. Just like Kindergarten me, I will not be defined by my circumstances.”

Prompt: Most students choose their intended major or area of study based on a passion or inspiration that’s developed over time – what passion or inspiration led you to choose this area of study? (300 words)

In fifth grade, my mother arranged a business for me and some friends. We must support a local business and donate our profits towards a good cause. Three ten-year-old kids, with money borrowed from our parents, purchased handmade crafts and ornaments made by disabled workers to resell. I led the operation. Scheduled for several weekends at a public market square, the commerce commenced. Despite my excitement running my first ever business, as the night arrived and the market awoke from its peaceful slumber, surging stranger anxiety stumped me. With adults swamping the space, my body unconsciously cowered. Embarrassment overwhelmed me, and I stood only able to stare at passing customers with my lips sewn shut. After the first night, three kids on the verge of tears sold two knitted dolls. My mother, sensing a crumbling business as its workers became paralyzed by fear, advised me, “As a leader, your job is to accomplish your goals not by yourself, but with your team.” Though not the typical cheers, my mother’s words roused the leader from within me. Wiping away my tears, I reconvened the team and restrategized. We assigned responsibilities: attracting customers, advertising, and collecting payments. Writing out our sales pitches and practicing with each other, we reunited with the sight of profits. The second weekend started: to every corner of the streets, we asked every possible customer. Our efforts paid off. At the end of that night, we sold out. Next weekend, us businessmen along with our parents went shopping using our profits. Looking at the Barbie dolls, stuffed animals, and model cars neatly wrapped, I proudly dropped the Christmas gifts at the local children’s cancer hospital. My first business endeavor taught me a crucial purpose of entrepreneurship: the ability to strengthen networks of people and make positive social changes.

This essay prompt is the classic “Why This Major?” essay,   which asks you to detail your interest in the field and your professional goals. The writer elaborates on their motivation to pursue entrepreneurship through a fitting anecdote about their first time leading a business.

The author shares genuine reasons that make entrepreneurship exciting to them, such as developing leadership skills and making positive social change. These are authentic reasons for pursuing their major that stay away from the superficial motives for pursuing a major such as money or prestige.

Additionally, throughout this entire essay the writer keeps their audience captivated by employing strong use of imagery. It almost feels as if one is right in the middle of the market with the writer as they struggle to navigate the chaos of the market. The line “Embarrassment overwhelmed me, and I stood only able to stare at passing customers with my lips sewn shut” makes the reader feel just as anxious as the author is in the moment. And it feels even better to the reader when the author sells out the entire stock of crafts and ornaments the following night and donates the money to charity. 

As the essay progresses, it’s hard not to wonder what is going to happen next, and the story strings together very nicely, despite having a limited word count. By the end of the essay, the reader has a better understanding of why this student has chosen to pursue entrepreneurship, because they have shared an exciting lived experience that captures the ups and downs of a fast-paced, turbulent major.

All in all, this essay was well written and the author’s point came across well. However, a few items could be slightly improved, including a few syntax errors, poor transition statements and slight thematic inconsistency. 

The second sentence of this essay “We must support a local business and donate our profits towards a good cause” appears a bit out of place and may be better suited in quotes as the mother appears to be speaking these lines. Alternatively, the writer could have rephrased to something like “We were tasked with supporting a local business…”

Similarly, in the last sentence, the author says their motivation for pursuing entrepreneurship is the “ability to strengthen networks of people,” when it may have been more succinct and less clunky to say something along the lines of “the ability to bring people together.”

Another area of improvement for the essay comes in the middle, when the author’s mother “roused the leader” within them. The author could have expanded on why their mother’s words roused them to overcome the daunting obstacle, but instead missed the opportunity to explain why they felt inspired to continue selling ornaments at the marketplace. The author may have even suggested that by overcoming their challenges at the market, they would accomplish their ultimate goal of donating their profits to charity, highlighting their sense of altruism.

The final sentence even states that the author intends to pursue entrepreneurship to make a positive social impact. However, in a thematic sense, this idea is not consistently present throughout the essay. If the author were to include more details about their desire and motivation to donate their profits to charity throughout the essay, this point would have been much more understandable.

Finally, the essay is hard to follow because it’s only one paragraph. The flow would’ve been improved if the author broke the essay up into a few shorter paragraphs.

At 8 years old, I learned that Democrats were donkeys and Republicans were elephants. By 11, I had decided which one I wanted to be. By 14, I discovered I didn’t have to be an elephant or a donkey—the political world was not black and white, but instead multifaceted with many moving parts. As I explored programming through high school, I learned how politics and computer science could be intertwined to enact change exponentially. For the Congressional App Challenge, I developed the winning app, which allows parents to sustainably trade outgrown children’s clothing. Everything in this process, from surveying real families with this need to perfecting the front end design, showed me how coding could easily be geared toward social progress. 

Beyond programming, interning for a state non-profit encouraging Muslims to participate in politics showed me the real potential of computational politics. Big data analysis was a common skill I utilized when encouraging people to vote in the 2022 general election. What furthered my interest was attending a Kode With Klossy event in New York City: I not only spent the day workshopping with Swift and iOS app development, but also heard the stories of activist Sofia Ongele, a pioneer for young women in STEM. 

Discussing sanctions and China’s Uyghur Muslim crisis with U.S. Representative Jim McGovern was my first look into the workings of international conflict resolution. The power systems behind diplomacy became a point of fascination for me. Whether it was marching miles chanting “No Justice, No Peace” in June 2020 or debating as Elizabeth Warren in my ninth grade mock democratic primary, I have taken every stride to involve myself politically. Majoring in international relations and politics and minoring in science, technology and society at Carnegie Mellon is the next step in furthering my involvement.

