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.
14 of our top 50 universities
are not found in traditional US News engineering rankings. Schools like San Jose State, Santa Clara, Binghamton, and South Florida earned their spot based on what their graduates can actually do—not institutional reputation or research funding.
MIT holds #1
for the third year running, with students scoring in the 71st percentile on demonstrated technical skills
#2 San Jose State
breaks into our top rankings—a university often overlooked by traditional rankings
Biggest mover: Princeton
Climbed 26 spots to #5 compared to last year's ranking.
3 dark horse universities
Smaller programs with outsized skill performance, including San Jose State, and Stony Brook, and Brandeis.
Top 50 Universities
Ranked by median assessment performance of students. Search and sort to explore.
Rank | University |
|---|---|
| #1 |  MIT mit.edu |
| #2 |  San Jose State sjsu.edu |
| #3 |  UPenn upenn.edu |
| #4 |  CMU cmu.edu |
| #5 |  Princeton princeton.edu |
| #6 |  Caltech caltech.edu |
| #7 |  Yale yale.edu |
| #8 |  UC Berkeley berkeley.edu |
| #9 |  Brown brown.edu |
| #10 |  UCLA ucla.edu |
| #11 |  Stony Brook stonybrook.edu |
| #12 |  Rice rice.edu |
| #13 |  Duke duke.edu |
| #14 |  Georgia Tech gatech.edu |
| #15 |  Cornell cornell.edu |
| #16 |  Columbia columbia.edu |
| #17 |  Stanford stanford.edu |
| #18 |  UChicago uchicago.edu |
| #19 |  UC Santa Barbara ucsb.edu |
| #20 |  UC San Diego ucsd.edu |
| #21 |  Illinois illinois.edu |
| #22 |  UT Austin utexas.edu |
| #23 |  Harvard harvard.edu |
| #24 |  Northwestern northwestern.edu |
| #25 |  Michigan umich.edu |
| #26 |  USC usc.edu |
| #27 |  Wisconsin wisc.edu |
| #28 |  Dartmouth dartmouth.edu |
| #29 |  UC Irvine uci.edu |
| #30 |  NYU nyu.edu |
| #31 |  Washington washington.edu |
| #32 |  Vanderbilt vanderbilt.edu |
| #33 |  Texas A&M tamu.edu |
| #34 |  Purdue purdue.edu |
| #35 |  WashU wustl.edu |
| #36 |  UMass umass.edu |
| #37 |  Rochester rochester.edu |
| #38 |  Binghamton binghamton.edu |
| #39 |  Penn State psu.edu |
| #40 |  Santa Clara scu.edu |
| #41 |  South Florida usf.edu |
| #42 |  Virginia virginia.edu |
| #43 |  Arizona State asu.edu |
| #44 |  Indiana indiana.edu |
| #45 |  Johns Hopkins jhu.edu |
| #46 |  Maryland umd.edu |
| #47 |  NC State ncsu.edu |
| #48 |  Florida ufl.edu |
| #49 |  Pittsburgh pitt.edu |
| #50 |  UCSC ucsc.edu |
Where top talent goes
Assessment data reveals hiring patterns across industries for graduates from the highest-performing universities
UC BerkeleyGeorgia TechMIT
NortheasternMichiganCMUColumbiaIllinoisNYUUSCCornellUT AustinUC BerkeleyGeorgia TechMITNortheasternMichiganCMUColumbiaIllinoisNYUUSCCornellUT AustinRanking 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
San Jose State
sjsu.edu
Stony Brook
stonybrook.edu
Brandeis
brandeis.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: 2025-02-01 to 2026-01-31
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.