Computer Science at Stanford University

If you plan to study computer science, take a look at what Stanford University has to offer and decide if the program is a good match for you. Get started with the following essential facts.

Stanford is located in Stanford, California and approximately 15,953 students attend the school each year. Of the 260 students who graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University in 2021, 260 of them were computer science majors.

Want to know more about the career opportunities in this field? Check out the Careers in Computer Science section at the bottom of this page.

Stanford Computer Science Degrees Available

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science
• Master’s Degree in Computer Science
• Doctorate Degree in Computer Science

Online Classes Are Available at Stanford

If you are a working student or have a busy schedule, you may want to consider taking online classes. While these classes used to be mostly populated by returning adults, more and more traditional students are turning to this option.

For those who are interested in distance learning, Stanford does offer online courses in computer science for the following degree levels:

• Master’s Degree

Stanford Computer Science Rankings

The following rankings from College Factual show how the computer science progam at Stanford compares to programs at other colleges and universities.

Note: Rankings don't always give a complete picture of a school's strengths and weaknesses, so it's a good idea to extend your research and also look at other factors when trying to decide if the school is right for you.

Bachelor’s Degree Overall Quality & Other Notable Rankings

The computer science major at Stanford is not ranked on College Factual’s Best Colleges and Universities for Computer Science. This could be for a number of reasons, such as not having enough data on the major or school to make an accurate assessment of its quality.

Ranking Type	Rank
Best General Computer Science Master’s Degree Schools	1
	1
	1
	1
	1
Best General Computer Science Doctor’s Degree Schools	2
Best General Computer Science Schools	3
Best General Computer Science Bachelor’s Degree Schools	3
Most Focused General Computer Science Doctor’s Degree Schools	4
Most Popular General Computer Science Doctor’s Degree Schools	5
Most Popular General Computer Science Master’s Degree Schools	5
Most Focused General Computer Science Master’s Degree Schools	12
Most Popular General Computer Science Schools	16
Most Focused General Computer Science Schools	17
Best Value General Computer Science Doctor’s Degree Schools	18
Most Popular General Computer Science Bachelor’s Degree Schools	35
Best Value General Computer Science Master’s Degree Schools	42
Most Focused General Computer Science Bachelor’s Degree Schools	52
Best Value General Computer Science Bachelor’s Degree Schools	53
Best Value General Computer Science Schools	98

In 2021, 332 students received their master’s degree in computer science from Stanford. This makes it the #5 most popular school for computer science master’s degree candidates in the country.

There were 36 students who received their doctoral degrees in computer science, making the school the #5 most popular school in the United States for this category of students.

Computer Science Student Demographics at Stanford

Take a look at the following statistics related to the make-up of the computer science majors at Stanford University.

Stanford Computer Science Bachelor’s Program

Of the 260 students who earned a bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Stanford in 2020-2021, 66% were men and 34% were women. The typical computer science bachelor's degree program is made up of only 23% women. So female students are more repesented at Stanford since its program graduates 11% more women than average.

Prospective students may be interested in knowing that this school graduates 27% more racial-ethnic minorities in its computer science bachelor's program than the national average.*

The following table and chart show the race/ethnicity for students who recently graduated from Stanford University with a bachelor's in computer science.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	93
Black or African American	17
Hispanic or Latino	38
White	56
International Students	38
Other Races/Ethnicities	18

Stanford Computer Science Master’s Program

Of the 332 computer science students who graduated with a master's degree in 2020-2021 from Stanford, about 71% were men and 29% were women.

In the computer science master's program at this school, racial-ethnic minorities make up 50% of degree recipients. That is 15% better than the national average.*

The following table and chart show the race/ethnicity for students who recently graduated from Stanford University with a master's in computer science.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	122
Black or African American	4
Hispanic or Latino	20
White	71
International Students	85
Other Races/Ethnicities	30

Stanford also has a doctoral program available in computer science. In 2021, 36 students graduated with a doctor's degree in this field.

Careers That Computer Science Grads May Go Into

A degree in computer science can lead to the following careers. Since job numbers and average salaries can vary by geographic location, we have only included the numbers for CA, the home state for Stanford University.

Occupation	Jobs in CA	Average Salary in CA
Software Applications Developers	148,550	$127,950
Systems Software Developers	88,910	$131,700
Computer Workers	74,690	$103,270
Computer and Information Systems Managers	63,640	$180,250
Computer Programmers	29,740	$97,470

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• Image Credit: By Pere Joan under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.