Top Universities in the US for Computer Science in 2018

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is ranked 13^th in the computer science ranking this year, again with very high scores for both research impact indicators. Computer science is part of the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, and undergraduate students can choose between a bachelor’s degree in computer science, or computer science and engineering, with the latter aimed at those who want to gain a strong foundation in computer science, but also have a strong interest in computer system hardware.

Princeton University retains its position of eighth in the world for computer science, with a near perfect score for the citations per paper indicator. The university has been at the forefront of computer science since Alan Turing, Alonzo Church, and John von Neumann were among its residents. Today, its computer science program emphasizes independent work as a key aspect of the curriculum, with students doing at least one independent design or research project.

Ranked sixth among the world’s top computer science schools, Harvard University receives a perfect score for its reputation among employers. Computer scientists at the university perform ground-breaking research in computational theory, systems & networks, privacy & security, artificial intelligence, imaging, linguistics, and more. The department has announced plans to expand to new state-of-the-art facilities in Allston in 2020.

University of California, Berkeley (UCB) retains its position of fourth in the world for computer science and is also fourth among the top universities in the US for this subject. UCB’s Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences Department offers two highly selective undergraduate courses, including the EECS Bachelor of Science, which combines the fundamentals of computer science and electrical engineering in one major to offer students a hands-on, interdisciplinary and dynamic education.

Ranked third among the top computer science schools in the US this year, Carnegie Mellon University, based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, consistently achieves its strongest score in the QS World University Rankings by Subject for computer science and achieved a perfect score in the academic reputation category.

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon have been credited with developments in various aspects of computer science, such as computer networks, parallel processing, programming languages, robotics, software engineering, and the invention of the smiley face emoticon.

Ranked second among the top universities in both the US and the world for computer science, Stanford University achieves perfect scores for both measures of research impact (citations per paper and H-index citations).

Stanford’s computer science department benefits from its location in the heart of Silicon Valley, and alumni from the department have gone on to found or co-found big names such as Netflix, Mozilla Firefox, YouTube, Whatsapp and Google, and current faculty members include Turing Award winners.

Consistently ranked first in our computer science ranking (and also the world leader in the QS World University Rankings® for six consecutive years), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) achieves its strongest score this year for employer reputation.

Its Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science is the largest in the university, and like UCB, offers an EECS undergraduate program which combines both subjects into a major with a flexible curriculum and practical, intensive coursework, providing students with a holistic view of the field.

There are dozens more top computer science schools in the US to choose from, with 10 more institutions ranked among the global top 50, including Columbia University (24^th), Cornell University (25^th), the University of Texas at Austin (27^th) and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (joint 28^th).

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