How hard is it to get into Carnegie Mellon compared with Brown?

Brown is typically a bit harder to get into overall, but Carnegie Mellon can be just as hard, or harder, in certain programs. Brown’s admission process is highly selective across the university, while Carnegie Mellon’s selectivity varies a lot by school, with areas like computer science, drama, and some engineering programs being especially tough. So for a general college list, Brown often lands in the same reach category as Carnegie Mellon, but CMU is not one uniform admissions bar.

One major difference is how applicants are evaluated academically. Brown admits students to the university as a whole and is known for looking for strong intellectual curiosity and fit with its open curriculum. Carnegie Mellon admits by specific college or program in many cases, which means the level of competition depends heavily on what you want to study.

The applicant profile each school tends to reward is also a little different. Brown often appeals to students with broad academic strength, distinctive voice, and evidence that they will thrive with a lot of freedom in course selection. Carnegie Mellon, especially in technical or arts-focused programs, tends to put more weight on demonstrated preparation in that area, such as advanced math for STEM applicants or portfolios and auditions for arts programs.

For list-building purposes, it makes sense to treat both as reaches. If your intended major at Carnegie Mellon is one of its marquee programs, you should probably view CMU as every bit as difficult as Brown, and in some cases even less predictable.