2024 USNWR Undergraduate Computer Science

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another CS ranking that is often referenced,

https://csrankings.org

1 ► Carnegie Mellon University closed chart 19.1 166
2 ► Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign closed chart 14.8 115
3 ► Univ. of California - San Diego closed chart 12.2 117
4 ► Massachusetts Institute of Technology closed chart 11.5 97
5 ► Georgia Institute of Technology closed chart 10.8 140
6 ► Stanford University closed chart 10.7 69
7 ► University of Michigan closed chart 10.5 99
8 ► University of Washington closed chart 10.4 80
9 ► Univ. of California - Berkeley closed chart 9.9 90
10 ► Cornell University closed chart 9.8 83
11 ► University of Maryland - College Park closed chart 8.8 87
12 ► Northeastern University closed chart 7.9 80
13 ► University of Wisconsin - Madison closed chart 7.5 72
14 ► Purdue University closed chart 7.3 74
15 ► University of Texas at Austin closed chart 7.2 49
16 ► Columbia University closed chart 7.1 57
17 ► University of Pennsylvania closed chart 7.0 73
18 ► Princeton University closed chart 6.3 58
19 ► New York University closed chart 6.0 64
19 ► University of Massachusetts Amherst closed chart 6.0 62
21 ► University of Southern California closed chart 5.7 60
22 ► Univ. of California - Los Angeles closed chart 5.6 42
23 ► Stony Brook University closed chart 5.4 60
24 ► Univ. of California - Santa Barbara closed chart 5.3 38
24 ► University of Chicago closed chart 5.3 46
26 ► Univ. of California - Irvine closed chart 5.2 75
27 ► Rutgers University closed chart 4.7 49
27 ► Univ. of California - Riverside closed chart 4.7 49
29 ► Duke University closed chart 4.6 48
30 ► Northwestern University closed chart 4.4 46
30 ► Pennsylvania State University closed chart 4.4 61
32 ► George Mason University closed chart 4.1 55
32 ► University of Utah closed chart 4.1 65
34 ► Harvard University closed chart 4.0 30
34 ► Ohio State University closed chart 4.0 47
34 ► Yale University closed chart 4.0 41
37 ► Texas A&M University closed chart 3.9 47
37 ► Univ. of California - Santa Cruz closed chart 3.9 62
39 ► Brown University closed chart 3.8 38
39 ► North Carolina State University closed chart 3.8 52
39 ► University of Virginia closed chart 3.8 44

lol GMU is above UVA.

Not that silly. GMU has some well respected CS faculty.

And VT isn't even on the list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UVA is top 50.

Shockingly impressive

[Anonymous]

GMU is above Harvard and Yale!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Remember to look at how this list is put together though. I'm not a huge fan of how USNWR does them. They basically survey a bunch of old dudes affiliated with CS programs (your kid could probably email a bunch of respected profs and industry professionals and get a better ranking):
"Top academics and officials at computer science programs rated the overall quality of undergraduate programs with which they were familiar on a 1-5 scale. A school’s undergraduate computer science rank is solely determined by its average of scores received from these surveys."

how would you rate a CS program, then?

People look at various rankings, and some on here use Poets & Quants, which is a ranking based on alumni survey.

NP. I would consider PhD rates for one thing. True, not everyone wants to pursue, but they are highly selective and students pursuing CS PhDs tend to be among the best prepared upon finishing college. Interestingly, certain LACs do very well with CS PhD placement. Swarthmore and Carleton come to mind. I think LACs tend to be be underrated in all the discipline specific rankings because administrators tend to think of schools known for their research rather than their undergrad instruction when ranking by discipline.

Ranking CS programs on PhD rates? That's silly.

Vast majority of CS grads don't pursue PhDs.

It’s a data point, but if you don’t think PhD CS programs know which undergrad programs are high quality year after year (the same schools tend to dominate over decades), then perhaps consider head to head competitions. There’s an intercollegiate CS league. Last year Carleton finished ahead of seven of the Ivies. The year before Swarthmore finished ahead of all of them.

Another interesting data point: when you cross reference the per capita PhD list and PayScale's career salary lists for computer science, 11 schools are in the top 25 of both lists:

Harvey Mudd
MIT
Stanford
CMU
Princeton
Brown
Harvard
Duke
Dartmouth
Yale
WPI

And the first 4 are in the top 10 on both lists.