This essay is another great example of the “Why This Major?” archetype. The author shares why the intersection of technology and politics is the perfect fit for her, through her unique experiences and background.

The introduction is a captivating one, which follows her evolving understanding of politics. Starting with a simplistic view of “Democrats as donkeys and Republicans as elephants” at a young age, the writer matures and recognizes the complexity of the political landscape as she enters high school. This progression implicitly showcases her thoughtfulness and willingness to challenge existing beliefs which are critical to any career in politics and international relations.

Additionally, the essay adeptly integrates the realms of computer science and politics. The author provides a unique combination of academic interests that most applicants would otherwise shy away from. The writer’s successful development of an app for the Congressional App Challenge exemplifies her ability to utilize coding for social progress. By mentioning the process of surveying real families and refining the front-end design, the writer illustrates her comprehensive approach and shows how coding can be harnessed as a tool for enacting positive social change.

Finally, the author provides more unique experiences that reveal her true passions for politics and technology. She references her experiences during the 2022 election and Kode With Klossy events which each relied on bringing together both her academic interests. In the final paragraph, the author provides even more evidence to her experience in the political realm which drive home the point about her interest in her major as well as show accomplishments in a specific area which are hard to come by for most students.

From initial impressions, this essay is great at providing sufficient evidence as to why this author is pursuing international relations and politics with a minor in technology. However, one suggestion for this author, and general advice for any applicant, is not to fall into the trap of simply recapitulating all of one’s resume in an essay. This author has unfortunately used most of the 300 word count to list out her experiences and qualifications, but misses out on key opportunities to expand upon how these experiences have shaped her perspective and developed her interests over time.

In general, there is a lack of reflection on the lessons learned from the various experiences mentioned. While the writer describes her involvement in protests, debates, and internships, there is limited discussion of the personal growth and insights gained from these activities. The author has experiences including “ winning the Congressional App Challenge, to marching miles chanting ‘No Justice, No Peace’ in June 2020 or debating as Elizabeth Warren in [her] ninth grade mock democratic primary,” which could all be powerful standalone experiences for a 300-word essay. Adding a reflective element to the essay would provide a deeper understanding of the writer’s development and demonstrate their ability to learn from their experiences.

For example, the author could remove a few activities from her essay and  expand upon the experience of winning the Congressional App Challenge, discussing her thought process and emotions during the development of the app, or the impact it had based on feedback from families.  Here’s an example of an excerpt that would’ve made this section stronger:

“I decided to use the app for myself to clear out the bags of my younger brother’s baby clothes in the basement. A young immigrant mother responded to my post, saying that she hadn’t been able to afford properly-fitting baby clothes for her toddler son. A week after she picked up the bags, the mother returned with her giggly son in his ‘new’ clothing. The mother was full of gratitude, and I was just as grateful for this experience as it showed me the direct impact coding could have on improving real lives and making social progress.”

By incorporating specific examples and adding reflective elements, the essay would become more compelling, allowing the reader to better understand the writer’s experiences and their personal growth. These adjustments would enhance the overall quality of the essay and provide a vivid and engaging narrative.

Essay Example #5 – Politics

At Carnegie Mellon, I see myself defining a college experience in which I can widen my career goals in politics and learn from real-world experiences. D.C. is where I hope to work following college, as there is no place better than our capitol to explore the inner workings of decision-making in government. Through CMU’s Washington Semester Program (WSP), I aim to intern with a member of Congress to expand my understanding of the legislative process and gain experience in the nation’s center of politics. This orientation into Washington and chance to meet leaders and alumni at top think tanks would allow me to connect with all the working parts of public policy, encapsulating everything I wish to take from college. 

Immersing myself in the relevant and multifaceted courses at the Institute of Politics and Strategy is how I plan to take my learning to the next step at CMU. Electives like “Implementing Public Policy: From Good Idea to Reality” and “In the News” intrigue me; they tie in law and journalism with politics, contextualizing it in a realistic and applicable sphere. 

I hope to conduct research to delve deeper into what I’m passionate about and ripen my goal of effecting change. Under esteemed criminologist and public policy expert Professor Daniel Nagin, I see an opportunity to conduct actionable research on race and incarceration. I want to discuss the disparities in Pennsylvania’s fast growing prison populations itself and develop my paper “Slavery is Flourishing Under the U.S. Prison System.”

Expanding my learning doesn’t end with academics, however. I am eager to explore the diverse community at CMU, and start a cultural literary magazine for all students to share their lived experiences about their heritage through art, writing, and overall self-expression.

This prompt is basically the “ Why This College? ” essay presented in a different way. The goals of the prompt are the same, however: it’s asking you what makes CMU the perfect school for you, and how you will make the most of its resources to have a successful education.

This student clearly has an interest in politics, detailing specifics such as their hopes to pursue an internship, undertake course work, and do research to further their education. They show that they’ve done their research on why CMU is a fit for them, by mentioning unique resources at the college.

Furthermore, the author does a great job of providing additional information as to why they would like to pursue the activities they’ve researched. They explain how CMU’s WSP will teach them about the legislative process, how their classes will tie in law and journalism, and how their research will deepen their understanding of race and incarceration. Providing this level of detail helps admissions officers understand what this student values and is hoping to learn through their education at CMU.

Writing-wise, the student also makes sure to use varied sentence structure and smooth transitions, making the essay easy to read.

The objective of this essay is two-fold: 1) what do you hope to accomplish in your undergraduate degree program, and 2) how CMU is uniquely equipped to help you realize your goals.

The essay does a great job in answering question #1, but could do more to address the latter. We know why the student is interested in the resources they mention, but we don’t know how those things will help them reach their overarching academic and career goals. 

