When deciding what colleges to apply to, the major you choose plays a big factor in the quality of education you’ll receive. Many colleges have great undergraduate and graduate programs in specific fields. For instance, Johns Hopkins has one of the best medical programs through its School of Medicine. In order to be a top applicant for these competitive schools, you should aim to have a high GPA, high class rank, high SAT/ACT score, and great extracurriculars. Computer science offers a plethora of job opportunities, especially if you graduated from a high-end undergraduate or graduate program. The number of undergraduate students enrolled in computer science has increased rapidly over the past few years, so competition has become increasingly difficult. As of 2020, these colleges have the best undergraduate programs for computer science in the United States.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
According to the U.S. News and World Report, MIT has the best undergraduate program for computer science. MIT is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts with approximately 4,530 undergraduates enrolled in the 2019-2020 academic year. MIT has an acceptance rate of around 7% with a graduation rate of 93%. MIT’s average enrollment cost is around $73,160 before aid and $18,278 after aid. Furthermore, around 60% of full-time undergraduate students receive aid or scholarships. MIT’s average SAT scores are between 1500-1570 and their average ACT scores are between 34-36. Due to the low acceptance rate and a highly competitive applicant pool, MIT is difficult to get into. However, if you’re interested in computer science and have exceptional stats, it’s worth applying to MIT.
Carnegie Mellon University
According to the U.S. News and World Report, Carnegie Mellon is tied at second for the best undergraduate program for computer science along with Stanford University and University of California - Berkeley. Carnegie Mellon is located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with approximately 7,022 undergraduates enrolled in the 2019-2020 academic year. Carnegie Mellon has an acceptance rate of around 17% with a graduation rate of 90%. Carnegie’s average enrollment cost is around $74,491 before aid and $32,674 after aid. Furthermore, around 70% of Carnegie Mellon’s students receive aid or scholarships. Carnegie’s average SAT scores are between 1450-1550 and their average ACT scores are between 33-35. Carnegie Mellon is relatively hard to get into but significantly less difficult than MIT.
Stanford University
According to the U.S. News and World Report, Stanford University is tied at second for the best undergraduate program for computer science along with Carnegie Mellon and University of California - Berkeley. Stanford University is located in Stanford, California with approximately 6,994 undergraduates enrolled in the 2019-2020 academic year. Stanford has an acceptance rate of around 4% with a graduation rate of 94%. Stanford’s average enrollment cost is around $74,570 before aid and $12,265 after aid. Furthermore, around 70% of Stanford’s students receive aid or scholarships. Stanford’s average SAT scores are between 1520-1570 and average ACT scores are between 32-35. Stanford has the lowest acceptance rate of any college in the U.S., which makes it difficult to get accepted.
University of California - Berkeley (UC Berkeley)
According to the U.S. News and World Report, UC Berkeley is tied at second for the best undergraduate program for computer science along with Stanford University and Carnegie Mellon. UC Berkeley is located in Berkeley, California with approximately 31,780 undergraduates enrolled in the 2019-2020 academic year. UC Berkeley has an acceptance rate of around 15% with a graduation rate of 92%. UC Berkeley’s average enrollment cost is around $39,376 before aid and $14,846 after aid. Furthermore, around 67% of UC Berkeley’s students receive aid or scholarships. UC Berkeley’s average SAT scores are between 1320-1530 and average ACT scores between 31-35. UC Berkeley is easier to get into compared to the other colleges in this list. However, compared to most colleges, it still has a highly competitive application process and applicant pool.
Although these universities are difficult to get accepted into, graduating from their undergraduate programs in computer science is valuable for jobs and future opportunities.
Sources
“The Best Undergraduate Computer Science Programs.” U.S. News & World Report, U.S. News & World Report, www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/computer-science-overall.
“Our Selection Process.” Admission Statistics : Stanford University, Stanford University, admission.stanford.edu/apply/selection/statistics.html.
“Student Profile: UC Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley.” Berkeley, UC Berkeley, admissions.berkeley.edu/student-profile.
“Admissions Statistics.” MIT Admissions, MIT, mitadmissions.org/apply/process/stats/.
“Warner Hall.” Carnegie Mellon, Carnegie Mellon, admission.enrollment.cmu.edu/pages/undergraduate-admission-statistics.
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