Don’t forget about cost of living differences. Student populations skew towards the region and even the state a school is located in. That can deflate data for schools in the Midwest and the South on raw salary rankings.

[Anonymous]

If you just look at AI for the last 5 years 2018 -2023
https://csrankings.org/#/fromyear/2018/toyear/2023/index?ai&us

1 ► Carnegie Mellon University closed chart 41.3 44
2 ► University of Maryland - College Park closed chart 37.4 23
3 ► Univ. of California - Los Angeles closed chart 25.6 16
4 ► University of Virginia closed chart 25.5 20
5 ► Rutgers University closed chart 24.5 17
6 ► University of Southern California closed chart 23.7 25
7 ► Arizona State University closed chart 22.1 22
8 ► Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign closed chart 21.3 21
9 ► Harvard University closed chart 19.9 11
10 ► Pennsylvania State University closed chart 18.8 18
11 ► Northeastern University closed chart 18.7 19
12 ► Georgia Institute of Technology closed chart 18.3 29
13 ► University of Illinois at Chicago closed chart 17.5 16
14 ► Massachusetts Institute of Technology closed chart 17.4 29
15 ► Cornell University closed chart 17.0 13
15 ► University of Texas at Dallas closed chart 17.0 17
17 ► University of Texas at Austin closed chart 16.6 12
17 ► Washington University in St. Louis closed chart 16.6 10
19 ► University of Massachusetts Amherst closed chart 16.0 15
20 ► Rice University closed chart 15.5 10
21 ► University of Michigan closed chart 15.4 17
22 ► University of Notre Dame closed chart 15.1 11
23 ► University at Buffalo closed chart 14.8 16
24 ► University of Central Florida closed chart 13.9 16
25 ► Univ. of California - Berkeley closed chart 13.6 19

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you just look at AI for the last 5 years 2018 -2023
https://csrankings.org/#/fromyear/2018/toyear/2023/index?ai&us

1 ► Carnegie Mellon University closed chart 41.3 44
2 ► University of Maryland - College Park closed chart 37.4 23
3 ► Univ. of California - Los Angeles closed chart 25.6 16
4 ► University of Virginia closed chart 25.5 20
5 ► Rutgers University closed chart 24.5 17
6 ► University of Southern California closed chart 23.7 25
7 ► Arizona State University closed chart 22.1 22
8 ► Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign closed chart 21.3 21
9 ► Harvard University closed chart 19.9 11
10 ► Pennsylvania State University closed chart 18.8 18
11 ► Northeastern University closed chart 18.7 19
12 ► Georgia Institute of Technology closed chart 18.3 29
13 ► University of Illinois at Chicago closed chart 17.5 16
14 ► Massachusetts Institute of Technology closed chart 17.4 29
15 ► Cornell University closed chart 17.0 13
15 ► University of Texas at Dallas closed chart 17.0 17
17 ► University of Texas at Austin closed chart 16.6 12
17 ► Washington University in St. Louis closed chart 16.6 10
19 ► University of Massachusetts Amherst closed chart 16.0 15
20 ► Rice University closed chart 15.5 10
21 ► University of Michigan closed chart 15.4 17
22 ► University of Notre Dame closed chart 15.1 11
23 ► University at Buffalo closed chart 14.8 16
24 ► University of Central Florida closed chart 13.9 16
25 ► Univ. of California - Berkeley closed chart 13.6 19

Northeastern is #11 overall and #4 among privates.
How did they game this

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another CS ranking that is often referenced,

