2023 Best Computer Science Doctor's Degree Schools
When it comes to higher education, there are a lot of options for computer science students. As online education oppotunities continue to grow, you're not restricted to just schools in your local area anymore. Even some of the 'big name' schools are offering online courses. On top of that, there are a considerable number of trade schools and bootcamp that offer fast-track entry to many fields.
To help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Computer Science Degree Search has developed this Best Computer Science Doctor's Degree Schools ranking. This report analyzed 173 schools in the United States to see which ones offered the best doctor's degree programs for computer science students. To come up with a school's ranking, we analyzed numerous factors related to post-graduation wages, the quality of education offered by the school, average accumulated student debt, and more.
View our full ranking methodology.
Featured schools near , edit
Top Computer Science Doctor's Degree Schools in the United States
Learn more about these excellent schools below:
Our 2023 rankings named California Institute of Technology the best school in the United States for computer science students working on their doctor’s degree.
Out of the 173 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Stanford University landed the # 2 spot on the list.
Online graduate courses are available at Stanford, but you will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your field of interest. In fact, around 10% of the graduate population registered for at least one online class in 2019-2020.
The excellent doctor’s degree programs at Rice University helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best computer science schools in the United States.
You may have the opportunity to take online graduate classes at Rice. In fact, around 86% of the graduate population registered for at least one online class in 2019-2020.
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Brown University. The school came in at #4 on this year’s Best Computer Science Doctor’s Degree Schools list.
Brown does have options available for those who want to take online graduate classes. You will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your specific major. In 2019-2020 about 59% of the graduate students at the school chose to take one or more online courses.
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend University of Pennsylvania. The school came in at #5 on this year’s Best Computer Science Doctor’s Degree Schools list.
Online graduate courses are available at UPenn, but you will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your field of interest. To give an idea of how popular online courses are at the school, 74% of graduates took at least one course online in 2019-2020.
With a ranking of #6, Massachusetts Institute of Technology did quite well on this year’s best schools for computer science students working on their doctor’s degree.
MIT is one of the schools on our list that is primarily online. Each graduate student at the school took at least one class online.
With a ranking of #7, Yale University did quite well on this year’s best schools for computer science students working on their doctor’s degree.
Online graduate courses are available at Yale, but you will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your field of interest. In fact, around 98% of the graduate population registered for at least one online class in 2019-2020.
Carnegie Mellon University landed the #8 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best doctor’s degree computer science programs.
If you are interested in distance education, be sure to check with the school since Carnegie Mellon does offer online graduate classes for certain majors. In 2019-2020 about 6% of the graduate students at the school chose to take one or more online courses.
Johns Hopkins University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for computer science students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #9 on the list.
Johns Hopkins does have options available for those who want to take online graduate classes. You will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your specific major. In 2019-2020 about 85% of the graduate students at the school chose to take one or more online courses.
Cornell University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for computer science students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #10 on the list.
Online graduate courses are available at Cornell, but you will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your field of interest. Of all the graduate students enrolled at the school during the 2019-2020 academic year, around 85% took at least some of their classes online.
Duke University ranked #11 on this year’s Best Computer Science Doctor’s Degree Schools list.
You may have the opportunity to take online graduate classes at Duke. During the 2019-2020 year, about 2% of the graduate students at the school took at least one online course.
Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus landed the #12 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best doctor’s degree computer science programs.
You may have the opportunity to take online graduate classes at Georgia Tech. To give an idea of how popular online courses are at the school, 88% of graduates took at least one course online in 2019-2020.
Read full report on Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus
Harvard University came in at #13 in this year’s edition of the Best Computer Science Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking.
Some students may be able to take online graduate classes at Harvard. Of all the graduate students enrolled at the school during the 2019-2020 academic year, around 96% took at least some of their classes online.
The University of Texas at Austin came in at #14 in this year’s edition of the Best Computer Science Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking.
Online graduate courses are available at UT Austin, but you will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your field of interest. To give an idea of how popular online courses are at the school, 66% of graduates took at least one course online in 2019-2020.
