Top Universities in the US for Computer Science

Click here to read an updated version of this article, based on the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2018.

Are you thinking of studying computer science in the United States? The country has a strong presence in the computer science ranking in the latest edition of the QS World University Rankings by Subject, boasting an impressive 90 entries out of the 500 featured. Read on for an overview of the top 10 universities in the US for computer science, plus other high-ranking US institutions in this field.

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Frequently found at the top of the subject rankings tables, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is ranked 1^st for computer science and has also been the world’s leading university in the overall QS World University Rankings® for five consecutive years. MIT’s computer science department, combined with electrical engineering, is the largest department at the institution. The university is well-known for its innovative research in this area, with its computer science faculty and researchers having made fundamental contributions to cybernetics, artificial intelligence, computer languages, machine learning, robotics, and cryptography.

2. Stanford University

Ranked 2^nd both for computer science and in the overall World University Rankings this year, Stanford University’s setting near the famous Silicon  Valley in California makes it unique amongst these top universities in the US, with many of the world’s largest high-tech corporations right on its doorstep. Stanford’s computer science department was founded in 1965 and is part of the university’s School of Engineering.

3. Harvard University

Harvard University is ranked 4^th in the world in the latest computer science ranking. Its computer science department is part of the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (founded in 1847, with computer science courses available from 1984). Famous technology magnates to have studied at Harvard include Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerburg (both of whom famously ‘dropped out’ to pursue their careers in tech).

4. Carnegie Mellon University

The next of the top universities in the US for computer science is Carnegie Mellon University, based in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Within the QS World University Rankings by Subject, Carnegie Mellon University achieves its strongest score in the field of computer science, ranked 5^th in the world in this field. Its School of Computer Science is based at the Gates and Hillman Centers, a US$98 million complex which opened in 2009 and has achieved LEED Gold certification for its high levels of sustainability.

5. University of California, Berkeley (UCB)

The University of California, Berkeley is ranked 7^th in the world for computer science this year, and like MIT combines its computer science school with electrical engineering. The Turing Award, known as the ‘Nobel Prize in computing’ has been awarded to 11 alumni and 10 past and present faculty members of Berkeley, including Douglas Engelbart, the inventor of the computer mouse.

6. Princeton University

Ranked 10^th in the world for computer science, Princeton University’s computer science department is part of the university’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, in which 1,900 students are enrolled. Its alumni include ‘father of computer science’ Alan Turing, computer scientists Alonzo Church and John von Neumann, and Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos.

7. University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is ranked 16^th in the world for computer science this year. Its computer science faculty is part of the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, which is credited as being ‘the birthplace of the internet’, as the first transmission of what would become the internet was sent from the university’s Boelter Hall in 1969.

8. Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech)

The next of the top universities in the US for computer science is Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), up 14 places this year to rank 25^th for computer science. Its College of Computing has about 4,570 students enrolled on 18 degree programs and is located at the Klaus Advanced Computing Building (KACB), a LEED Gold certified building with six research centers and 70 research laboratories.

9. Cornell University

Heading to the state of New York, Cornell University is currently ranked joint 26^th in the world for computer science, sharing this spot with Canada’s University of Waterloo. Its department of computer science was established in 1965, making it one of the oldest of its kind in the country. Based in Ithaca, the university runs a technology-focused graduate campus in New York City, known as Cornell Tech.

=10. California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

Sharing 28^th place in the world for computer science this year, California Institute of Technology is known as one of the US’s top tech schools, with a noted alumni of scientific researchers, astronauts and business founders, including Sabeer Bhatia (founder of Hotmail). Like the university itself, the Computing and Mathematical Sciences Faculty is small, with only 20 faculty members and 150 students.

=10. University of Washington

Joining Caltech at joint 28^th in the world for computer science, the University of Washington’s college of computer science and engineering was established as an inter-college graduate program in 1967. Undergraduates often participate in research, with 33 students at the university winning the Computing Research Association Undergraduate Research Award over a decade, more than any other program in the nation.

Other top universities in the US for computer science

Many more top universities in the US are included in the computer science ranking, including the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (30^th), Columbia University (joint 31^st) and the University of Texas at Austin (34^th). Six more US universities feature in the global top 50 for computer science, and eight more in the top 100. View the full computer science ranking here.

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