If you pursue a master's degree in computer information systems, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #9 most popular program in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 16 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Computer Information Systems Master's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 1,456 master's degrees in computer information systems to qualified students.
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Choosing a Great Computer Information Systems School for Your Master's Degree
The cis master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
Overall Quality Is a Must
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
Average Early-Career Salaries
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their master's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your master's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.
Other Factors We Consider
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to computer information systems students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - The number of computer information systems students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
Student Debt - How easy is it for computer information systems to pay back their student loans after receiving their master's degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized computer information systems related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for computer information systems students working on their master's degree.
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Computer Information Systems Master's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
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It's difficult to beat University of Washington - Seattle Campus if you wish to pursue a master's degree in computer information systems. Located in the city of Seattle, UW Seattle is a public university with a very large student population.
Computer Information Systems master's degree recipients from University of Washington - Seattle Campus get an earnings boost of about $15,231 over the typical income of computer information systems graduates.
University of California - San Diego is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a master's degree in computer information systems. UCSD is a very large public university located in the city of La Jolla.
Those computer information systems students who get their master's degree from University of California - San Diego make $38,953 more than the standard cis student.
USFCA is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the city of San Francisco.
Master's recipients from the computer information systems degree program at University of San Francisco get $24,273 more than the average college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
The cis master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
