UniversityHQ ranks UT Dallas CS in the Top 50 Best Computer Science Schools and Colleges in the US
Computer Science has grown exponentially in the last few decades starting from a discipline in which only a very few were involved to a permanent staple, with a ubiquitous presence that impacts everything from our everyday routines to something that inspires, connects and educates people around the world. Computer Science is constantly growing and changing in how it functions and how we use it. Recently, UniversityHQ released their latest edition of the annual ranking for the Top 55 Best Computer Science Schools and Colleges in the United States. Of these top 55 Computer Science Programs, the UT Dallas Computer Science Department came in at number 45. The annual release of UniversityHQ rankings feature other leading universities in the United States, including Stanford University, Carnegie Mellon University, UC Berkeley, as well as the University of Texas at Dallas. These rankings serve as an excellent measure of exploring where computer research leaders and experts are located.
College ranking is a process designed to facilitate one of a student’s most important decisions. While there are many solid metrics that can be used and relied upon, there are also many outdated or otherwise unreliable comparison methods. The process of determining the best school to which a student applies is made more difficult by the fact that much of the college experience is subjective and tends to defy quantification. Nonetheless, UniversityHQ strives to present a fact-based, objective and unbiased view of colleges so that students can set reasonable expectations, discover outstanding schools, and embark on a path toward their best lives. Rankings can help students make their best decision for college. Statistics like admission rates can help students determine reasonable expectations for admission, and retention rates can help them envision how their fellow students value the education they receive.
To gather the data for rankings, UniversityHQ seeks to use the most reliable sources available. More often than not, they use government sources, which are unbiased, consistent, and reliable. Below is a breakdown of ranking factors that UniversityHQ uses in their methodology for Higher Education Rankings.
Ranking Factors Used:
- Retention Rate:
This is a big deal for all colleges. Retention rates show the percentage of incoming first-year students who stay for the following year. Many factors impact this number such as race, socioeconomic status, and whether students are the first in their families to seek post-secondary education. Students decide to stay or go for a lot of reasons, but a low rate of retention may mean that perhaps the school caters to a very specific sort of student or doesn’t offer the support students need. - Graduation Rate (4 Year, 6 Year):
Similar to retention rate, this number shows how many students graduate in the expected time frame. If a large portion of the student body is graduating on time, then there is a high probability new students will be able to do so as well. - Admission Rate:
This figure indicates how competitive the school really is. It’s also been shown that there’s a correlation between a low admission rate and high retention. - Cost of Tuition
This is an increasingly important factor when deciding on a college. We use this number to determine which schools offer the best value for your money. - Graduating Salary (ROI):
These numbers are often difficult to determine, but UniversityHQ finds the best estimates to help project a return on investment. - # of Programs Offered:
A student might already know what to major in, but when a college offers a wide range of majors/minors, they tend to rise in the rankings. As many as 50% of students change their major at some point, and with many options to choose from, students can be sure that they are graduating with the degree they really want. - Online Programs Offered:
Students are taking more and more online courses these days. When schools add this sort of flexibility to their curriculum, it shows that they are seeking to meet student needs. - Loan Default Rate:
Schools seek to lower their default rates by prepping students for success. This number can be weighed against the average graduating salary to get a view on how students fare with their diplomas. - Diplomas Awarded:
This statistic shows how many students have graduated versus the number still working on their degrees. An incoming student might be interested to know how vigorously fellow students are pursuing their diplomas. - % of Students Receiving Financial Aid:
This number is important when assessing overall affordability. In general, while schools’ overall tuition fees can provide a sense of affordability, this number can be misleading without factoring in the percent of students receiving financial aid. useful in assessing actual cost. Despite the higher overall cost at some private schools, once factoring in financial aid, those schools might then actually be more affordable than a public university that charges less for tuition but offers less financial aid.
Below is UniversityHQ’s ranking of the UT Dallas and the CS department as well as a description:
The University of Texas at Dallas has one of the largest computer science departments in the country with over 3,000 undergraduate students, over 1,000 master’s degree program participants, and roughly 165 PhD students. The department received over $45 million in research funding from both the public and private sectors to be used in a variety of research areas including intelligent systems, cyber security, computer networks, data science, and more. The department is accredited by the ABET and each program incorporates a fair amount of advanced mathematics.
- Tuition
- In-State: $13,442
- Out-of-State: $38,168
- Rank: #45
- Total Enrollment: 28,755
- Graduation Rate: 72%
- Diplomas Awarded: 784
The University of Texas at Dallas is a large, public university founded in 1961. It’s located in Richardson, which is a suburb of Dallas to the North. Today, the university is composed of nearly 30,000 students, 21,000 of whom are undergraduates. The university works to nurture both the personal and academic life of each student in a number of ways, such as through community involvement and research.
The CS Department at UT Dallas has done well in other research-based rankings such as csrankings.org, where its research in Natural Language Processing is ranked 8th nationally, Software Engineering is ranked 5th nationally, and Embedded and Real-Time Systems is ranked 7th nationally, based on data from csrankings.org (’10-’20 period). The department also has done well in placement rankings, placing twenty-first in the 2015 LinkedIn ranking that measured the placement of software developers in top companies. Great Value Colleges ranked the top 40 best colleges in the U.S. for Artificial Intelligence, placing UT Dallas Computer Science Department as the fifth-best college for undergraduate studies in Artificial Intelligence (AI). The website Computer Science Degree Hub Rankings placed the UT Dallas CS department’s Computer Science Bachelors and Masters Programs in the top 50 universities that offer CS Degree Programs. The website Best Computer Science Schools ranked the 25 Best Colleges to earn a Bachelor’s in Software Engineering Degrees placing UT Dallas Computer Science Department as the ninth-best university. Cyber Degrees EDU recently ranked the UT Dallas CS Department and its Cyber Security Institute as the 14th Best School to earn your Cyber Security Master’s Degree. Last fall, Guide2Research’s Top 100 CS Universities in 2020 ranked UT Dallas CS #91 globally and #51 in the United States.
ABOUT THE UT DALLAS COMPUTER SCIENCE DEPARTMENT
The UT Dallas Computer Science program is one of the largest Computer Science departments in the United States with over 3,600 bachelors-degree students, more than 800 master’s students, 160Ph.D. students, 51 tenure-track faculty members, and 44 full-time senior lecturers, as of Fall 2020. With the University of Texas at Dallas’ unique history of starting as a graduate institution first, the CS Department is built on a legacy of valuing innovative research and providing advanced training for software engineers and computer scientists.