A career in computer science is a rewarding, fulfilling option for STEM-focused students, and it’s also a great choice for maximizing your earning potential. However, not all schools and programs are created equal.
“Computer science majors have incredible earning potential, no matter the school, but in some cases, it’s about where you study as much as what. Colleges and universities located in close proximity to tech hubs like Silicon Valley or Silicon Alley are going to create great internships, campus recruiting and school-to-work opportunities for graduates,” says Aubrey Bach, senior manager, editorial and marketing, for compensation benchmarking and analysis firm PayScale. “There’s also going to be a greater concentration of alumni and networking opportunities in these areas, and often higher pay,” Bach says. Here, based on PayScale’s 2015-2016 College Salary Report, CIO.com reports on the top 10 schools for computer science based on median salary.
PayScale’s salary data is based on annual salary or hourly wage, bonuses, profit sharing, tips, commissions, overtime and other forms of cash earnings as applicable (but not equity compensation, cash value of retirement benefits, or value of other non-cash benefits) for alumni of 1,034 institutions with bachelor’s degrees only. Figures are for median salary (half of respondents earn more; half of respondents earn less) for early career (five or fewer years of experience) and mid-career (10 or more years of experience) earnings. The full report is available here. Information on enrollment, available programs and degrees comes from individual institutions’ publicly available data.