In fact, we don’t even know what those overarching goals are: does this student want to become a political journalist, politician, or something else? It’s okay if you’re undecided, but you should at least share some potential options, rather than simply saying that you’re interested in a broad field (like “politics”), which feels unfocused.

The student should also move the section about CMU’s program in D.C. to later in the essay, as having it right at the beginning makes it seem like they’re more interested in spending time in D.C. than on CMU’s campus in Pittsburgh.

Additionally, the final paragraph, about the student’s hope to start a cultural literary magazine,  feels unrelated to the rest of the essay, which is focused on their political interests. If they wanted to include this detail, they should’ve introduced it earlier, to give themselves time to connect it to their other ideas.

Where to Get Your Carnegie Mellon Essays Edited

Do you want feedback on your Carnegie Mellon essays? After rereading your essays countless times, it can be difficult to evaluate your writing objectively. That’s why we created our free Peer Essay Review tool , where you can get a free review of your essay from another student. You can also improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays. 

If you want a college admissions expert to review your essay, advisors on CollegeVine have helped students refine their writing and submit successful applications to top schools. Find the right advisor for you to improve your chances of getting into your dream school!

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Carnegie Mellon Supplemental Essays 2024-25 – Prompts & Advice

August 7, 2024

When applying to a school like Carnegie Mellon that only accepts 11% of applicants, it’s important to keep in mind that the other 89% of applicants will ultimately be denied admission. Many of these rejected individuals will have straight A’s in high school and/or SATs in the 1500s. Those applying to certain programs—computer science, for example—will face even more harrowing odds. We don’t bring up this harsh reality in an attempt to crush your dreams or deter you from applying. Rather, we want to impart to prospective CMU applicants the need to maximize every component of your application. The aim is to ultimately shine just a touch brighter than your well-qualified competition. This includes the Carnegie Mellon supplemental essays.

(Want to learn more about How to Get Into Carnegie Mellon University? Visit our blog entitled:  How to Get Into Carnegie Mellon: Admissions Data and Strategies  for all of the most recent admissions data as well as tips for gaining acceptance.)

The three 300-word essays required by Carnegie Mellon give applicants the chance they need to separate themselves from the throngs of other extremely talented and deserving CMU hopefuls. Below are CMU’s supplemental prompts for the 2024-25 admissions cycle along with tips about how to address each one.

Carnegie Mellon Supplemental Essays – #1

Most students choose their intended major or area of study based on a passion or inspiration that’s developed over time – what passion or inspiration led you to choose this area of study (300 words).

Here, CMU is asking you to share your story of how you became interested in your selected discipline. You can structure the narrative of this essay as a soup-to-nuts chronicle of your entire journey toward your discipline of interest. Contrarily, you could share one or two vignettes that illustrate your burgeoning passion for engineering, history, French, computer science, business, psychology, etc. As you begin the prewriting phase, you may want to ask yourself the following questions:

• What is your first strong memory relating to your future area of study?
• What fills you with wonder?
• What books have you read on the subject?
• Do you consume podcasts or documentaries related to your passions?
• Have certain online or print publications helped to fuel your interests?
• What subtopics of your prospective discipline most intrigue you?
• Did a teacher excite you about this topic or was it a parent/relative or outside mentor?
• How did you seek our subject-relevant opportunities outside of the high school classroom?

CMU Supplemental Essays – #2

Many students pursue college for a specific degree, career opportunity or personal goal. whichever it may be, learning will be critical to achieve your ultimate goal. as you think ahead to the process of learning during your college years, how will you define a successful college experience (300 words).

There’s a lot to unpack in this prompt before you even enter the brainstorming phase of the essay-writing process. First, they want to know a bit about your goals, which could be:

• Degree-oriented
• Career-focused
• A combination of two or all three of the previous options.

Given that CMU requires you to apply to a particular college within the larger university, you likely already have a reasonably strong notion of what discipline you hope to study. You’ll definitely want to share everything you already know about the degree you aim to earn. Additionally, you’ll want to discuss how that fits into your larger life plans.

Next, you’ll want to take note of the fact that “learning” is mentioned twice in this prompt, a solid indicator that CMU is sincerely interested in how you will take advantage of the unique learning opportunities available to you at their instruction. While not required, you should consider discussing items such as:

• CMU-specific academic programs , professors, or course offerings.
• Undergraduate research opportunities .
• Study abroad programs .
• The classroom environment at Carnegie Mellon— class size , laboratory settings, etc.
• Campus organizations that will help you continue your learning outside of the classroom.

In short, generic thoughts about how you envision engaging in the learning process throughout your collegiate experience are perfectly fine, but school-specific detail can take an essay from good to great.

CMU Supplemental Essays – #3

Consider your application as a whole. what do you personally want to emphasize about your application for the admission committee’s consideration highlight something that’s important to you or something you haven’t had a chance to share. tell us, don’t show us (no websites please). (300 words).

After completing your main Common App essay and the first two CMU essays, is there anything that you have yet to share that is absolutely elemental to who you are as a person/student? Without the benefit of an in-person interview, it may feel like you never fully had a chance to connect intimately with a Carnegie Mellon admissions officer. You have a burning sense that you have not communicated the full you, your true essence, your je ne sais quoi, your…you get the idea. If you feel something important about yourself has yet to be communicated elsewhere in the application, then CMU Prompt #3 is the answer to your prayers.

Consider that the admissions reader is already familiar with your academic history, activities, and awards. What don’t they know, or, what could they understand on a deeper level? This could be a particular skill or talent, or something about your character or personality. This one is intentionally open-ended, so use this space to share your most cherished accomplishments or most winning attributes. The university itself is inviting you to “brag” here. We recommend obliging, by presenting the equivalent of a “closing argument” at the end of this admissions trial.

