CodeSignal's
University Ranking
Report
A data-driven ranking of universities based on the demonstrated programming and software engineering skills of their graduates.
Key findings
Key insights from analyzing real-world engineering skills across universities based on our skills-based ranking methodology.
18 of our top 50 universities
are not in the traditional US News Top 50, based on demonstrated skills
#2 Stony Brook
breaks into our top rankings — a university often overlooked by traditional rankings
MIT holds #1
with students in the 71st percentile
Biggest mover: San Jose State
Climbed 27 spots to #12 compared to last year's ranking.
7 dark horse universities
Smaller programs with outsized skill performance, including Stony Brook, Villanova, San Jose State, and 4 more.
Top 50 Universities
Ranked by median assessment performance of students. Search and sort to explore.
Rank | University |
|---|---|
| #1 |  MIT mit.edu |
| #2 |  Stony Brook stonybrook.edu |
| #3 |  CMU cmu.edu |
| #4 |  UCLA ucla.edu |
| #5 |  Yale yale.edu |
| #6 |  Duke duke.edu |
| #7 |  Georgia Tech gatech.edu |
| #8 |  USC usc.edu |
| #9 |  UC San Diego ucsd.edu |
| #10 |  Caltech caltech.edu |
| #11 |  Rice rice.edu |
| #12 |  San Jose State sjsu.edu |
| #13 |  Harvard harvard.edu |
| #14 |  Cornell cornell.edu |
| #15 |  Brown brown.edu |
| #16 |  UT Austin utexas.edu |
| #17 |  UPenn upenn.edu |
| #18 |  Illinois illinois.edu |
| #19 |  UChicago uchicago.edu |
| #20 |  UC Berkeley berkeley.edu |
| #21 |  Columbia columbia.edu |
| #22 |  Syracuse syr.edu |
| #23 |  Johns Hopkins jhu.edu |
| #24 |  Michigan umich.edu |
| #25 |  Arizona State asu.edu |
| #26 |  UC Irvine uci.edu |
| #27 |  Dartmouth dartmouth.edu |
| #28 |  Purdue purdue.edu |
| #29 |  Northwestern northwestern.edu |
| #30 |  Texas A&M tamu.edu |
| #31 |  Princeton princeton.edu |
| #32 |  Stanford stanford.edu |
| #33 |  Indiana indiana.edu |
| #34 |  NYU nyu.edu |
| #35 |  Ucdavis ucdavis.edu |
| #36 |  Santa Clara scu.edu |
| #37 |  Florida ufl.edu |
| #38 |  UC Santa Barbara ucsb.edu |
| #39 |  Vanderbilt vanderbilt.edu |
| #40 |  Northeastern northeastern.edu |
| #41 |  Harvey Mudd hmc.edu |
| #42 |  NC State ncsu.edu |
| #43 |  Colorado colorado.edu |
| #44 |  Notre Dame nd.edu |
| #45 |  UIC uic.edu |
| #46 |  UT Dallas utdallas.edu |
| #47 |  UC Riverside ucr.edu |
| #48 |  UMass umass.edu |
| #49 |  Wisconsin wisc.edu |
| #50 |  Rutgers rutgers.edu |
Where top talent goes
Assessment data reveals hiring patterns across industries for graduates from the highest-performing universities
Northeastern
USC
UC Berkeley
CMU
UT Austin
Michigan
Columbia
Cornell
NYU
MIT
Illinois
Georgia Tech
Northeastern
USC
UC Berkeley
CMU
UT Austin
Michigan
Columbia
Cornell
NYU
MIT
Illinois
Georgia TechRanking trends over time
How the top 10 universities have moved in the rankings from 2021 to 2026
Hidden gems
These universities may not top traditional ranking lists, but their graduates demonstrate strong programming and software engineering skills
Stony Brook
stonybrook.edu
Villanova
villanova.edu
San Jose State
sjsu.edu
Brandeis
brandeis.edu
Grinnell
grinnell.edu
Santa Clara
scu.edu
Harvey Mudd
hmc.edu
Methodology
A transparent look at our data-driven ranking methodology
Data-driven skills-based rankings
Unlike traditional university rankings that rely on reputation surveys and funding metrics, our ranking is based entirely on the demonstrated programming and software engineering skills of each university's students, as measured through standardized assessments.
Inclusion Criteria
- Proctored and successfully verified results only
- Minimum 30 unique students per university
- Best score per student (not averages across attempts)
- Assessment period: 2024-02-01 to 2025-01-31
Scoring Method
Universities are ranked by their students' median percentile on CodeSignal's General Coding Assessment (GCA) and Industry Coding Assessment (ICA). The percentile represents where a university's typical student falls compared to all test-takers.