https://csrankings.org

1 ► Carnegie Mellon University closed chart 19.1 166
2 ► Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign closed chart 14.8 115
3 ► Univ. of California - San Diego closed chart 12.2 117
4 ► Massachusetts Institute of Technology closed chart 11.5 97
5 ► Georgia Institute of Technology closed chart 10.8 140
6 ► Stanford University closed chart 10.7 69
7 ► University of Michigan closed chart 10.5 99
8 ► University of Washington closed chart 10.4 80
9 ► Univ. of California - Berkeley closed chart 9.9 90
10 ► Cornell University closed chart 9.8 83
11 ► University of Maryland - College Park closed chart 8.8 87
12 ► Northeastern University closed chart 7.9 80
13 ► University of Wisconsin - Madison closed chart 7.5 72
14 ► Purdue University closed chart 7.3 74
15 ► University of Texas at Austin closed chart 7.2 49
16 ► Columbia University closed chart 7.1 57
17 ► University of Pennsylvania closed chart 7.0 73
18 ► Princeton University closed chart 6.3 58
19 ► New York University closed chart 6.0 64
19 ► University of Massachusetts Amherst closed chart 6.0 62
21 ► University of Southern California closed chart 5.7 60
22 ► Univ. of California - Los Angeles closed chart 5.6 42
23 ► Stony Brook University closed chart 5.4 60
24 ► Univ. of California - Santa Barbara closed chart 5.3 38
24 ► University of Chicago closed chart 5.3 46
26 ► Univ. of California - Irvine closed chart 5.2 75
27 ► Rutgers University closed chart 4.7 49
27 ► Univ. of California - Riverside closed chart 4.7 49
29 ► Duke University closed chart 4.6 48
30 ► Northwestern University closed chart 4.4 46
30 ► Pennsylvania State University closed chart 4.4 61
32 ► George Mason University closed chart 4.1 55
32 ► University of Utah closed chart 4.1 65
34 ► Harvard University closed chart 4.0 30
34 ► Ohio State University closed chart 4.0 47
34 ► Yale University closed chart 4.0 41
37 ► Texas A&M University closed chart 3.9 47
37 ► Univ. of California - Santa Cruz closed chart 3.9 62
39 ► Brown University closed chart 3.8 38
39 ► North Carolina State University closed chart 3.8 52
39 ► University of Virginia closed chart 3.8 44

lol GMU is above UVA.

Not that silly. GMU has some well respected CS faculty.

I know.. I was pointing out that UVA is below GMU for the UVA boosters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Remember to look at how this list is put together though. I'm not a huge fan of how USNWR does them. They basically survey a bunch of old dudes affiliated with CS programs (your kid could probably email a bunch of respected profs and industry professionals and get a better ranking):
"Top academics and officials at computer science programs rated the overall quality of undergraduate programs with which they were familiar on a 1-5 scale. A school’s undergraduate computer science rank is solely determined by its average of scores received from these surveys."

how would you rate a CS program, then?

People look at various rankings, and some on here use Poets & Quants, which is a ranking based on alumni survey.

NP. I would consider PhD rates for one thing. True, not everyone wants to pursue, but they are highly selective and students pursuing CS PhDs tend to be among the best prepared upon finishing college. Interestingly, certain LACs do very well with CS PhD placement. Swarthmore and Carleton come to mind. I think LACs tend to be be underrated in all the discipline specific rankings because administrators tend to think of schools known for their research rather than their undergrad instruction when ranking by discipline.

Ranking CS programs on PhD rates? That's silly.

Vast majority of CS grads don't pursue PhDs.

Not silly even so. It is apart of the big picture, just like early and mid career salaries are a part of the picture, even though some will go to Wall Street and some will teach high school.

dp.. it is silly for CS because the vast majority do not go on to PhDs. So, why would a CS major care about CS PhD programs?

You are looking at it from the wrong angle. It's not about every student in the program wanting a Phd; it's about who is in the class and how PhD programs view their preparation, whether they go on to a Phd or not.

The only angle you have is that you don't like the list so you're looking at *anything* that makes your list better.

Most CS students do.not.care about CS PhD programs, so they do not care who and how many CS students are going to a PhD program, not do they care how a PhD program views how well they are prepared for a PhD program.

Geez you're think headed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you just look at AI for the last 5 years 2018 -2023
https://csrankings.org/#/fromyear/2018/toyear/2023/index?ai&us

1 ► Carnegie Mellon University closed chart 41.3 44
2 ► University of Maryland - College Park closed chart 37.4 23
3 ► Univ. of California - Los Angeles closed chart 25.6 16
4 ► University of Virginia closed chart 25.5 20
5 ► Rutgers University closed chart 24.5 17
6 ► University of Southern California closed chart 23.7 25
7 ► Arizona State University closed chart 22.1 22
8 ► Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign closed chart 21.3 21
9 ► Harvard University closed chart 19.9 11
10 ► Pennsylvania State University closed chart 18.8 18
11 ► Northeastern University closed chart 18.7 19
12 ► Georgia Institute of Technology closed chart 18.3 29
13 ► University of Illinois at Chicago closed chart 17.5 16
14 ► Massachusetts Institute of Technology closed chart 17.4 29
15 ► Cornell University closed chart 17.0 13
15 ► University of Texas at Dallas closed chart 17.0 17
17 ► University of Texas at Austin closed chart 16.6 12
17 ► Washington University in St. Louis closed chart 16.6 10
19 ► University of Massachusetts Amherst closed chart 16.0 15
20 ► Rice University closed chart 15.5 10
21 ► University of Michigan closed chart 15.4 17
22 ► University of Notre Dame closed chart 15.1 11
23 ► University at Buffalo closed chart 14.8 16
24 ► University of Central Florida closed chart 13.9 16
25 ► Univ. of California - Berkeley closed chart 13.6 19