One example of what not to do would be to say, “I work as a camp counselor in the summer” if that was already listed in the Activities section. Another no-no is deciding that the admonition regarding linking to websites doesn’t apply to you, because, well…they simply have to see your art exhibit or performance on stage in Oklahoma! last year. We promise that it is better to take CMU at their word that they prefer that you describe it. This remains true no matter what “it” is.

How important are the Carnegie Mellon supplemental essays?

CMU rates the essays as being an “important” factor in their evaluation process. The essays are listed alongside recommendations, talent/ability, character/personal qualities, and first-generation status. The only factors ranked above the essays as being “very important” are: GPA, the rigor of high school coursework, class rank, extracurricular activities, work experience, and volunteer work.

Want Personalized Essay Assistance?

Lastly, if you are interested in working with one of College Transitions’ experienced and knowledgeable essay coaches as you craft your Carnegie Mellon supplemental essays, we encourage you to get a quote  today.

Looking for additional writing-related resources? Consider checking out the following:

• Common App Essay Prompts
• 10 Instructive Common App Essay Examples
• College Application Essay Topics to Avoid
• How to Quickly Format Your Common App Essay
• Should I Complete Optional College Essays?
• How to Brainstorm a College Essay
• 25 Inspiring College Essay Topics
• “Why This College?” Essay Examples
• How to Write the Community Essay
• College Essay

Dave Bergman

Dave has over a decade of professional experience that includes work as a teacher, high school administrator, college professor, and independent educational consultant. He is a co-author of the books The Enlightened College Applicant (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016) and Colleges Worth Your Money (Rowman & Littlefield, 2020).

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Carnegie Mellon's Office of Undergraduate Admission  administers admissions for our bachelor's degree programs. For application requirements, deadlines and information, refer to the Undergraduate Admission website . We also maintain a complete list of SCS undergraduate offerings on our Undergraduate Programs page.

For CMU Dual-Degree and Transfer Applicants

Students who have already been admitted to Carnegie Mellon can apply for our dual-degree offerings in computational biology or computer science, or can apply to transfer into SCS. If you're interested in either of these options, complete our transfer form . Note that if you're transferring into SCS, you may not apply for our programs in computatational biology or computer science and then request admission into the artificial intelligence program.

For CMU Additional Major Applicants

We offer additional majors in computational biology , computer science , human-computer interaction and robotics . Students interested in these programs must already be accepted and enrolled in another CMU undergraduate program. Each department administers admissions for their programs, and admission requirements and application deadlines vary. If you're interested in these programs, visit the appropriate department program page for more information.

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CMU undergraduates interested in one of our minors should contact their academic advisor for more information. For a complete list of undergraduate minors, see the Undergraduate Programs page.

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How to Respond to the 2023/2024 Carnegie Mellon Essay Prompts

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Carnegie Mellon is one of the nation’s top universities. With a 14% acceptance rate , CMU surely gets top applicants each year. If you want to rise above the rest, the Carnegie Mellon supplemental essays are your chance.  Carnegie Mellon’s prompts touch on different aspects of your background, interests, and goals. They are a great way to show off more of your personality and enthusiasm for the school. Planning strong examples to weave throughout your essays is key to success.

We will walk you through each prompt and offer tips on how to craft stellar responses for each of the Carnegie Mellon supplemental essays!

Also see:  How to write an essay about yourself

“ Most students choose their intended major or area of study based on a passion or inspiration that’s developed over time – what passion or inspiration led you to choose this area of study? (300 words) ”

Say you are interested in Computer Science. Well, you would not be alone, given it is Carnegie Mellon’s top major. Fortunately, this question invites you to back up your chosen area of study with a reason that is distinctly yours. For example, you could discuss your obsession with Guitar Hero as a kid and thus how video games are made. This inspiration for why you want to study programming makes this response personal and unique. 

Note that this prompt says a passion or inspiration that’s developed over time. Talk about the origin of your interest, then trace the ways you have further cultivated it. What started as a Guitar Hero fascination then led you to take a summer coding bootcamp. Now, you spend hours viewing YouTube videos on game development. Whatever your major is, try to get to the core of what intellectually excites you about it and what sparked that curiosity. This will ensure your sincerity and voice shines through. You can close with your long-term aspiration in this field or conclude more specifically with how you plan to pursue this interest at CM. 

Questions to consider: 

• Is there a role model you look up to whose career you’d like to emulate? 
• Have you taken a class that piqued your interest in this major?  
• Are you drawn to a particular field of study because of the positive impact it can make in the world? 

“ Many students pursue college for a specific degree, career opportunity or personal goal. Whichever it may be, learning will be critical to achieve your ultimate goal. As you think ahead to the process of learning during your college years, how will you define a successful college experience? (300 words) ”

This question can be tricky for some students because there are many directions to take your response. There is no one right answer for what you’d like to achieve in college and what constitutes a successful experience. After all, learning takes place both in and out of the classroom. Instead of being scared of this freedom, embrace it. Before writing, take a moment to really envision yourself in four years. How do you hope to grow personally and academically at Carnegie Mellon? If one goal does not dominate, make a list of all the things you want to achieve and find a way to summarize them into an overarching theme. 

One example could be how the prospect of meeting new people energizes you. You might discuss how you grew up in a small, southern town as an only child. Moving to Pittsburgh to live with peers of diverse backgrounds will be a big shift. Studying abroad could be another related wish for your time at CM. Talk about how these experiences will fulfill your ultimate goal of expanding your worldview. This avenue is a great way to discuss CM’s values and how you hope to align them with your own, as well.

