Carnegie Mellon University: Rankings, Courses & Admissions

The story of Carnegie Mellon University is unique and remarkable. After its founding in 1900 as the Carnegie Technical Schools, serving workers and young men and women of the Pittsburgh area, it became the degree-granting Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1912. “Carnegie Tech,” as it was known, merged with the Mellon Institute to become Carnegie Mellon University in 1967. Carnegie Mellon has since soared to national and international leadership in higher education—and it continues to be known for solving real-world problems, interdisciplinary collaboration, and innovation. The story of the university’s famous founder—Andrew Carnegie—is also remarkable. A self-described “working-boy” with an “intense longing” for books, Andrew Carnegie emigrated from Scotland with his family in 1848 and settled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He became a self-educated entrepreneur, whose Carnegie Steel Company grew to be the world’s largest producer of steel by the end of the nineteenth century. On November 15, 1900, Andrew Carnegie formally announced: “For many years I have nursed the pleasing thought that I might be the fortunate giver of a Technical Institute to our City, fashioned upon the best models, for I know of no institution which Pittsburgh, as an industrial centre, so much needs.” He concluded with the words “My heart is in the work,” which would become the university’s official motto. The Mellon family of Pittsburgh and its foundations later became strong and visionary supporters of Carnegie Tech and Carnegie Mellon. Thousands of faculty and staff, students and alumni, corporations, foundations, and friends have joined this great educational venture.