Best universities in the US for computer science degrees 2024

Top universities in the US for computer science degrees 2024

Scroll down for the full list of best universities for computer science in the US

US computer science rank 2024	Computer science rank 2024	University	State
1	2	Stanford University	California
2	3	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Massachusetts
3	4	Carnegie Mellon University	Pennsylvania
4	6	Harvard University	Massachusetts
5	9	Princeton University	New Jersey
6	10	University of California, Berkeley	California
7	13	California Institute of Technology	California
8	14	Cornell University	New York
9	18	University of Washington	Washington
10	19	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	Illinois

Not only are the world’s biggest tech companies­ such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Apple headquartered in the US, it’s also home to some of the best universities in the world for computer science degrees.

Many computing courses in the US focus on developing the practical skills and real-world experience that students need to enter the technology industry.

There are 124 US universities in the THE Computer Science Rankings 2024. These are spread across the country from California to New York and include a number of specialist technology colleges.

Below are the best universities in US for computer science degrees.

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Best universities for computer science degrees in the world
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5. Princeton University

Princeton is one of the oldest universities in the US having been established in 1746. 

Teaching within the university's computer science department covers a wide-range of topics including programming languages, machine learning, robotics, computational biology and human-computer interaction among many others. 

At the undergraduate level, students have the freedom to design their own courses based on their interests. All undergraduate students are also expected to carry out at least one research project while supervised by a member of faculty. 

The department also offers postgraduate and PhD programmes. 

4. Harvard University

Dating back to 1636, Harvard University is the oldest university in the US. It’s a member of the Ivy League and regarded as one of the most prestigious institutions in the world.

Courses at Harvard are designed to be flexible. Computer science students can combine their studies with other fields, including mathematics, physics, economics, psychology, and linguistics. The introduction to computer science class at Harvard is among the university’s most popular courses.

The computer science concentration covers topics ranging from cryptography to sensor motes. Students also have the opportunity to meet influential thought leaders in the field and use the latest tools and technologies, such as grid computing.

A range of clubs and societies fall under the computer science and technology umbrella, including the Harvard Undergraduate Robotics Club and Harvard Video Game Development Club.

Harvard alumni include Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft; and Mark Zuckerberg, who famously invented Facebook while still a student at the university.

3. Carnegie Mellon University

Located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university established in 1900 by Scottish industrialist Andrew Carnegie.

Carnegie Mellon’s school of computer science offers undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in areas including neural computation, computational biology, language technologies and machine learning. 

Undergraduates can undertake research projects in areas such as robotics and human-computer interaction. In the spring, students get to present the results of their work at the university-wide “Meeting of the Minds” celebration of undergraduate research.

There are also a wide range of master’s programmes, many of them being some of the first in the world to be offered. These include the master’s in automated science and master’s in computer vision.

The university conducts research in areas including brain science and driverless cars. It was also the first institution, via professor Scott Fahlman in 1982, to create a “smile” in an email.

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What can you do with a computer science degree?

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2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is an independent, co-educational, private research university based in the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Undergraduates are enrolled on a flexible curriculum, allowing them to focus on both theory and practical problems in computer science. Students can major in computer science or take computer science with another subject for a joint degree. 

The undergraduate computer science programme includes compulsory units in programming, software construction and AI, as well as electives in areas such as database systems, language engineering and micro-computing.

There is no master’s degree in computer science at the university, but there is a doctoral programme.

Technological advances accredited to MIT include radar and the invention of magnetic core memory, which enabled the development of digital computers.

MIT computer science graduates have gone on to found some of the most influential tech companies. These include Robert Metcalfe, co-inventor of Ethernet; and Drew Houston, co-founder of Dropbox.

1. Stanford University

Stanford University’s computer science department was established in 1965 and offers a range of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees.

Stanford’s undergraduate computer science programme covers areas such as programming, AI, biocomputation, computer engineering and graphics. All students take the same six courses in the first year. In the latter half of their degree they can choose one area to focus on.

Postgraduates are able to “shop around” for a two-week period and try as many different classes as they like, then decide which courses they want to continue with. Computer science students can take courses in areas including software theory, theoretical computer science and computer and network security.

Given the institution’s focus on innovation, it is no surprise that Stanford graduates are famous for their entrepreneurship. Alumni include the founders of Google, Netflix, WhatsApp, Instagram and Palantir Technologies. In fact, companies founded by Stanford affiliates generate more than $2.7 trillion annual revenue, which would equate to the 10th largest economy in the world.

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Top universities in the US for computer science degrees 2024

