If you pursue a master's degree in computer science, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #17 most popular program in the country. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.
College Factual reviewed 193 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for master's degree seekers in the field of computer science. Combined, these schools handed out 14,364 master's degrees in computer science to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Computer Science School for Your Master's Degree
Your choice of computer science for getting your master's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality compsci program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
A Great Overall School
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
Early-Career Earnings
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of master's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their master's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.
Other Factors We Consider
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to computer science students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - How many other computer science students want to attend this school to pursue a master's degree.
Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
Student Debt - How easy is it for computer science to pay back their student loans after receiving their master's degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized computer science related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for computer science students working on their master's degree.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Computer Science Master's Degree Schools list, to help you choose the best school for you.
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Featured Computer Science Programs
Learn about start dates, transferring credits, availability of financial aid, and more by contacting the universities below.
Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Computer Science in the United States
Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for computer science students seeking a a master's degree. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
It is hard to beat Stanford University if you want to pursue a master's degree in computer science. Stanford is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Stanford.
Master's recipients from the computer science degree program at Stanford University make $59,933 more than the standard graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Cornell University is one of the best schools in the country for getting a master's degree in computer science. Cornell is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Ithaca.
Master's recipients from the computer science program at Cornell University get $47,445 more than the standard college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Any student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in computer science needs to take a look at Brown University. Located in the midsize city of Providence, Brown is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in computer science from Brown University
Located in the large city of New York, Columbia is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Computer Science master's degree recipients from Columbia University in the City of New York receive an earnings boost of around $34,055 over the average income of computer science majors.
Located in the city of Chicago, UChicago is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.
Computer Science master's degree recipients from University of Chicago earn a boost of around $8,298 above the typical income of computer science majors.
Located in the small city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Those computer science students who get their master's degree from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign make $44,404 more than the average compsci grad.
USC is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Los Angeles.
Computer Science master's degree recipients from University of Southern California earn a boost of around $11,000 over the typical income of computer science graduates.
UCSD is a very large public university located in the large city of La Jolla.
Master's recipients from the computer science major at University of California - San Diego make $27,972 more than the standard college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.
Boston U is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Boston.
Master's recipients from the computer science major at Boston University earn $10,522 more than the typical college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
college factual
Your choice of computer science for getting your master's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality compsci program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
