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.
4 of our top 50 universities
are not in the traditional US News Top 50, based on demonstrated skills
#4 Stony Brook
breaks into our top rankings — a university often overlooked by traditional rankings
Yale holds #1
with students in the 72nd percentile
Biggest mover: UPenn
Climbed 17 spots to #7 compared to last year's ranking.
9 dark horse universities
Smaller programs with outsized skill performance, including Stony Brook, Harvey Mudd, Williams, and 6 more.
Top 50 Universities
Ranked by median assessment performance of students. Search and sort to explore.
Rank | University |
|---|---|
| #1 |  Yale yale.edu |
| #2 |  MIT mit.edu |
| #3 |  CMU cmu.edu |
| #4 |  Stony Brook stonybrook.edu |
| #5 |  Rice rice.edu |
| #6 |  UCLA ucla.edu |
| #7 |  UPenn upenn.edu |
| #8 |  UC Santa Barbara ucsb.edu |
| #9 |  UC San Diego ucsd.edu |
| #10 |  Johns Hopkins jhu.edu |
| #11 |  Harvard harvard.edu |
| #12 |  Stanford stanford.edu |
| #13 |  Brown brown.edu |
| #14 |  UC Berkeley berkeley.edu |
| #15 |  Washington washington.edu |
| #16 |  Caltech caltech.edu |
| #17 |  Harvey Mudd hmc.edu |
| #18 |  Columbia columbia.edu |
| #19 |  USC usc.edu |
| #20 |  Cornell cornell.edu |
| #21 |  Duke duke.edu |
| #22 |  UChicago uchicago.edu |
| #23 |  UC Irvine uci.edu |
| #24 |  Illinois illinois.edu |
| #25 |  UT Austin utexas.edu |
| #26 |  UMass umass.edu |
| #27 |  Princeton princeton.edu |
| #28 |  Northwestern northwestern.edu |
| #29 |  UCSC ucsc.edu |
| #30 |  Michigan umich.edu |
| #31 |  Purdue purdue.edu |
| #32 |  UC Riverside ucr.edu |
| #33 |  NYU nyu.edu |
| #34 |  NC State ncsu.edu |
| #35 |  Texas A&M tamu.edu |
| #36 |  Georgia Tech gatech.edu |
| #37 |  Uw uw.edu |
| #38 |  Ucdavis ucdavis.edu |
| #39 |  Case case.edu |
| #40 |  Arizona State asu.edu |
| #41 |  Minnesota umn.edu |
| #42 |  Wisconsin wisc.edu |
| #43 |  Arizona arizona.edu |
| #44 |  Colorado colorado.edu |
| #45 |  Dartmouth dartmouth.edu |
| #46 |  Rit rit.edu |
| #47 |  WPI wpi.edu |
| #48 |  Santa Clara scu.edu |
| #49 |  Notre Dame nd.edu |
| #50 |  Northeastern northeastern.edu |
Where top talent goes
Assessment data reveals hiring patterns across industries for graduates from the highest-performing universities
UC Berkeley
USC
Michigan
UT Austin
UC San Diego
Northeastern
NYU
Columbia
Illinois
Georgia Tech
Cornell
CMU
UC Berkeley
USC
Michigan
UT Austin
UC San Diego
Northeastern
NYU
Columbia
Illinois
Georgia Tech
Cornell
CMUHidden gems
These universities may not top traditional ranking lists, but their graduates demonstrate strong programming and software engineering skills
Stony Brook
stonybrook.edu
Harvey Mudd
hmc.edu
Williams
williams.edu
RPI
rpi.edu
Swarthmore
swarthmore.edu
Bucknell
bucknell.edu
WPI
wpi.edu
Brandeis
brandeis.edu
Santa Clara
scu.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: 2021-02-01 to 2022-01-31
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.