Click each institution to view its World University Ranking 2024 profile

US computer science rank 2024	Computer science rank 2024	University	State
1	2	Stanford University	California
2	3	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Massachusetts
3	4	Carnegie Mellon University	Pennsylvania
4	6	Harvard University	Massachusetts
5	9	Princeton University	New Jersey
6	10	University of California, Berkeley	California
7	13	California Institute of Technology	California
8	14	Cornell University	New York
9	18	University of Washington	Washington
10	19	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	Illinois
11	21	University of California, Los Angeles	California
12	22	Georgia Institute of Technology	Georgia
13	23	Yale University	Connecticut
14	24	Columbia University	New York
15	27	Johns Hopkins University	Maryland
16	29	New York University	New York
17	32	University of Texas at Austin	Texas
18	34	University of Pennsylvania	Pennsylvania
19	36	University of California, San Diego	California
20	37	The University of Chicago	Illinois
21	41	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	Michigan
22	47	University of Maryland, College Park	Maryland
23	54	Purdue University West Lafayette	Indiana
24	57	University of Massachusetts	Massachusetts
25	=59	Duke University	North Carolina
26	63	University of Southern California	California
27	65	University of California, Santa Barbara	California
28	68	University of Wisconsin-Madison	Wisconsin
29	=70	University of California, Irvine	California
30	74	Brown University	Rhode Island
31	88	Michigan State University	Michigan
32	90	Northwestern University	Illinois
33	91	Boston University	Massachusetts
34	92	Northeastern University, US	Illinois
35	=93	Rice University	Texas
36	=97	Penn State (Main campus)	Pennsylvania
37	=99	University of California, Davis	California
=38	101–125	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	North Carolina
=38	101–125	Texas A&M University	Texas
=38	101–125	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	Virginia
=41	126–150	University of California, Riverside	California
=41	126–150	University of Colorado Boulder	Colorado
=41	126–150	University of Illinois Chicago	Illinois
=41	126–150	Stony Brook University	New York
=45	151–175	Arizona State University (Tempe)	Arizona
=45	151–175	North Carolina State University	North Carolina
=45	151–175	University of Notre Dame	Indiana
=45	151–175	Ohio State University (Main campus)	Ohio
=45	151–175	Rutgers University – New Brunswick	New Jersey
=45	151–175	University of Virginia (Main campus)	Virginia
=51	176–200	University at Buffalo	New York
=51	176–200	University of California, Santa Cruz	California
=51	176–200	Dartmouth College	New Hampshire
=51	176–200	University of Florida	Florida
=51	176–200	University of Minnesota	Minnesota
=51	176–200	University of Rochester	Rochester
=57	201–250	Case Western Reserve University	Ohio
=57	201–250	University of Central Florida	Florida
=57	201–250	Iowa State University	Iowa
=57	201–250	New Jersey Institute of Technology	New Jersey
=57	201–250	University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh campus	Pennsylvania
=57	201–250	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	New York
=57	201–250	Stevens Institute of Technology	New Jersey
=57	201–250	SUNY Binghamton University	New York
=57	201–250	Vanderbilt University	Tennessee
=57	201–250	Washington University in St Louis	Missouri
=67	251–300	University of Delaware	Delaware
=67	251–300	Indiana University	Indiana
=67	251–300	University of Iowa	Iowa
=67	251–300	Louisiana State University	Louisiana
=67	251–300	Temple University	Pennsylvania
=67	251–300	William & Mary	Indiana
=73	301–400	Florida Atlantic University	Florida
=73	301–400	Florida International University	Florida
=73	301–400	George Mason University	Virginia
=73	301–400	George Washington University	Washington DC
=73	301–400	University of Georgia	Georgia
=73	301–400	Illinois Institute of Technology	Illinois
=73	301–400	University of Kentucky	Kentucky
=73	301–400	Lehigh University	Pennsylvania
=73	301–400	University of Maryland, Baltimore County	Maryland
=73	301–400	Missouri University of Science and Technology	Missouri
=73	301–400	Old Dominion University	Virginia
=73	301–400	University of Oregon	Oregon
=73	301–400	Syracuse University	New York
=73	301–400	University of Texas at Arlington	Texas
=73	301–400	University of Texas at Dallas	Texas
=73	301–400	The University of Texas at San Antonio	Texas
=73	301–400	University of Utah	Utah
=73	301–400	Washington State University	Washington
=73	301–400	Wayne State University	Michigan
=73	301–400	Worcester Polytechnic Institute	Massachusetts
=93	401–500	University of Arizona	Arizona
=93	401–500	University of Connecticut	Connecticut
=93	401–500	Florida State University	Florida
=93	401–500	Georgetown University	Washington DC
=93	401–500	University of Houston	Texas
=93	401–500	University of Miami	Florida
=93	401–500	Mississippi State University	Mississippi
=93	401–500	University of North Carolina at Charlotte	North Carolina
=93	401–500	Oklahoma State University	Oklahoma
=93	401–500	University of Rhode Island	Rhode Island
=93	401–500	University of South Florida	Florida
=93	401–500	Texas Tech University	Texas
=93	401–500	Tufts University	Massachusetts
=93	401–500	Virginia Commonwealth University	Virginia
=107	501–600	University of Arkansas	Arkansas
=107	501–600	Drexel University	Pennsylvania
=107	501–600	Georgia State University	Georgia
=107	501–600	University of Hawai’i at Mānoa	Hawai'i
=107	501–600	University of Kansas	Kansas
=107	501–600	Kansas State University	Kansas
=107	501–600	University of Memphis	Tennessee
=107	501–600	University of Nevada, Las Vegas	Nevada
=107	501–600	Oakland University	Michigan
=107	501–600	Rochester Institute of Technology	New York
=117	601–800	University of Alabama	Alabama
=117	601–800	Colorado State University, Fort Collins	Colorado
=117	601–800	Georgia Southern University	Georgia
=117	601–800	New Mexico State University (Main campus)	New Mexico
=117	601–800	San Diego State University	California
=117	601–800	University of Texas at El Paso	Texas
=123	801–1000	Portland State University	Oregon
=123	801–1000	Texas State University	Texas