With a ranking of #15, University of California - Berkeley did quite well on this year’s best schools for computer science students working on their doctor’s degree.
Depending on your major, you may be able to take online graduate classes at UC Berkeley. In fact, around 90% of the graduate population registered for at least one online class in 2019-2020.
University of Virginia - Main Campus did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for computer science students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #16 on the list.
Online graduate courses are available at University of Virginia, but you will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your field of interest. Of all the graduate students enrolled at the school during the 2019-2020 academic year, around 75% took at least some of their classes online.
Dartmouth College came in at #17 in this year’s edition of the Best Computer Science Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking.
One thing to take note of is that Dartmouth does offer online graduate classes in some areas. To give an idea of how popular online courses are at the school, 57% of graduates took at least one course online in 2019-2020.
Virginia Tech landed the #18 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best doctor’s degree computer science programs.
If you are interested in distance education, be sure to check with the school since Virginia Tech does offer online graduate classes for certain majors. During the 2019-2020 year, about 63% of the graduate students at the school took at least one online course.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for computer science students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #19 on the list.
UIUC does have options available for those who want to take online graduate classes. You will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your specific major. During the 2019-2020 year, about 90% of the graduate students at the school took at least one online course.
Read full report on University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Vanderbilt University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for computer science students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #20 on the list.
Vanderbilt does offer online graduate classes for certain degree levels. During the 2019-2020 year, about 67% of the graduate students at the school took at least one online course.
With a ranking of #21, University of Wisconsin - Madison did quite well on this year’s best schools for computer science students working on their doctor’s degree.
UW - Madison does offer online graduate classes for certain degree levels. In 2019-2020 about 75% of the graduate students at the school chose to take one or more online courses.
With a ranking of #22, University of Washington - Seattle Campus did quite well on this year’s best schools for computer science students working on their doctor’s degree.
Online graduate courses are available at UW Seattle, but you will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your field of interest. In fact, around 7% of the graduate population registered for at least one online class in 2019-2020.
Northwestern University ranked #23 on this year’s Best Computer Science Doctor’s Degree Schools list.
If you are interested in distance education, be sure to check with the school since Northwestern does offer online graduate classes for certain majors. During the 2019-2020 year, about 2% of the graduate students at the school took at least one online course.
Michigan State University came in at #24 in this year’s edition of the Best Computer Science Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking.
Michigan State does offer online graduate classes for certain degree levels. Of all the graduate students enrolled at the school during the 2019-2020 academic year, around 65% took at least some of their classes online.
Southern Methodist University landed the #25 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best doctor’s degree computer science programs.
Depending on your major, you may be able to take online graduate classes at SMU. During the 2019-2020 year, about 40% of the graduate students at the school took at least one online course.
Rest of the Top 15% Best Computer Science Doctor's Degree Schools in the United States
Not only did these schools make the top 26 list, but they also landed in the top 15% of this year’s ranking:
Narrow Schools by Region
Honorable Mentions
These schools also performed well in our best computer science schools ranking:
Rank | School | Location |
---|---|---|
27 | University of Michigan - Ann Arbor | Ann Arbor, MI |
28 | University of Florida | Gainesville, FL |
29 | University of Chicago | Chicago, IL |
30 | University of Delaware | Newark, DE |
30 | Georgetown University | Washington, DC |
32 | University of Nebraska - Lincoln | Lincoln, NE |
33 | Tufts University | Medford, MA |
34 | Washington University in St Louis | Saint Louis, MO |
35 | New York University | New York, NY |
Notes and References
Footnotes
*These averages are for the top 25 schools only.
References
- Read more about our ranking methodology.
- The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of our data about colleges.
- Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
- Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.
More about our data sources and methodologies.
Featured Schools
![]() |
Southern New Hampshire University You have goals. Southern New Hampshire University can help you get there. Whether you need a bachelor's degree to get into a career or want a master's degree to move up in your current career, SNHU has an online program for you. Find your degree from over 200 online programs. Learn More > |