Some students approach this question by discussing college as the key to unlock their dream profession. If you take this route, be sure you are not repeating information you discussed in prompt #1. You could go at it from a more abstract lens, like discovering how to engage both your creative and analytical sides. You could talk about an interesting major/minor combination, clubs you’d like to be involved in, or a research project you wish to explore. 

Questions to consider:  

• What would you change about your high school mindset? For example, do you want to do a better job taking risks, or make community service a weekly priority?
• In what ways will college enrich your character? 
• What academic benchmarks do you hope to meet? 

“ Consider your application as a whole. What do you personally want to emphasize about your application for the admission committee’s consideration? Highlight something that’s important to you or something you haven’t had a chance to share. Tell us, don’t show us (no websites please). (300 words) ”

Similar to prompt #2, this response is incredibly open. You can choose to write literally anything about yourself here. Of all the prompts, this is perhaps the best way to differentiate your essays.  It is helpful to look over your application as a whole. What have you already shared with admissions, and what have you left out?

Is there something meaningful to you that you could only briefly mention in your activities section? For instance, you may have been in the improvisation club in high school. You could describe how you used to be incredibly shy, but this form of theater let’s you discover a whole new witty side to yourself. It may have taught you humility and the value in stepping outside of your comfort zone. These are terrific qualities to take with you to CM. 

In a whole different vein, you could use this space to be vulnerable. Maybe remote learning was especially hard on you and resulted in a semester of lower grades. You could explain the obstacles you overcame and how it made you realize the importance of prioritizing mental health. This showcases your resiliency and informs admissions about an inconsistency on your transcript. 

The admissions team wants to know what makes you, you. They also are curious about your road to get to this point. So, anything is fair game. Trust your gut, and choose something that you feel is genuinely important to paint a whole picture of yourself and your experiences. 

• What have you been involved in that has shaped who you are today?
• Are there any red flags on your application that require explaining? 
• Do you have any unique hobbies or stand-out personality traits?

Final thoughts

After these deep dives, we hope you feel inspired to tackle each of the Carnegie Mellon supplemental essays with ease. Use our tips to organize your responses, then get all your thoughts down. You can cut out the fluff and revise for grammar and writing quality later. Be genuine in sharing what matters to you, not what you think admissions want to hear. You are well on your way to crushing these essays!

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How to Apply for TRANSFER/DUAL DEGREE in Computer Science

SCS Students

Students in other School of Computer Science (SCS) majors who wish to transfer to Computer Science should apply for transfer using this online form . There are no grade restrictions for SCS students who wish to transfer into Computer Science. However, transfer decisions will be based on the student's essay (reflective statement) and overall academic progress. Prior to submitting a transfer request, students should first make an appointment with the CS Undergraduate Program Administrator: Amy Weis , for an initial evaluation.

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CMU students in majors outside of SCS can apply for transfer into the Computer Science major or a dual degree in Computer Science using this  online form . Students considering a transfer or dual degree are expected to earn at least a 3.6 QPA in 15-122, 15-150, 15-210, 15-213, 15-251 and 21-127, and have an overall 3.0 QPA.   

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Transfer to or Dual Degree in the Computer Science program for non-SCS students is not guaranteed , and students should continue to make progress in their current major and discuss their plans with their academic advisor carefully in the event that a transfer is not possible. Prior to submitting a transfer request, students should first make an appointment with Amy Weis , for an initial evaluation.

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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, any tips on tackling cmu's supplemental essays for 2024.

Could use some advice! Carnegie Mellon's supplementals are giving me a hard time. How do you guys approach writing essays that stand out for schools like CMU that have a strong emphasis on them?

When tackling the Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) supplemental essays, your approach should be strategic and focused. CMU values innovative thinkers and problem solvers, so it's crucial that your essays reflect these traits.

First, research CMU thoroughly and align your interests and experiences with the unique offerings and culture of the university. For example, if applying to the School of Computer Science, discuss your specific interest in CMU's collaborative projects or particular faculty research that excites you. Make it evident that you're not just applying to any top-ranked school, but specifically to CMU.

Next, be specific and personal in your responses. Use concrete examples of your achievements, experiences, or challenges you've overcome that are relevant to your program choice. This is not the place for generic statements. If CMU emphasizes interdisciplinary learning in your desired program, highlight experiences where you've successfully integrated knowledge across fields. Reflect on your 'spike' or area of deep interest and expertise, and connect it to how you plan to contribute to the CMU community.

Finally, proofread meticulously. CMU's emphasis on supplements means your writing must be clear, concise, and free of errors to demonstrate your strong communication skills. Writing standout essays takes time and reflection, so start early and revise often.

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Carnegie Mellon University Supplemental Essays 2023-24

Carnegie mellon supplemental essays 2023-24.

Carnegie Mellon University is renowned for its unwavering commitment to academic excellence, especially in engineering and computer science . As one of the nation’s top universities, CMU demands rock-solid applications, which means well-crafted Carnegie Mellon supplemental essays. While a 4.0 GPA is impressive, CMU supplemental essays will truly differentiate the most competitive applicants. So, to maximize your admissions chances, you want highly refined Carnegie Mellon essays, and we’ll help you get started.

Here’s a quick rundown of Carnegie Mellon. CMU’s cutting-edge academic offerings and vibrant extracurricular opportunities draw many aspiring students every year for every discipline. Where is Carnegie Mellon? It’s in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania , and is among the top schools in the state. As one of America’s premier private research institutions, Carnegie Mellon annually attracts a diverse cohort of exceptional minds—including you. 

