By the Numbers - Academic Success

Carnegie Mellon student-athletes are excelling both academically and athletically at the university. During the 2021-22 academic year, student-athletes boasted a cumulative GPA of 3.49. Many Tartans were perfect in the classroom as well, as 130 student-athletes achieved 4.0s during the fall semester and 141 were perfect in the spring. The Tartans’ academic success is broad-based, as varsity athletes are spread across the university’s undergraduate colleges and programs.

Churchill Scholarship

In 2016, Jillian Jaycox, a women's cross country and track student-athlete, was one of 15 individuals nationwide chosen to receive a 2016 Churchill Scholarship, one of the most prestigious awards for study abroad in the United Kingdom. Jaycox is the 12th CMU student to receive the scholarship, which funds a year of postgraduate study at the University of Cambridge.

Jaycox will pursue a Master of Philosophy in Medical Science as a member of Dr. Ken Smith's research group at Cambridge’s Department of Medicine, which is investigating a new prognostic biomarker for autoimmune diseases.

She took advantage of CMU’s collaborations with the University of Pittsburgh by working as a member of Pitt research groups directed by the Department of Immunology’s Dr. Mark Shlomchik and the Department of Rheumatology’s Sarah Gaffen, a CMU Mellon College of Science alumna. As a result of this work, Jaycox is listed as a co-author on three peer-reviewed journal articles.

Fulbright U.S. Grant

In 2015, women's cross country and track and field runners Sara Kelly and Erin Kiekhaefer were awarded Fulbright U.S. Grants. The Fulbright U.S. Student Program provides unparalleled opportunity to teach, study and conduct research in 155 countries worldwide.

Kelly graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering and engineering and public policy. She chose to conduct research on optimizing biofuel production from wood and worked on evaluating its economics at RWTH Aachen University in Germany.

Kiekhaefer graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in global studies and Hispanic studies. Kiekhaefer chose to complete an English Teaching Assistantship in Mexico. While in Mexico, she also pursued a community project that combined her two passions — participating in sports and working with children.

Women's cross country and track and field athlete Emily Joyce joined Kelly and Kiekhaefer as a Fulbright award winner in 2017. By way of the Fulbright-García Robles Binational Business Internship Program, Joyce focused her interest in nonprofits, community building, and taking classes on economics to better understand migration patterns of Mexico and Latin America. While studying economics at Instituto Technologico Autonomo de Mexico, Joyce volunteered for centers housing migrants and refugees.

The latest Tartan to earn a Fulbright award was women's cross country and track and field athlete Selina Lee in 2022. Lee earned a research award to study diasporic artists in Germany who have roots from the northwest desert region of China known as Xinjiang. The Fulbright opportunity will allow her to use her German and Mandarin language skills.

Goldwater Scholarship

In 2014, Jillian Jaycox '16 received The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship which is designed to attract outstanding students into careers in mathematics, the natural sciences, and engineering.  Scholarships are awarded on the basis of merit to students who are sophomores or juniors during the current academic year and who have excellent academic records and demonstrated interest in and potential for careers in mathematics, the natural sciences, or engineering.  The scholarship covers eligible expenses for tuition, fees, books, and room and board to a maximum of $7,500 per academic year.  Junior scholarship recipients can expect to receive a maximum of two years of scholarship support.  Senior scholarship recipients are eligible for a maximum of one year of scholarship support.

Academic All-America Numbers

Carnegie Mellon has accumulated 179 Academic All-America honors given out by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) since 1973. Ninety-seven have earned the honor since the 2010-2011 season.

NCAA Postgraduate Scholars

Each year the NCAA awards deserving senior student-athletes with a postgraduate scholarship. The Tartans have had 21 recipients since 2007-08.

The scholarship is awarded to student-athletes who excel academically and athletically and who are in their final year of intercollegiate athletics competition. The Association awards up to 126 postgraduate scholarships annually, 63 for men and 63 for women.