Congratulations on Your MSML Admittance!

Nature of the Program

The Master of Science in Machine Learning offers students with a bachelor's degree the opportunity to improve their training with advanced study in machine learning. Incoming students should have good analytical skills and a strong aptitude for mathematics, statistics and programming. The program consists primarily of coursework, with the opportunity for research. Today's demand for expertise in machine learning far exceeds the supply, and this imbalance will become more severe over the coming decade.

The MSML program is described in detail on our curriculum webpage. The 2025–26 handbook will not be available until August, but the 2024–25 Graduate Student Handbook (PDF) provides details about the current program policies.

Students have the option to choose between the original Master of Science in Machine Learning and the Master of Science in Machine Learning — Applied Study variant. The coursework component of both variants is the same. In the original variant, students have the option to choose between completing a summer internship or summer research. In the applied study variant, students must complete a summer internship and also must engage in professional development activities. While all machine learning master’s students gain experience working with real-world data, for some students this experience is solely within an academic setting. A student can choose to complete the applied study variant if they would like their degree title to make it clear that they have job experience with external employers and they have engaged in professional development. Students choose their variant when entering the program.

The Machine Learning Department is described in more detail on our About page.

Decision Deadline and Mutual Commitment

We appreciate you notifying us of your decision as soon as you have confidently made it. Understand that your decision to come to CMU is a firm commitment on your part that matches our firm commitment to you, and means that we will not be offering that spot in our program to another qualified applicant on our waitlist, so please treat that decision carefully.

The decision deadline listed in your offer letter is the latest date to submit your decision. We appreciate your response as soon as you have made your firm and final decision. An early response saying that you decline our offer will allow us to more promptly offer admission to an applicant on our waitlist, while a response saying that you are accepting our offer will allow us to notify waitlisted applicants more quickly that our incoming class is full.

Tuition and Other Costs

Full-time tuition for the 2025-2026 academic year has been set at $60,400 (U.S. dollars). New students should factor in an approximately 5% increase per year in any budget computation.

In addition to tuition, students are required to pay activity, technology, and transportation fees (providing unlimited ridership on the Pittsburgh public transportation system). Students must also obtain health insurance or show proof of similar insurance from another source. Students must also supply their own laptop computer.

Your first tuition payment of $2,500 is due when you accept our offer. It is paid via the application portal after submitting your decision, and is nonrefundable. If submitting your first tuition payment in this way will pose a hardship, contact Dorothy Holland-Minkley to discuss your situation.

Financial Aid

The Machine Learning Department does not provide direct financial assistance for students attending the Master of Science in Machine Learning program. Students are responsible for paying tuition/fees, health insurance and living expenses during their time in the program.

After completing the first semester, it is possible for students to obtain positions as teaching assistants (TAs). For most students, teaching assistantships will cover only a small fraction of the cost of attending. Non-native English speakers must pass an additional language test to qualify to TA. TA appointments are generally made on a semester-by-semester basis and are not guaranteed in advance.

Most students who do research do it solely for elective credit. In a limited number of cases, a research assistantship may be provided by projects that are funded by government agencies, private industries and consortia. Research assistants (RAs) are expected to conduct appropriate research under the direction and guidance of their research adviser. RA positions can potentially be funded as either an hourly wage for time worked, or as 25%, 50% or 75% coverage of the MSML program tuition and ML Ph.D. stipend for the semester. Since paid RAships are rare and students do not begin meeting faculty to form potential research partnerships until after arriving on campus in the fall, students should plan their finances with the assumption that paid RAships will not be available.

Students may be interested in the information about external resources through the Fellowships and Scholarships Office, with international students being particularly interested in its Non-U.S. Citizens and International Students Resources. The new CMU Rales Fellows Program is accepting applications for full tuition and stipend coverage. The School of Computer Science also maintains a list of Graduate Fellowship Opportunities that may be of particular interest to SCS graduate students.

For more information on graduate student financial aid, visit the Financial Aid website.

Transcript Submission

All incoming students must provide official transcripts confirming their graduation no later than July 1, 2025. These official transcripts should either be sent directly by your undergraduate institution or should have verifiable security features. Official electronic transcripts can be sent to Dorothy Holland-Minkley. If you want to send a hard copy of the transcript, contact Dorothy for the mailing address. If your transcript will not be ready by then, inform Dorothy of the approximate date it will be ready.

Admission Into CMU Doctoral Programs

Acceptance into the Master of Science in Machine Learning program does not guarantee admission into any doctoral program at Carnegie Mellon. In particular, students who complete the M.S. program are welcome to apply to the Machine Learning Ph.D. program, but will not receive preferential treatment.

Visas for Foreign Students

International students must obtain the required documents to allow for study and entry into the U.S. Once a student has accepted our offer, the application portal will update to show an enrollment form requesting the information necessary to create their new student account. After this account has been created, the student will be sent a link to a form for providing the information required to process their I-20, a necessary immigration document. The I-20 is needed for the student to obtain an F-1 visa and gain entry into the U.S. The student's I-20 will be processed by the Office of International Education (OIE) at Carnegie Mellon.

We recommend that students return these forms as soon as possible. OIE's goal is to issue I-20 forms within six weeks of receiving complete information, and they process requests in the order in which they are received. As soon as the student receives the I-20, they should make their visa application.

If you experience a delay for any reason, we will try to work with you, and our incoming students have historically been very successful in obtaining visas. However, the Machine Learning Department reserves the right to withdraw our offer of admission from any student who fails to obtain the appropriate visa in time to attend the university orientation.

English Language Proficiency

Students are expected to be fluent in English before attending the program. One option available for non-native English speakers to improve their advanced academic fluency and their understanding of U.S. academic culture during their time in the program is to engage in the personalized consultations, workshops and online videos offered by Carnegie Mellon’s Student Academic Success Center.

These resources are optional, but students who aren't familiar with fast-paced coursework in American classrooms may find them useful. They are also particularly helpful for students are aiming for a Ph.D. and  looking to deepen their understanding of the ethical, social and cultural norms of academic scholarship in the U.S. and strengthening their English proficiency in preparation for presenting and publishing their future research.

Internships and Post-Graduation Employment

Approximately one-third of MSML students tend to be interested in pursuing a Ph.D. after graduation, while two-thirds aim for industry. Correspondingly, about one-third of MSML students choose to complete their mandatory summer practicum as research with our faculty, while two-thirds choose to complete it as an industry internship.

CMU’s Career & Professional Development Center (CPDC) has compiled first-destination statistics of our alumni for both employment and continuing education. (A small caveat: If someone earns a master’s in December and works in industry or as a research assistant for half a year before entering a Ph.D. program in August, they’re listed as “employed” instead of “continuing their education,” since that is their “first destination.”) They publish similar statistics for summer internships, for students doing an internship instead of research.

Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh is a great place to live, and the Pittsburgh Visitor's Guide highlights a sampling of the city's events and attractions. CMU itself is well-situated near apartments, restaurants, and several museums and botanical gardens (free to access with your CMU student ID card thanks to the Arts Pass Program).

CMU's Graduate Student Association has compiled some helpful information about housing, with their Graduate Student Housing Handbook containing statistics about the kind of places where CMU grad students live. Few MSML students own cars, since City of Pittsburgh buses are free to ride with a CMU ID, and there are many students (and staff and faculty) who bike or walk to campus.

Questions?

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to Machine Learning Master's Programs Manager Dorothy Holland-Minkley. She's here to help!