This article will review the Carnegie Mellon supplemental essays and their place among the Carnegie Mellon requirements. We’ll decode the Carnegie Mellon essay prompts and outline the Carnegie Mellon admissions requirements. We’ll also guide you through writing your CMU supplemental essays by offering strategies and tips for your Carnegie Mellon essays. Together, we will learn how to craft impactful Carnegie Mellon supplemental essays. Let’s get started. 

CMU Supplemental Essays: Quick Facts

Carnegie mellon supplemental essays: quick facts.

• Carnegie Mellon University Acceptance Rate: According to U.S. News , the acceptance rate is 14%, which classifies Carnegie Mellon University as most selective.
• 1 Personal Statement
• 3 essays  (< 300 words each)
• Carnegie Mellon University Admissions Application: Carnegie Mellon University only accepts Common Application . Therefore, students must complete their Carnegie Mellon application using the Common Application.
• Early Decision I: November 1st
• Regular Decision for Schools of Drama and Music: December 1st
• Early Decision II: January 3rd
• Regular Decision: January 3rd

Please note that essay requirements are subject to change each admissions cycle, and portions of this article may have been written before the final publication of the most recent guidelines. For the most up-to-date information on essay requirements, check the university’s admissions website.

Does Carnegie Mellon require supplemental essays?

Yes, the Carnegie Mellon requirements include supplemental essays. In addition to your Common Application personal statement, Carnegie Mellon University requires applicants to respond to three Carnegie Mellon essay prompts. These Carnegie Mellon supplemental essays should be under 300 words and will explore your academic interests, learning process, and personal interests.

It’s important to note that the Common Application personal statement is not covered further in this article. However, CollegeAdvisor.com has several resources for writing knockout Common Application and Coalition Application essays, including several successful examples . We also have an article that takes a deep dive into the 2023–2024 Common App essay prompts. Take a look around our site for more about personal statements and more.

With a word count of 300 words or less, these Carnegie Mellon essay prompts require a concise response. Therefore, applicants must craft brief, impactful CMU supplemental essays that positively impact the Carnegie Mellon admissions team . In the following sections, we’ll discuss the Carnegie Mellon essay prompts and how to approach the Carnegie Mellon supplemental essays.

What are the Carnegie Mellon supplemental essays?

As shared in the previous section, Carnegie Mellon University requires the Common Application personal statement and three CMU supplemental essays. Carnegie Mellon supplemental essays respond to three distinct Carnegie Mellon essay prompts. Each of these Carnegie Mellon essay prompts asks a different question, and each essay will also reveal more about you.

Here are the Carnegie Mellon essay prompts for 2023–2024:

As you can see, the Carnegie Mellon essay prompts all ask very different questions. The Carnegie Mellon supplemental essays should give the admissions committee insight into you as a future CMU student. So, why are you interested in CMU as a place to explore your passions and fulfill your goals? Moreover, will you uphold CMU’s legacy on campus and after graduation?

Next, we’ll look more closely at how to approach each of these Carnegie Mellon essay prompts. Remember that it’s advisable to brainstorm several ideas for each prompt, even if you already know what to write. You never know when you may come up with even better essay ideas for your CMU supplemental essays.

Carnegie Mellon Essay Prompts #1

As shared in the previous section, the first of the three Carnegie Mellon essay prompts asks:

Carnegie Mellon Essay Prompt #1

Many students pursue college for a specific degree, career opportunity, or personal goal. whichever it may be, learning will be critical to achieve your ultimate goal. as you think ahead to the process of learning during your college years, how will you define a successful college experience.

Among the Carnegie Mellon supplemental essays, this asks most directly about applicants’ interest in Carnegie Mellon. Strong CMU supplemental essays for this prompt should balance the applicant’s goals for college with the university’s offerings. The essay should also show the applicant has done their research and knows how CMU can uniquely support them in their college journey.

How to write this Carnegie Mellon Supplemental Essay

The first of the three Carnegie Mellon essay prompts asks students to reflect on what they consider a successful college experience. In response to this Carnegie Mellon essay, it’s important to note that the college experience is multifaceted, so there are many different ways to define “success.” For this Carnegie Mellon essay, it is essential to understand what a successful college experience looks like for you.

Some types of success that you may want to consider in your response are: 

Academic Excellence

You may hope for close relationships with professors through office hours and small class sizes. What kind of academic environment can you thrive in, and how can CMU offer that?

Broadened Horizons

CMU has myriad opportunities to expand your learning beyond lectures, from extracurricular groups to study abroad programs. How do you envision these mind-opening experiences as part of your years at CMU?

Skill Development

Many students also hone skills relevant to your future career through internships, research projects, or extracurricular activities. Are there any offerings at Carnegie Mellon that will help you foster useful skills?

Personal Growth

For most, college is a time for self-discovery and personal development. This could mean joining groups relevant to your cultural identity or background, participating in mentorship, or even doing community service.

An illustrious school like CMU is an ideal place to build meaningful relationships with peers, professors, and mentors. Think of your future career and ways you may start building a network while still a student.

Of course, you don’t have to include every one of these points, and you can choose your own. The key is to think about what excites you about college—large lecture hall classes? Robotics research? Slacklining with the outdoors club? Jot down the most important or interesting prospects and research CMU to see if they can offer that.

Successful Carnegie Mellon essays for this prompt should be specific about what the applicant considers a “successful college experience.” In addition, they should clearly state ways that CMU is an ideal environment, mentioning offerings like specific programs and groups. Ultimately, your essay should leave the reader understanding what you want out of college and how CMU can provide it.

Carnegie Mellon Why Major Essay

Like many selective colleges, the second of the three Carnegie Mellon essay prompts ask students to complete the “why major” essay as part of their application process. For this Carnegie Mellon essay, the prompt asks:

Carnegie Mellon Essay Prompt # 2

Most students choose their intended major or area of study based on a passion or inspiration that’s developed over time – what passion or inspiration led you to choose this area of study.

