Nearly 1 in 3 top-performing students come from universities overlooked by traditional rankings
SAN FRANCISCO, May 14, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — CodeSignal, a leading skills assessment and experiential learning platform, today unveils its fourth annual University Ranking Report, an university ranking methodology based purely on students’ verified coding skills.
Unlike traditional rankings that rely on legacy signals, CodeSignal’s report offers an objective, data-driven alternative: one that evaluates universities based on how well their students perform on an assessment of real-world coding skills. In an AI-transformed workforce, the ability to think computationally, solve problems, and write strong foundational code remains critical, regardless of where a student went to school.
By analyzing thousands of General Coding Assessments (GCA) completed by students worldwide, CodeSignal’s Talent Science Team reveals a powerful conclusion: top engineering talent is everywhere.
Here are the top 15 universities for 2025:
- Carnegie Mellon University
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Stony Brook University
- University of California, Los Angeles
- University of Pennsylvania
- California Institute of Technology
- University of California, San Diego
- Duke University
- San José State University
- University of Southern California
- Rice University
- Yale University
- Georgia Institute of Technology
- Johns Hopkins University
- Indiana University
High-level results:
- 28.4% of high-scorers come from schools not included in the US News & World Report’s top 50 undergraduate engineering programs.
- 12 of the top 50 schools in our skill-based ranking did not make the US News & World top 50.
- Two of the top 10 US schools in our rankings, Stony Brook University (#3) and San José State University (#9), didn’t make the US News & World top 50.
- Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology is the top non-US school for software engineering talent this year, ranking just below Rice University (#12 on the US list).
“This report is a celebration of the universities equipping students with the skills that matter most,” said Tigran Sloyan, CEO and Co-Founder of CodeSignal. “When we focus on what students can actually do, not just where they studied, we uncover incredible talent from institutions of all types. It’s a reminder that great engineers are everywhere, and we need to broaden how we recognize and recruit them.”
While traditional rankings reward legacy signals, CodeSignal’s 2025 University Ranking Report focuses on outcomes – what students can actually do when faced with real-world engineering challenges. CodeSignal’s data makes the case that technical talent isn’t confined to a short list of name-brand schools. It’s everywhere. For employers competing in an AI-driven economy, this report is a call to rethink where, and how, they discover their next generation of engineers.
To view the full report, please visit: https://codesignal.com/university-ranking-report-2025
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