Computer Science has become the largest of the tech/engineering academic disciplines. This ranking of the best colleges for computer science is directed to identifying the degree programs that have particularly excelled in the field. We expect the top colleges for this major to inculcate in their computer science students a high amount of analytic reasoning ability – the tools to continually advance the field and question with objectivity the trending assumptions of the day, whether in their careers or daily life.
Why is this particularly important for computer science? Moore’s law says that the speed of computer processors is expected to double every two years. In the long run we cannot expect such a breakneck advancement to continue indefinitely. However, the fact is that the advances in computer hardware and software have been dramatic, and will continue at a rapid pace for the foreseeable future. The top colleges in computer science play an important role in helping advance these developments, training the next generations of thinkers and doers who will advance these technologies and society as a whole. We expect not only academic rigor, but also an atmosphere reflecting the diverse society as a whole creating technologies that serve not hinder the growing human experience.
All these elements are factored into the RealRank analytic techniques we apply in creating this ranking.
Ranking the Best Colleges for Computer Science Degrees
The table below lists the top colleges, with the college name, city and state. If the name is underlined in this ranking, we have created a profile for that institution, which you can find by tapping on its name.
| Rank | College | City | State |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign | Champaign | IL |
| 2 | Georgia Institute of Technology | Atlanta | GA |
| 3 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Cambridge | MA |
| 4 | University of Texas | Austin | TX |
| 5 | Stanford University | Palo Alto | CA |
| 6 | University of Washington | Seattle | WA |
| 7 | Carnegie Mellon University | Pittsburgh | PA |
| 8 | Purdue University | West Lafayette | IN |
| 9 | Cornell University | Ithaca | NY |
| 10 | California Institute of Technology | Pasadena | CA |
| 11 | University of Chicago | Chicago | IL |
| 12 | United States Naval Academy | Annapolis | MD |
| 13 | Princeton University | Princeton | NJ |
| 14 | University of California - Berkeley | Berkeley | CA |
| 15 | Columbia University | New York | NY |
| 16 | University of Michigan | Ann Arbor | MI |
| 17 | Penn State | University Park | PA |
| 18 | University of Pennsylvania | Philadelphia | PA |
| 19 | Texas A&M University | College Station | TX |
| 20 | University of California - Los Angeles | Los Angeles | CA |
| 21 | United States Military Academy | West Point | NY |
| 21 | United States Air Force Academy | Colorado Springs | CO |
| 23 | University of Maryland | College Park | MD |
| 24 | The Ohio State University | Columbus | OH |
| 25 | Harvard University | Cambridge | MA |
| 26 | Duke University | Durham | NC |
| 27 | University of California - San Diego | San Diego | CA |
| 28 | University Of Wisconsin - Madison | Madison | WI |
| 29 | Virginia Polytechnic University (Virginia Tech) | Blacksburg | VA |
| 30 | Yale University | New Haven | CT |
| 31 | University of Southern California | Los Angeles | CA |
| 32 | New York University | New York | NY |
| 33 | Rutgers University | Piscataway | NJ |
| 34 | Rice University | Houston | TX |
| 35 | Northwestern University | Evanston | IL |
| 36 | University of Florida | Gainesville | FL |
| 37 | University of Virginia | Charlottesville | VA |
| 38 | Johns Hopkins University | Baltimore | MD |
| 39 | North Carolina State University | Raleigh | NC |
| 40 | Brown University | Providence | RI |
| 41 | University of Massachusetts - Amherst | Amherst | MA |
| 42 | Arizona State University | Tempe | AZ |
| 43 | University of Utah | Salt Lake City | UT |
| 44 | Michigan State University | East Lansing | MI |
| 45 | Indiana University | Bloomington | IN |
| 46 | University of California - Irvine | Irvine | CA |
| 47 | University of Arizona | Tuscon | AZ |
| 48 | University of Colorado - Boulder | Boulder | CO |
| 49 | University of Minnesota | Twin Cities | MN |
| 50 | Stony Brook University - SUNY | Stony Brook | NY |
| 51 | University of California - Davis | Davis | CA |
| 52 | University of Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh | PA |
| 53 | University of Central Florida | Orlando | FL |
| 54 | Northeastern University | Boston | MA |
| 55 | Iowa State University | Ames | IA |
| 56 | Florida State University | Tallahassee | FL |
| 57 | Vanderbilt University | Nashville | TN |
| 58 | Boston University | Boston | MA |
| 59 | University of Illinois - Chicago | Chicago | IL |
| 60 | Clemson University | Clemson | SC |
| 60 | University of Notre Dame | South Bend | IN |
More information on our RealRankTM analytics used in creating this ranking can be found on the About page. Let us know if your college is not yet profiled using the contact form.