Northeastern is #11 overall and #4 among privates.
How did they game this

I think csrankings.org is much more relevant for grad programs. It is based on research/publications by faculty. If selecting one of these schools for undergrad, be aware that you or your child will be the third priority after research and grad students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Remember to look at how this list is put together though. I'm not a huge fan of how USNWR does them. They basically survey a bunch of old dudes affiliated with CS programs (your kid could probably email a bunch of respected profs and industry professionals and get a better ranking):
"Top academics and officials at computer science programs rated the overall quality of undergraduate programs with which they were familiar on a 1-5 scale. A school’s undergraduate computer science rank is solely determined by its average of scores received from these surveys."

how would you rate a CS program, then?

People look at various rankings, and some on here use Poets & Quants, which is a ranking based on alumni survey.

NP. I would consider PhD rates for one thing. True, not everyone wants to pursue, but they are highly selective and students pursuing CS PhDs tend to be among the best prepared upon finishing college. Interestingly, certain LACs do very well with CS PhD placement. Swarthmore and Carleton come to mind. I think LACs tend to be be underrated in all the discipline specific rankings because administrators tend to think of schools known for their research rather than their undergrad instruction when ranking by discipline.

Ranking CS programs on PhD rates? That's silly.

Vast majority of CS grads don't pursue PhDs.

Not silly even so. It is apart of the big picture, just like early and mid career salaries are a part of the picture, even though some will go to Wall Street and some will teach high school.

dp.. it is silly for CS because the vast majority do not go on to PhDs. So, why would a CS major care about CS PhD programs?

You are looking at it from the wrong angle. It's not about every student in the program wanting a Phd; it's about who is in the class and how PhD programs view their preparation, whether they go on to a Phd or not.

The only angle you have is that you don't like the list so you're looking at *anything* that makes your list better.

Most CS students do.not.care about CS PhD programs, so they do not care who and how many CS students are going to a PhD program, not do they care how a PhD program views how well they are prepared for a PhD program.

Geez you're think headed.[/quote

I wasn't the PP. Sorry I didn't say "NP." I don't have a favored list. In any case, no need to name call. If you don't like the metric, don't use it. It's just more data to consider.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you just look at AI for the last 5 years 2018 -2023
https://csrankings.org/#/fromyear/2018/toyear/2023/index?ai&us

1 ► Carnegie Mellon University closed chart 41.3 44
2 ► University of Maryland - College Park closed chart 37.4 23
3 ► Univ. of California - Los Angeles closed chart 25.6 16
4 ► University of Virginia closed chart 25.5 20
5 ► Rutgers University closed chart 24.5 17
6 ► University of Southern California closed chart 23.7 25
7 ► Arizona State University closed chart 22.1 22
8 ► Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign closed chart 21.3 21
9 ► Harvard University closed chart 19.9 11
10 ► Pennsylvania State University closed chart 18.8 18
11 ► Northeastern University closed chart 18.7 19
12 ► Georgia Institute of Technology closed chart 18.3 29
13 ► University of Illinois at Chicago closed chart 17.5 16
14 ► Massachusetts Institute of Technology closed chart 17.4 29
15 ► Cornell University closed chart 17.0 13
15 ► University of Texas at Dallas closed chart 17.0 17
17 ► University of Texas at Austin closed chart 16.6 12
17 ► Washington University in St. Louis closed chart 16.6 10
19 ► University of Massachusetts Amherst closed chart 16.0 15
20 ► Rice University closed chart 15.5 10
21 ► University of Michigan closed chart 15.4 17
22 ► University of Notre Dame closed chart 15.1 11
23 ► University at Buffalo closed chart 14.8 16
24 ► University of Central Florida closed chart 13.9 16
25 ► Univ. of California - Berkeley closed chart 13.6 19

Northeastern is #11 overall and #4 among privates.
How did they game this

I think csrankings.org is much more relevant for grad programs. It is based on research/publications by faculty. If selecting one of these schools for undergrad, be aware that you or your child will be the third priority after research and grad students.