Out of the three Carnegie Mellon supplemental essays, this question may appear the simplest, but don’t be mistaken. Writing this essay can be challenging because you only have 300 words to convey your passion. Especially for students who are laser-focused on their intended major, this can be a sizable challenge to write.

It’s important to note that students actually enter Carnegie Mellon undecided. In fact, students can’t even declare a major until the end of their first year. Therefore, you aren’t bound by the topic you write about in this essay. Right now, you may already be planning the layout of your desk at NASA—and maybe you end up majoring in biology. This essay is about your academic passion right now; nobody will scrutinize it if you change disciplines in college. 

Some students face a different hurdle: they don’t know what area of study they’re most passionate about. You may even be applying undeclared to one of CMU’s schools—a wide range of fields are available. Again, these Carnegie Mellon supplemental essays play no role in the major you ultimately declare. In light of that, you can brainstorm several topics that interest you and why. Don’t hesitate to make outlines or even quick and dirty drafts to narrow down your topic.

Approaching this Why Major Essay

Among the three Carnegie Mellon essay prompts, this asks most specifically about your intellectual interests. Therefore, a good Carnegie Mellon essay for this essay should accomplish three key things.

1. Identify Your Interest

Identify the academic area or major that genuinely resonates with you. You may state this directly, or it may be built in to the next section.

2. Share Your Background

Provide context to how you developed your passion for that particular interest, demonstrating enthusiasm for the field. This section should be the longest because you want to share as much information about yourself as possible. Therefore, share stories, anecdotes, or experiences illustrating your passion for the major. Furthermore, be sure to include any relevant experience that you already have in the field. Do you have internships, research projects, extracurricular activities, or coursework that have informed your decision? Be sure to mention them and explain how these experiences have shaped your understanding of the field.

3. Connect to Carnegie

Connect your passion and academic interest to Carnegie Mellon’s academic programs and opportunities. Share why the chance to study at Carnegie Mellon captivates you—whether it’s a unique curriculum, esteemed faculty, or research initiatives. Highlight how Carnegie’s programs align with your academic aspirations and why CMU is the ideal place to foster intellectual growth. 

Considering you only have 300 words to tackle this Carnegie Mellon essay, every word counts. So, avoid general statements and focus on specifics that showcase your deep interest and preparedness for the chosen academic areas. Be specific about your interest, your experience, and how CMU can meet your academic needs.

Additionally, be mindful of mentioning the same thing twice. If you mentioned a research initiative in the first Carnegie Mellon essay, do you need to bring it up here? That’s not to say your application will be automatically rejected if you name drop it again, but think carefully. Use your words wisely—if you could better use those words to talk about yourself and your passion, do so. The Carnegie Mellon supplemental essays don’t give any room for wasted words.

By following this advice, your Carnegie Mellon supplemental essays will certainly captivate Carnegie’s admissions committee. 

CMU Supplemental Essay #3 – Highlight Something

The final Carnegie Mellon supplemental essay allows you to highlight something about yourself that wasn’t previously mentioned in your application materials. The last of the three Carnegie Mellon essay prompts asks:

Carnegie Mellon Essay Prompt #3

Consider your application as a whole. what do you personally want to emphasize about your application for the admission committee’s consideration highlight something that’s important to you or something you haven’t had a chance to share. tell us, don’t show us (no websites, please)..

While possible Carnegie Mellon essays here are endless, it’s important to consider the overall impression of your CMU supplemental essays . That is to say, Carnegie Mellon essays for this prompt should contribute to the applicant’s personal narrative . How are you trying to present yourself to the admissions committee? Within that, what aspects are missing from your Carnegie Mellon supplemental essays? Questions like these can help you choose your topic, but they can be difficult to answer.

Therefore, in the next section, we will help you decide what to showcase in this Carnegie Mellon supplemental essay.

Choosing what to showcase in this Carnegie Mellon essay

When approaching this Carnegie Mellon supplemental essay, think about it like this; your admissions decision may be riding on these 300 words. This might be the keystone that completes the admissions officer’s understanding of you as a potential CMU student. Ideally, these Carnegie Mellon supplemental essays provide critical information that rounds out a picture of their writers.

So think about who you are and how you want the admissions committee to understand you. Reread your other two CMU supplemental essays, personal statement, and extracurricular activities section. What is something you haven’t already shared that would take you over the top in the eyes of the admissions committee? 

Here are some things you may want to consider: 

Hobby or Extracurricular Activity Experience

While Carnegie Mellon supplemental essays allow you to highlight your academic interests, sometimes, your academic interests don’t align with your hobbies. Therefore, this could be a great space for a particular hobby or extracurricular experience you couldn’t highlight anywhere else. Common topics like sports or community service should be considered carefully, but most importantly, you should write with enthusiasm. 

Cultural or Diversity Perspectives

Considering the recent affirmative action ruling , some students from marginalized groups may not be able to state their ethnic background on the Common App. This includes how their ethnicity may have affected their livelihood. Therefore, you can use this Carnegie Mellon essay to discuss your cultural background, experiences, or perspectives. There are endless ways to approach this, like how your experiences will enrich your time as a community member at CMU.

Personal Challenges or Growth

Some successful Carnegie Mellon essays share a personal challenge and the growth that resulted from facing it. Instead of focusing solely on hardship, delve into the specific experiences and emotions you encountered during these challenges. What did you learn, and how did facing—not necessarily overcoming—this challenge shape you? Furthermore, maintain a positive and forward-looking tone, demonstrating resilience and a capacity for self-improvement. 

