Which is harder to get into: Carnegie Mellon or Vanderbilt?

In general, Carnegie Mellon is slightly harder to get into overall, though it depends a lot on the specific school or major. At both schools, the most competitive applicants usually have very strong grades in the most rigorous courses available.

But if you mean how difficult it is to get into certain top programs, Carnegie Mellon can be tougher, especially for School of Computer Science, drama, design, and some engineering programs. Those programs are widely viewed as among the most selective in the country.

Vanderbilt admissions is more centralized at the university level, so selectivity is somewhat more consistent across majors, although engineering and special programs can still be tougher. Carnegie Mellon admits by college or school, which creates bigger differences depending on what you apply for. A student applying to Carnegie Mellon computer science faces a very different level of competition than someone applying to a less selective CMU division.

So the cleanest answer is this: Vanderbilt is often harder by overall admit rate, but Carnegie Mellon can be harder for specific programs, and in some cases much harder. If your list includes a highly selective Carnegie Mellon school like SCS or Drama, that application may be the tougher one.