Ok, so that ranking really is irrelevant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you just look at AI for the last 5 years 2018 -2023
https://csrankings.org/#/fromyear/2018/toyear/2023/index?ai&us

1 ► Carnegie Mellon University closed chart 41.3 44
2 ► University of Maryland - College Park closed chart 37.4 23
3 ► Univ. of California - Los Angeles closed chart 25.6 16
4 ► University of Virginia closed chart 25.5 20
5 ► Rutgers University closed chart 24.5 17
6 ► University of Southern California closed chart 23.7 25
7 ► Arizona State University closed chart 22.1 22
8 ► Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign closed chart 21.3 21
9 ► Harvard University closed chart 19.9 11
10 ► Pennsylvania State University closed chart 18.8 18
11 ► Northeastern University closed chart 18.7 19
12 ► Georgia Institute of Technology closed chart 18.3 29
13 ► University of Illinois at Chicago closed chart 17.5 16
14 ► Massachusetts Institute of Technology closed chart 17.4 29
15 ► Cornell University closed chart 17.0 13
15 ► University of Texas at Dallas closed chart 17.0 17
17 ► University of Texas at Austin closed chart 16.6 12
17 ► Washington University in St. Louis closed chart 16.6 10
19 ► University of Massachusetts Amherst closed chart 16.0 15
20 ► Rice University closed chart 15.5 10
21 ► University of Michigan closed chart 15.4 17
22 ► University of Notre Dame closed chart 15.1 11
23 ► University at Buffalo closed chart 14.8 16
24 ► University of Central Florida closed chart 13.9 16
25 ► Univ. of California - Berkeley closed chart 13.6 19

Isn't AI the biggest thing in CS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Remember to look at how this list is put together though. I'm not a huge fan of how USNWR does them. They basically survey a bunch of old dudes affiliated with CS programs (your kid could probably email a bunch of respected profs and industry professionals and get a better ranking):
"Top academics and officials at computer science programs rated the overall quality of undergraduate programs with which they were familiar on a 1-5 scale. A school’s undergraduate computer science rank is solely determined by its average of scores received from these surveys."

how would you rate a CS program, then?

People look at various rankings, and some on here use Poets & Quants, which is a ranking based on alumni survey.

NP. I would consider PhD rates for one thing. True, not everyone wants to pursue, but they are highly selective and students pursuing CS PhDs tend to be among the best prepared upon finishing college. Interestingly, certain LACs do very well with CS PhD placement. Swarthmore and Carleton come to mind. I think LACs tend to be be underrated in all the discipline specific rankings because administrators tend to think of schools known for their research rather than their undergrad instruction when ranking by discipline.

Ranking CS programs on PhD rates? That's silly.

Vast majority of CS grads don't pursue PhDs.

Not silly even so. It is apart of the big picture, just like early and mid career salaries are a part of the picture, even though some will go to Wall Street and some will teach high school.

dp.. it is silly for CS because the vast majority do not go on to PhDs. So, why would a CS major care about CS PhD programs?

You are looking at it from the wrong angle. It's not about every student in the program wanting a Phd; it's about who is in the class and how PhD programs view their preparation, whether they go on to a Phd or not.

The only angle you have is that you don't like the list so you're looking at *anything* that makes your list better.

Most CS students do.not.care about CS PhD programs, so they do not care who and how many CS students are going to a PhD program, not do they care how a PhD program views how well they are prepared for a PhD program.

Geez you're think headed.

Most CS students don't care about CS PhD programs at least partly because they have no chance of getting into an ultra-selective and funded program that helps to future proof their education. Understand that most CS PhDs don't end up in academia. Also, there is greater risk now than 20 years ago that those with bachelor's only education in CS will see their career prospects reduced by AI regurgitation of existing solutions (not to mention the more familiar threat of outsourcing). In my opinion most CS majors with a GPA over 3.5 are interested in at least a MS even if they don't pursue, usually because they don't get in to the program they want. It would be great if the NSF tracked undergrad origins of CS MS recipients, but to my knowledge they don't publish such a thing. PhD origins is the closest thing to that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you just look at AI for the last 5 years 2018 -2023
https://csrankings.org/#/fromyear/2018/toyear/2023/index?ai&us

