Congratulations on your admission to the MSAII program at Carnegie Mellon University!  Below you will find important information regarding your admission.  

15-503 Introduction to Computer Systems OR 11-637 Foundations of Computational Data Science
All students  entering the MSAII program are  required to complete 15-503 Computer Systems or 11-637  Foundations  of Computational  Data  Science, during  the Summer session prior  to arriving in Pittsburgh. You  may take this course pass/no pass (equivalent of pass/fail). You will need to register for  this  summer  distance   education  course  and  the  course instructor  will communicate with you directly.  Your grade in this course will be part of your academic record at CMU. If you do not pass the course, you will be required to take it on campus after you arrive in addition to all your other courses.   The deadline to change to pass/no pass is July 3, 2025.  

Tuition and  fees
Full time tuition for AY 2025-2026 has been set at $63,000 ($31,500 per semester).  In addition to tuition, graduate students must pay the Port Authority fee, Technology fee,  and Activity fee. The fee amounts are listed on this webpage. https://www.cmu.edu/sfs/tuition/fees/index.html

There are additional costs for 15-503 or 11-637 that you must take in the summer semester.  The fees for 2025-2026 Academic year are $625 per unit.     (15-503 is 6 units, 11-637 is 12 units)

Financial Aid  
Our Masters’ degree normally requires 20 months to complete. At this time, we are not able to offer any financial assistance, so you may consider seeking support from other sources. CMU has some information available at https://www.cmu.edu/finaid/.  All full-time Carnegie Mellon students, including graduate students, are charged a Student Activities Fee, a transportation fee, and a technology fee per semester.

Orientation
There will be a mandatory new student orientation for all MSAII students on August 18, 2025.   Please plan to have arrived in Pittsburgh prior to August 18 and to attend this important session.   Further details will be sent in Summer 2025.

TAships
TAships are offered only to second-year students who have outstanding performance in the program. Students who wish to serve as a teaching assistant for a course and whose native language is not English must have their language assessed before becoming a Teaching Assistant. The Student Academic Success Center (SASC)  has been established by Carnegie Mellon University to help non-native English speakers develop the skills they need to provide effective instruction and administer the required fluency test.  In addition to departmental policy, Pennsylvania State Law requires that all students obtain a satisfactory level of language proficiency prior to being assigned teaching responsibilities.

University Policies
As a member of the Carnegie Mellon community, you will be expected to familiarize yourself with all University policies and comply with them.  In particular, please carefully read the Intellectual Property Policy available at http://www.cmu.edu/policies/administrative-and-governance/intellectual-property.html.  You must electronically sign an Intellectual Property Policy Agreement Form, which can be accessed at www.cmu.edu/policies/forms-and-documents/intellectual-property-agreement-form-2013.pdf. 

Health Insurance
All Carnegie Mellon students are required to have health insurance, and will be automatically enrolled and charged for Carnegie Mellon student health insurance through Highmark Insurance unless a waiver is requested and granted. Please visit the University Health Services website at http://www.cmu.edu/health-services/student-insurance/ for additional information.

Sexual Harassment Awareness Training
All members of the University are required to complete a Sexual Harassment Awareness training course when they first join our community, and periodically thereafter. Our online training helps to ensure a respectful and productive workplace at Carnegie Mellon. You will receive an email when you have been registered to take the online training with access instructions. You are expected to complete the training program within one month after receiving the email notification. 

International Students
For students whose native language is not English, we require that you attend a Language Support Check-In session with the Student Academic Success Center in August. You will get recommendations about services most appropriate for you; we encourage you to take advantage of the language and cultural training that this center offers. For more information about the services offered by the SASC, see their Web site at at https://www.cmu.edu/student-success/programs/language-support/index.html.

You can find additional information about preparing to arrive at Carnegie Mellon from The Office of International Education at https://www.cmu.edu/oie/faq/index.html and more generally at https://www.cmu.edu/oie/.  

Applying for I20
Please note that international students choosing to accept our offer of admission to the MSAII program will also be required to submit all of the required paperwork to the Office of International Education through the MYOIE portal. You can not log into this system until you've accepted your admission and been entered as a new student and received your Andrew ID.  International students, who will require an I-20/F1 Visa, please follow the instructions below:.

  • You will receive the "First Pass" email with CMU user credentials (Andrew ID)
  • Use your Andrew ID to sign into the "MyOIE" portal through the "Full Client Services for Students and Scholars" section.
  • On the MyOIE Service home page, click on the "New Student Initial Document Request" 3-Form under the "Pre-Arrival" section.
  • Complete all six sections of the e-Form before submitting.
  • Wait 4-6 weeks.
  • Once your I-20 has been issued, you will receive an email from OIE which will include your SEVIS ID and instructions on how to create a shipping label for OIE to ship your document to you.
  • You can find more information from OIE at:  https://www.cmu.edu/oie/pre-arrival-and-settling-in/students/instructions/index.html

Transcripts and Test scores
If you have chosen to accept our offer to pursue your degree at Carnegie Mellon, you will be required to provide official transcripts.  Please note, we will require your transcripts no later than August 1, 2025.    You can have documents mailed to:
Carnegie Mellon University
School of Computer Science
Attn: Amber Vivis
TCS 357
5000 Forbes Ave
Pittsburgh PA 15213

If you have not already sent your GRE and/or TOEFL scores prior to enrolling, please send them to the following:
GRE Institution code, 2074, Department code, 0402
TOEFL Institution code, 4256, Department code, 78