Ranked #26 in popularity, information technology is one of the most sought-after master's degree programs in the nation. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.
College Factual reviewed 119 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for master's degree seekers in the field of information technology. Combined, these schools handed out 11,160 master's degrees in information technology to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Information Technology School for Your Master's Degree
Your choice of information technology for getting your master's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality it 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
The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we include a college's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a combination of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
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
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on information technology students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of information technology students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
Student Debt - How much debt information technology students go into to obtain their master's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized information technology related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for information technology 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 Information Technology Master's Degree Schools list, to help you choose the best school for you.
Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Information Technology in the United States
Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in information technology. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
Any student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in information technology has to check out Carnegie Mellon University. Carnegie Mellon is a large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Pittsburgh.
Information Technology master's degree recipients from Carnegie Mellon University earn a boost of around $10,316 over the average income of information technology majors.
Georgetown University is a good decision for individuals interested in a master's degree in information technology. Georgetown is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Washington.
Those information technology students who get their master's degree from Georgetown University earn $46,695 more than the standard it graduate.
Located in the city of Baltimore, Johns Hopkins is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.
Master's recipients from the information technology program at Johns Hopkins University earn $26,588 more than the standard college grad in this field shortly after graduation.
NYU is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of New York.
Information Technology master's degree recipients from New York University receive an earnings boost of around $20,872 above the typical earnings of information technology graduates.
Columbia is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of New York.
Information Technology master's degree recipients from Columbia University in the City of New York receive an earnings boost of about $92,318 above the typical income of information technology majors.
University of Virginia is a fairly large public university located in the suburb of Charlottesville.
Those information technology students who get their master's degree from University of Virginia - Main Campus earn $63,601 more than the average it graduate.
Located in the large city of Washington, GWU is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.
Those information technology students who get their master's degree from George Washington University receive $31,803 more than the typical it student.
Located in the large suburb of Salt Lake City, WGU is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.
Information Technology master's degree recipients from Western Governors University receive an earnings boost of around $29,005 above the average income of information technology graduates.
WUSTL is a large private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Saint Louis.
Those information technology students who get their master's degree from Washington University in St Louis receive $12,826 more than the typical it graduate.
Located in the large city of Boston, Northeastern is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Information Technology master's degree recipients from Northeastern University earn a boost of approximately $7,434 over the typical earnings of information technology majors.
Located in the large suburb of Newark, UD is a public university with a very large student population.
Master's recipients from the information technology program at University of Delaware earn $31,161 more than the typical college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Located in the large suburb of Adelphi, UMGC is a public university with a very large student population.
Information Technology master's degree recipients from University of Maryland Global Campus receive an earnings boost of about $8,724 above the typical earnings of information technology majors.
Rest of the Top Best Information Technology Master's Degree Schools
Honorable Mentions
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Information Technology Master's Degree Schools award.
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).