1 ► Carnegie Mellon University closed chart 41.3 44
2 ► University of Maryland - College Park closed chart 37.4 23
3 ► Univ. of California - Los Angeles closed chart 25.6 16
4 ► University of Virginia closed chart 25.5 20
5 ► Rutgers University closed chart 24.5 17
6 ► University of Southern California closed chart 23.7 25
7 ► Arizona State University closed chart 22.1 22
8 ► Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign closed chart 21.3 21
9 ► Harvard University closed chart 19.9 11
10 ► Pennsylvania State University closed chart 18.8 18
11 ► Northeastern University closed chart 18.7 19
12 ► Georgia Institute of Technology closed chart 18.3 29
13 ► University of Illinois at Chicago closed chart 17.5 16
14 ► Massachusetts Institute of Technology closed chart 17.4 29
15 ► Cornell University closed chart 17.0 13
15 ► University of Texas at Dallas closed chart 17.0 17
17 ► University of Texas at Austin closed chart 16.6 12
17 ► Washington University in St. Louis closed chart 16.6 10
19 ► University of Massachusetts Amherst closed chart 16.0 15
20 ► Rice University closed chart 15.5 10
21 ► University of Michigan closed chart 15.4 17
22 ► University of Notre Dame closed chart 15.1 11
23 ► University at Buffalo closed chart 14.8 16
24 ► University of Central Florida closed chart 13.9 16
25 ► Univ. of California - Berkeley closed chart 13.6 19

Northeastern is #11 overall and #4 among privates.
How did they game this

I think csrankings.org is much more relevant for grad programs. It is based on research/publications by faculty. If selecting one of these schools for undergrad, be aware that you or your child will be the third priority after research and grad students.

Ok, so that ranking really is irrelevant.

It gives you idea about the size and strength of the department/school/college.
You don't use a single reference to make decisions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Remember to look at how this list is put together though. I'm not a huge fan of how USNWR does them. They basically survey a bunch of old dudes affiliated with CS programs (your kid could probably email a bunch of respected profs and industry professionals and get a better ranking):
"Top academics and officials at computer science programs rated the overall quality of undergraduate programs with which they were familiar on a 1-5 scale. A school’s undergraduate computer science rank is solely determined by its average of scores received from these surveys."

how would you rate a CS program, then?

People look at various rankings, and some on here use Poets & Quants, which is a ranking based on alumni survey.

NP. I would consider PhD rates for one thing. True, not everyone wants to pursue, but they are highly selective and students pursuing CS PhDs tend to be among the best prepared upon finishing college. Interestingly, certain LACs do very well with CS PhD placement. Swarthmore and Carleton come to mind. I think LACs tend to be be underrated in all the discipline specific rankings because administrators tend to think of schools known for their research rather than their undergrad instruction when ranking by discipline.

Ranking CS programs on PhD rates? That's silly.

Vast majority of CS grads don't pursue PhDs.

Not silly even so. It is apart of the big picture, just like early and mid career salaries are a part of the picture, even though some will go to Wall Street and some will teach high school.

dp.. it is silly for CS because the vast majority do not go on to PhDs. So, why would a CS major care about CS PhD programs?

You are looking at it from the wrong angle. It's not about every student in the program wanting a Phd; it's about who is in the class and how PhD programs view their preparation, whether they go on to a Phd or not.

The only angle you have is that you don't like the list so you're looking at *anything* that makes your list better.

Most CS students do.not.care about CS PhD programs, so they do not care who and how many CS students are going to a PhD program, not do they care how a PhD program views how well they are prepared for a PhD program.

Geez you're think headed.

Most CS students don't care about CS PhD programs at least partly because they have no chance of getting into an ultra-selective and funded program that helps to future proof their education. Understand that most CS PhDs don't end up in academia. Also, there is greater risk now than 20 years ago that those with bachelor's only education in CS will see their career prospects reduced by AI regurgitation of existing solutions (not to mention the more familiar threat of outsourcing). In my opinion most CS majors with a GPA over 3.5 are interested in at least a MS even if they don't pursue, usually because they don't get in to the program they want. It would be great if the NSF tracked undergrad origins of CS MS recipients, but to my knowledge they don't publish such a thing. PhD origins is the closest thing to that.

oh good lord.