Is University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign or Carnegie Mellon harder to get into?

Carnegie Mellon is harder to get into overall. It is the more selective school in the broad, university-wide sense, and that is especially true for its most sought-after programs like computer science, engineering, and fine arts. UIUC is also very selective in certain colleges and majors, but across the whole university it is typically less difficult to enter than CMU.

For a student comparing schools at the top level, CMU belongs in the reach category for most applicants unless their profile is exceptionally strong. CMU’s applicant pool is very self-selecting, with many students aiming specifically for high-intensity programs in STEM, design, drama, or business, so the bar tends to stay high even for excellent candidates.

UIUC is a little different because selectivity swings a lot by major. Some UIUC programs, especially engineering and computer science, can feel as hard as or nearly as hard as similarly elite options elsewhere. But if you are looking at UIUC as a whole, including less impacted majors, it is not as difficult to get into as Carnegie Mellon overall.

So if your question is purely overall admission difficulty, Carnegie Mellon is the tougher admit. If you were comparing specific majors instead, especially CS or engineering, UIUC can be much more selective than people assume and is worth evaluating program by program rather than by the university name alone.