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Computer Science

Untouchables

The air up here is 90% theory, 10% pure ego. You will invent the things the rest of the industry uses 10 years from now.

# ▲ University Location Degrees Accept SAT Male/Female Intl Earnings ROI Employ
1 Stanford
Palo Alto, CA
Palo Alto, CA 446 4% 65% / 35% 11% $221,819 100 98% —
2 MIT
Cambridge, MA
Cambridge, MA 323 5% 58% / 42% 12% $206,801 100 94% —
3 U. of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA
Berkeley, CA 1,420 11% 74% / 26% 20% $201,729 100 98% —
4 Carnegie Mellon
Pittsburgh, PA
Pittsburgh, PA 296 11% 65% / 35% 26% $249,909 100 96% —

The Waitlist Kings

Every bit as good as the Big 4 at everything except telling people at parties where you go. You will out-publish, out-ship, and out-grind the Untouchables, and they will still get the TechCrunch headline.

# ▲ University Location Degrees Accept SAT Male/Female Intl Earnings ROI Employ
1 U. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Champaign, IL
Champaign, IL 704 37% 76% / 24% 29% $151,553 100 98% —
2 Georgia Tech
Atlanta, GA
Atlanta, GA 1,401 13% 73% / 27% 14% $152,626 100 96% —
3 U. of Washington
Seattle, WA
Seattle, WA 561 42% 65% / 35% 12% $147,290 100 94% —
4 Cornell
Ithaca, NY
Ithaca, NY 538 8% 62% / 38% 12% $206,801 100 96% —
5 U. of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI
Ann Arbor, MI 1,216 16% 74% / 26% 18% $149,173 100 98% —

Chalkboard Masochists

You thought you were building apps, but it is actually just discrete math, rigorous proofs, and existential dread. Ideal for future Quants and PhDs.

# ▲ University Location Degrees Accept SAT Male/Female Intl Earnings ROI Employ
1 Caltech
Pasadena, CA
Pasadena, CA 88 4% 59% / 41% 11% $173,460 100 100% —
2 Princeton
Princeton, NJ
Princeton, NJ 194 4% 58% / 42% 16% $201,352 100 100% —
3 Harvard
Cambridge, MA
Cambridge, MA 224 4% 66% / 34% 20% $206,318 100 97% —
4 U. of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX
Austin, TX 508 27% 70% / 30% 4% $131,367 99 94% —
5 U. of Chicago
Chicago, IL
Chicago, IL 174 5% 67% / 33% 14% $224,666 100 92% —
6 U. of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
Philadelphia, PA 95 5% 59% / 41% 17% $172,042 100 95% —
7 Columbia
New York, NY
New York, NY 402 5% 64% / 36% 23% $188,001 100 95% —
8 Yale
New Haven, CT
New Haven, CT 165 3% 72% / 28% 19% $254,314 100 100% —
9 Harvey Mudd
Claremont, CA
Claremont, CA 108 12% 56% / 44% 15% $210,413 100 95% —
10 Brown
Providence, RI
Providence, RI 300 6% 61% / 39% 16% $256,969 100 93% —

LeetCode Grinders

Heavy on systems, brutal data structures classes, and a direct pipeline to Big Tech. You will dream in dynamic programming and C++.

# ▲ University Location Degrees Accept SAT Male/Female Intl Earnings ROI Employ
1 UCLA
Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles, CA 379 9% 78% / 22% 16% $135,970 100 — —
2 U. of California, San Diego
La Jolla, CA
La Jolla, CA 883 29% 74% / 26% 23% $130,822 99 97% —
3 Purdue
West Lafayette, IN
West Lafayette, IN 758 43% 78% / 22% 20% $152,746 100 89% —
4 U. of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles, CA 475 11% 64% / 36% 18% $156,501 100 93% —
5 U. of Maryland, College Park
College Park, MD
College Park, MD 1,178 45% 79% / 21% 6% $126,991 99 100% —
6 U. of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA
Santa Barbara, CA 222 38% 75% / 25% 15% $131,187 99 95% —
7 Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA
Blacksburg, VA 527 55% 80% / 20% 10% $135,292 100 96% —
8 U. of Wisconsin - Madison
Madison, WI
Madison, WI 766 41% 82% / 18% 34% $119,290 99 96% —
9 U. of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA
Santa Barbara, CA 222 38% 75% / 25% 15% $131,187 99 95% —
10 New York University
New York, NY
New York, NY 520 9% 62% / 38% 33% $138,048 99 91% —
11 U. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC
Chapel Hill, NC 358 17% 72% / 28% 13% $126,013 99 98% —
12 U. of Rochester
Rochester, NY
Rochester, NY 210 42% 73% / 27% 41% $139,847 100 99% —
13 U. of Massachusetts - Amherst
Amherst, MA
Amherst, MA 464 60% 74% / 26% 25% $126,500 99 95% —
14 Illinois Institute of Technology
Chicago, IL
Chicago, IL 111 55% 79% / 21% 17% $112,687 98 93% —
15 U. of Virginia
Charlottesville, VA
Charlottesville, VA 591 16% 66% / 34% 6% $157,470 100 96% —

AI Hype Riders & Lab Rats

Heavy focus on research, bioinformatics, and making neural networks do parlor tricks. Less about building scalable web apps, more about publishing papers.

