SUMMARY
A degree in Computer Science is a valuable choice and generally a necessary first step for pupils hoping to enter a career as a software developer, an offensive cyber security analyst, or a front end developer. In fact, computer science is an extremely popular degree choice, coming in at the 19th most popular major. Last year, there were 31,737 computer science graduates. In-state tuition for computer science at private institutions is, on average, 4.1 times more spendy than their public rivals.
There are 664 schools that offer computer science. This number of institutions is on par with other majors offered in the United States. If you're looking to immerse yourself with other computer science undergrads, consider looking at colleges in California which have more undergraduates admitted to computer science than any other state. Zooming out, the best region to major in computer science is in the Far West region with University of California-Berkeley, University of California-Irvine, and Oregon State University best representing the region. Interestingly, our selection for the best conference to study computer science is the Pacific-12 Conference with Arizona State University-Tempe, University of California-Berkeley, and Oregon State University representing the conference. Based on our comprehensive list on the best colleges, our choice for the best school for computer science is Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The overall best school does not have to be the 'best' school for every student. There are a bunch of factors to weigh when choosing college. Things such as campus amenities, transportation services, and food might definitely alter one's thoughts on which college to attend. Here at Authority, we have weighed the pros and cons for you. If, for example, you want to know which computer science university is home to the top campus, the answer is Harvard University. If you are primarily interested in which school has the finest campus, we have a whole page dedicated to that. We have carefully pored through student reviews, government databases, professor reviews, and more so we can compare every major in the United States in an unbiased and informative way. You can explore our well researched list for the schools with the best student life here and, from that list, our selection for the school with the best student life for computer science is Cornell University. Are you curious why? Keep scrolling to find out more about our top recommendations. Many of our decisions will probably surprise you.
If cost is a significant factor in your choice of where you attend university, you might consider avoiding Columbia University in the City of New York. Columbia University in the City of New York appears to be our most expensive college for computer science, at least for out of state attendance. We do have a page for the most expensive schools that could put the price tag of Columbia University in the City of New York into perspective. You could also care to know that computer science is the 30th most expensive major in America, with an average associated cost of $52,300. To zoom out a little, the most costly state for computer science in the nation is Vermont with tuition and fees at the primary three colleges equalling $41,728 at Champlain College, adding up to $55,790 at Middlebury College, and costs of $55,790 at Landmark College. Even more broadly, the most expensive region of the country for computer science is the New England region which is best demonstrated with Amherst College with a cost of $57,640, Tufts University with a cost of $57,324, and Landmark College with a cost of $59,100.
Our cheapest region for computer science is the Rocky Mountains region which is represented by Brigham Young University-Idaho with a cost of $4,208, Brigham Young University-Provo with a cost of $5,790, and Western Governors University with a cost of $6,380. In better news, the most affordable college for computer science is Purdue University-Main Campus. Authority.org's full list of the most affordable schools can be explored here.
In-state learners can anticipate paying about $9,700 for a degree in computer science. The price balloons by a lot to a median of $22,600 for an out-of-state public-school undergraduate. Our selection for the college with the best value for computer science: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Here you can find our comprehensive list of the schools we believe to be the best value overall. Bear in mind, this discussion is based on being an out-of-state student. The value proposition changes when in-state tuition is considered, but as we do not know what state(s) you might qualify for in-state tuition, we are approaching this discussion through out-of-state tuition costs.
Earnings for computer science majors vary a lot, but two-years after graduation students will often earn around $64,200. While there can be a lot of variation in earnings; highest paid earners can enjoy pay up to $109,500. Even right out of school, the lowest earning opportunities within the computer science field earn $38,000, which could be worse. The top earning graduates from computer science studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and if you are looking for schools with all of the highest earning graduates, we have that too.
The overall diversity of computer science sits quite high, ranking within the 91st percentile of all majors. The college with the highest composite diversity for computer science is Massachusetts Institute of Technology and here you can find our general list of the colleges with the most diversity. The overall financial diversity of the Computer Science major only is in the 50th percentile of all majors. Racial diversity is greater than financial diversity, in the 93rd percentile. Students who are not white, black, latino, or asian compose the largest proportion at 37% of those majoring in computer science. Additionally, 77% of scholars seeking a computer science degree are men.
The median rating of computer science professors is 3.8 stars, a rating that is 5% worse than the median score across all majors; this is a subpar score. If you are looking for the most popular computer science instructor nationally, look no further than Michael Rahni at Los Angeles Valley College. This might be shocking, but the highest ranked professors for computer science by student are at Southeastern Louisiana University. If we consider data beyond basic rankings it becomes clear that the college possessing comprehensively the best professors for computer science is Massachusetts Institute of Technology. You will find an explanation of our ever evolving ranking methodology for the best overall professors here, as well as some of the top examples of professors in the U.S.
Finally, the most difficult university to get into for computer science is Stanford University. While we do not necessarily see the value in it, we have a general list of the hardest colleges to get into. That being said, here at Authority we hope you believe that considering the higher education world through a lens mainly informed by superlatives could be said to be the root of many of higher education's fundamental issues. We at Authority hope you read our more focused pages on individual colleges and read a few of our insightful background pages on important things to consider as you continue your college search.