Lower admission chance into second choice major?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Carnegie Mellon University
1

Hello, I had a question about the second choice major option, since CMU admits by school selection. For example, if I put ECE as my second-choice major, does that negatively impact me? If I’m not qualified for my first choice, will they give an equal consideration to the second choice?

Note that obviously ECE is really competitive, is it impossible to get admitted into it as a second choice? Thanks for any help!

2

I doubt anyone here will have a definitive answer, but I haven’t seen discussion or evidence that this is the case over several years of following CMU admissions.

But you’re correct that Engineering is one of the tougher schools for admittance. I can see many students who aren’t accepted to SCS being strong candidates at any other program. After that it gets more difficult.