# ▲ University Location Degrees Accept SAT Male/Female Intl Earnings ROI Employ
1 U. of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
Philadelphia, PA 95 5% 59% / 41% 17% $172,042 100 95% —
2 Rice
Houston, TX
Houston, TX 197 8% 65% / 35% 17% $215,952 100 91% —
3 Johns Hopkins
Baltimore, MD
Baltimore, MD 146 6% 60% / 40% 22% $175,650 100 97% —
4 U. of Rochester
Rochester, NY
Rochester, NY 210 42% 73% / 27% 41% $139,847 100 99% —
5 Vanderbilt
Nashville, TN
Nashville, TN 170 5% 64% / 36% 28% $165,652 100 98% —
6 Tufts
Medford, MA
Medford, MA 222 11% 59% / 41% 14% $158,444 100 95% —
7 Duke
Durham, NC
Durham, NC 249 5% 63% / 37% 15% $206,495 100 99% —
8 Northwestern
Evanston, IL
Evanston, IL 137 7% 72% / 28% 20% $154,432 100 90% —

Co-op Purgatory

Actual software engineering. You will write code, deploy it, break production, and spend 12+ months working for a megacorp before you even graduate.

# ▲ University Location Degrees Accept SAT Male/Female Intl Earnings ROI Employ
1 Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo, CA
San Luis Obispo, CA 305 30% 77% / 23% 4% $136,546 100 100% —
2 Northeastern
Boston, MA
Boston, MA 745 17% 71% / 29% 12% $140,139 100 93% —
3 Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester, NY
Rochester, NY 348 67% 86% / 14% 4% $128,897 99 98% —
4 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy, NY
Troy, NY 267 63% 83% / 17% 16% $143,453 100 95% —
5 Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Worcester, MA
Worcester, MA 269 62% 71% / 29% 7% $142,090 100 96% —
6 Stevens Institute of Technology
Hoboken, NJ
Hoboken, NJ 248 51% 79% / 21% 2% $125,494 99 95% —
7 Case Western Reserve
Cleveland, OH
Cleveland, OH 183 35% 74% / 26% 20% $126,288 99 96% —
8 Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Terre Haute, IN
Terre Haute, IN 130 81% 82% / 18% 8% $153,480 100 100% —

10k-Student Server Crashers

Massive state school energy. You will learn a bit of everything, fight 500 kids for a seat in Intro to OS, and build random stuff at 48-hour hackathons.

# ▲ University Location Degrees Accept SAT Male/Female Intl Earnings ROI Employ
1 U. of California, Davis
Davis, CA
Davis, CA 481 46% 72% / 28% 17% $132,914 100 96% —
2 U. of Colorado Boulder
Boulder, CO
Boulder, CO 454 71% 83% / 17% 7% $118,841 99 92% —
3 U. of California, Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, CA
Santa Cruz, CA 684 82% 75% / 25% 5% $108,506 98 97% —
4 Texas A&M University - College Station
College Station, TX
College Station, TX 440 52% 81% / 19% 5% $126,770 99 100% —
5 North Carolina State
Raleigh, NC
Raleigh, NC 386 40% 77% / 23% 6% $114,489 99 98% —
6 U. of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT
Salt Lake City, UT 349 82% 81% / 19% 13% $115,430 99 93% —
7 U. of Texas at Dallas
Dallas, TX
Dallas, TX 1,137 65% 76% / 24% 8% $104,749 97 96% —
8 Arizona State
Tempe, AZ
Tempe, AZ 1,048 88% 84% / 16% 22% $108,343 98 94% —
9 Ohio State
Columbus, OH
Columbus, OH 466 49% 84% / 16% 11% $110,096 98 97% —
10 Michigan State
East Lansing, MI
East Lansing, MI 542 83% 78% / 22% 15% $102,036 96 99% —
11 Brigham Young
Provo, UT
Provo, UT 227 68% 85% / 15% 5% $131,539 100 95% —
12 U. of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA
Riverside, CA 264 86% 84% / 16% 6% $105,131 97 100% —
13 Boston University
Boston, MA
Boston, MA 440 13% 70% / 30% 26% $128,914 99 98% —
14 U. of California, Irvine
Irvine, CA
Irvine, CA 809 29% 73% / 27% 17% $115,189 99 90% —
15 U. of Florida
Gainesville, FL
Gainesville, FL 619 20% 77% / 23% 3% $127,629 100 98% —
16 Rutgers University - New Brunswick
New Brunswick, NJ
New Brunswick, NJ 924 68% 80% / 20% 11% $123,624 99 95% —
17 U. of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Minneapolis, MN
Minneapolis, MN 617 65% 77% / 23% 14% $110,378 98 96% —
18 Michigan State
East Lansing, MI
East Lansing, MI 542 83% 78% / 22% 15% $102,036 96 99% —
19 Brigham Young
Provo, UT
Provo, UT 227 68% 85% / 15% 5% $131,539 100 95% —

Wait, We Have a CS Major?

Your school is prestigious, but mostly for future politicians, doctors, or investment bankers. The CS degree is surprisingly theoretical or tucked away in a basement.

# ▲ University Location Degrees Accept SAT Male/Female Intl Earnings ROI Employ
1 Dartmouth
Hanover, NH
Hanover, NH 136 6% 67% / 33% 24% $183,665 100 98% —
2 Washington University in St Louis
Saint Louis, MO
Saint Louis, MO 211 12% 66% / 34% 19% $177,482 100 100% —
3 U. of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN
Notre Dame, IN 139 9% 68% / 32% 8% $155,091 100 96% —
4 Emory
Atlanta, GA
Atlanta, GA 107 10% 70% / 30% 29% $165,093 100 94% —
5 Georgetown
Washington, DC
Washington, DC 55 14% 47% / 53% 13% $155,246 100 100% —
6 William & Mary
Williamsburg, VA
Williamsburg, VA 141 37% 73% / 27% 6% $143,572 100 100% —