MHCI Admissions

MHCI Program Application Details

Ready to apply? We are excited that you are interested in the MHCI program. Our application opens each year in the fall. Below you will find everything you need to know about applying to our program and what is required in your application.

Do you have questions about the program? Take a look at our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) guide, where we have assembled the most common questions we receive.

Looking for additional information about MHCI admissions? Fill out our SCS Graduate Admissions Inquiry Form to receive additional information about our graduate programs, admissions and application deadlines.

Statement of Assurance
Carnegie Mellon University does not discriminate in admission, employment, or administration of its programs or activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, handicap or disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, creed, ancestry, belief, veteran status, or genetic information. Furthermore, Carnegie Mellon University does not discriminate and is required not to discriminate in violation of federal, state, or local laws or executive orders. CMU Statement of Assurance

Preparing Your MHCI Application

Prerequisites to Apply

Prospective students applying to the Master's in HCI program are expected to have a 4-year bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited college or university in the United States, or its equivalent from a foreign institution, by matriculation for fall term. We do not require specific degrees or backgrounds. We value an interdisciplinary cohort and have students joining us with backgrounds in design, social sciences, business, computer science and more. Students also enter with varying levels of industry experience.

Application Materials

For consideration of admission to the MHCI program, please submit the following application materials online by the application deadline.

Three (3) Letters of Recommendation

Letters of recommendations are to be submitted online prior to the end of the application deadline. Choose recommenders who know your work well and can provide specific examples of your strengths. Please ask them to comment on:

How well your experiences and abilities prepare you for a career in Human-Computer Interaction.
Your collaboration skills, including your contributions to team success.
Your willingness to take on challenging problems, embrace uncertainty, learn from setbacks, and grow through constructive feedback.
Your ability to thrive in an accelerated, one-year graduate program with a 60+ hour-per-week workload.

We strongly recommend that at least two of your letters be from faculty or recent employers.

It is the applicant's responsibility to ensure recommenders have uploaded letters through the online application by the due date. Letters received by post will not be considered with a student's application. After you have created a profile through the MHCI online application, you will be able to send instructions to your recommenders and track the status of your letters online. Your recommenders can upload a letter after you have submitted your application up until the 3:00 p.m. EST deadline.

Statement of Purpose

Applicants are required to submit a Statement of Purpose (500 words maximum) as part of their application to the MHCI program. Please include your name and email address in the essay and submit it as a PDF.

Rather than summarizing your résumé, focus on the experiences, decisions, and lessons that have shaped your perspective and aspirations.

Please address the following:

What impact do you hope to have through your career in Human-Computer Interaction, and what responsibility do you believe HCI practitioners have in shaping technology for society? Describe the problems you hope to solve, the people or communities you hope to serve, and why Carnegie Mellon's MHCI program is the right next step toward achieving that vision.
Describe an experience that fundamentally changed how you think, work, or lead. What did you learn from that experience, and how will it shape the kind of HCI practitioner and teammate you hope to become?

Our review committee values applicants who display persistence and resilience in the face of challenge and adversity, demonstrate a commitment to ethics, show concern for others and for their community, and/or exhibit leadership in one or more endeavors

Current Resume

Applicants will include a copy of their current resume in PDF format and should outline their education, work experience, research experience, publications, scholarships and honors received as well as other relevant information.

Transcripts

Upload a copy of your transcripts in English in PDF format. You should include transcripts for all undergraduate/graduate schools you have attended. A hard copy of your transcripts will not be required until students have been accepted into the program. Upon acceptance to the program, students will receive more information about this requirement.

GRE Scores

GRE scores are optional.

Should you want to provide GRE scores. please note the following:

GRE scores are only valid and accepted for the past five years.
We do not require students to meet a minimum requirement for GRE scores.
If submitted, your GRE score will be part of a holistic reviewing of applications and considered among all materials for an applicant.

English Language Proficiency Scores (as required)

If you will be studying on an F-1 or J-1 visa, and English is not a native language for you (native language…meaning spoken at home and from birth), we are required to formally evaluate your English proficiency.

We require applicants who will be studying on an F-1 or J-1 visa, and for whom English is not a native language, to demonstrate English proficiency via one of these standardized tests: TOEFL (preferred), IELTS, or Duolingo. We discourage the use of the "TOEFL ITP Plus for China," since speaking is not scored.

We do not issue waivers for non-native speakers of English. In particular, we do not issue waivers based on previous study at a U.S. high school, college, or university. We also do not issue waivers based on previous study at an English-language high school, college, or university outside of the United States. No amount of educational experience in English, regardless of which country it occurred in, will result in a test waiver.

Submit valid, recent scores. If as described above you are required to submit proof of English proficiency, your TOEFL, IELTS or Duolingo test scores will be considered valid as follows:

TOEFL

Applicants will need to submit an English proficiency score no older than two years. (Scores from exams taken before Sept. 1, 2024, will not be accepted.)
Institution code, 4256; Department code, 78.
For the Internet Based scores (preferred), applicants must score a minimum of 25 on each subsection.

IELTS

Note: we will also accept the IELTS scores in lieu of the TOEFL. The minimum band score is 8.5 overall with no sub scores less than 8.0.

Carnegie Mellon University does not require hard copies of test scores during applications.

Duolingo English Test

MHCI continues to accept the Duolingo English Test for the Admission application. The English proficiency requirement cannot be waived for any reason.

We strongly encourage applicants to take either the TOEFL or IELTS. In cases where these are not available, it is acceptable to take the Duolingo test.

Duolingo English Test Minimum Scores:

Conversation = 105
Production = 120
Comprehension = 125
Literacy = 115

Be sure to use the same email address that you plan to use when you apply to the MHCI. Also, be sure that Duolingo scores are sent to "Carnegie Mellon University - Graduate Computer Science Programs."

Examples of Work (Optional)

Applicants are welcome to submit examples of their work. This is optional and is not required for admission.

Examples may include a design portfolio, a GitHub repository, research publications or reports, writing samples, entrepreneurial projects, community or policy initiatives, creative work, or another collection of work that demonstrates your interests, skills, and contributions to human-centered problem-solving.

Video Essay (Required)

Submit a 1-minute video essay as part of your application. This is an opportunity for the admissions committee to get to know you beyond your written application and to observe how you communicate your ideas.

Please appear on camera and ensure that both the video and audio are your own. The video (audio and visual) should include only you (and not a proxy). We are not evaluating video production or editing skills—a simple recording from your phone or computer is perfectly acceptable.

Choose one of the following prompts and respond in your video. There are no right or wrong answers—we are interested in your perspective, thought process, and ability to communicate clearly and authentically.

What problem in the world do you wish technology did a better job addressing, and why is it important to you?
When do you think technology should NOT be used to solve a problem?
What responsibility do people who design and build technology have to society?
What kind of impact do you hope your work will have ten years from now?
What is the most valuable lesson you've learned outside the classroom?
What qualities do you value most in people you collaborate with?

Application Fee

The MHCI application fee is $100.
The fee is payable by credit card; we do not accept cash or checks.
If the fee presents financial hardship, then you may apply for a financial or participants of program fee waiver, which is available within the application. The deadline to submit a financial fee waiver request is one week before the application deadline.
The MHCI program does not follow an early deadline.