Is Carnegie Mellon hard to get into?

You’re probably aware that Carnegie Mellon University is renowned for its challenging admissions process. With an acceptance rate of approximately 14%, it can be quite difficult to secure a spot. While meeting the academic Carnegie Mellon requirements is important, your application is much more than a place to flaunt good grades.

Remember that your application’s strength lies within overall excellence, which includes well-crafted CMU supplemental essays. These Carnegie Mellon supplemental essays can be what puts you over the edge. Your CMU supplemental essays allow you to showcase your unique qualities, experiences and your fit with CMU’s values and academic programs. While it’s undeniably competitive, admissions at Carnegie Mellon is not insurmountable. Well-rounded and thoughtful Carnegie Mellon essays can be what sets you apart and ultimately tips the scales in your favor.

Does Carnegie Mellon care about essays?

Yes, yes, yes. Admissions officers greatly value Carnegie Mellon supplemental essays because they offer direct insight into an applicant’s capabilities. In Carnegie Mellon supplemental essays, hopeful students speak directly to admissions staff about what they’ve done and what they’ll do at CMU. Essays are also a useful means to expand the admission criteria for prospective students, providing a more complete picture than scores alone.

As a test-optional institution for those applying for fall 2024, Carnegie Mellon University also acknowledges the limitations of standardized test scores. A student’s potential, abilities, and compatibility with the university’s community cannot be fully captured by a standardized test. Consequently, for students without test scores, other Carnegie Mellon admissions requirements like transcripts, recommendations , and, most notably, CMU supplemental essays are more heavily weighed. However, that’s not to say that applicants are forbidden from sending test scores—if your standardized test scores are competitive, submit them.

Carnegie Mellon supplemental essays empower applicants to illuminate their distinctive perspectives, life experiences, and personal attributes. Through the CMU supplemental essays, applicants can provide a deeper look into their character, intellectual curiosity, and alignment with Carnegie Mellon’s core values. Therefore, the university gains a more comprehensive and holistic understanding of each applicant by meticulously reviewing CMU supplemental essays.

How do I make my Carnegie Mellon essays stand out?

Considering the importance of the Carnegie Mellon supplemental essays, getting your CMU supplemental essays to stand out is incredibly important. So, here are some suggestions to help your Carnegie Mellon supplemental essays stand out to the admissions team.

Using Authenticity and Personal Voice in Your Carnegie Mellon Essays

Ensure your Carnegie Mellon supplemental essays reflect your true self. Use your Carnegie Mellon essays to share personal anecdotes and experiences that have influenced your values, passions, and goals. Avoid generic responses and instead focus on the unique aspects of your journey. Even if you feel that your experiences are common, make them yours.

Research and Understanding of Carnegie Mellon University

Take the time to research Carnegie Mellon University’s values, mission, and academic programs thoroughly. Anyone can answer, “Where is Carnegie Mellon?”, but you should be able to outline several CMU offerings that interest you. Gain a deep understanding of the university’s majors, academic offerings, campus culture, and initiatives. Incorporate this knowledge into your Carnegie Mellon essays to demonstrate your genuine interest and alignment with Carnegie Mellon.

Have an Engaging Writing Style in Your Carnegie Mellon Essays

Make your Carnegie Mellon essays engaging and captivating through strong storytelling . Capture the reader’s attention with powerful imagery and thoughtful language. Maintain a compelling narrative flow that keeps the reader hooked from the introduction to the conclusion. Avoid cliches and other common pitfalls —try to find your particular writing voice and let it shine through.

Proofread and Refine Your Carnegie Mellon Essays

Pay careful attention to proofreading and editing your CMU essays. Ensure correct grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure. Verify the clarity and coherence of your ideas. Given the limited word count, you should also choose every word wisely and eliminate redundancy. You may ask a trusted friend or mentor to read your Carnegie Mellon essays and give you feedback.

By utilizing these strategies while writing your Carnegie Mellon supplemental essays, you can create standout Carnegie Mellon essays that showcase your unique qualities and potential. Remember, CMU supplemental essays are your opportunity to convince the admissions committee that you’re an ideal fit for Carnegie Mellon University.

CMU Supplemental Essays – Final Thoughts

Carnegie Mellon University boasts a reputation for academic excellence and a highly competitive admissions process. To secure admission to Carnegie Mellon, it’s crucial to recognize the paramount importance of the Carnegie Mellon supplemental essays. Indeed, all aspects of the Carnegie Mellon application, from extracurriculars to recommendation letters , are important. However, in Carnegie Mellon supplemental essays, you can directly tell admissions officers who you are and why CMU is the place for you.

CMU supplemental essays are your chance to stand out and capture the admissions committee’s attention. Your Carnegie Mellon supplemental essays are a crucial component of your application and will significantly impact your admission chances. Therefore, it’s essential to approach your Carnegie Mellon supplemental essays strategically. Craft your CMU supplemental essays thoughtfully and use them to convey your unique qualities and potential contributions to the Carnegie Mellon community.

Ultimately, your Carnegie Mellon supplemental essays allow you to shine and convince the admissions committee that you’re an ideal fit. Use these tips to write impressive CMU supplemental essays and put your Carnegie Mellon application over the top. Are you now ready to apply ? We hope so. Good luck!

This article was written by senior advisor Ashley Hollins . Still looking for additional information, check out this CollegeAdvisor article on Carnegie Mellon supplemental essays from 2021-2022 . Are you looking for more admissions support? Click here to schedule a free meeting with one of our Admissions Specialists. Our team will discuss your profile during your meeting and help you find targeted ways to increase your admissions odds at top schools. We’ll also answer any questions and discuss how CollegeAdvisor.com can support you in the college application process.

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