a master's degree in computer software & applications is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #50 out of 343 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 40 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for computer software & applications students pursuing a master's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 3,929 master's degrees in computer software & applications during the <nil> academic year.
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Choosing a Great Computer Software & Applications School for Your Master's Degree
The computer software 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 software & applications students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - How many other computer software & applications students want to attend this school to pursue a master's degree.
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 software & applications 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 software & applications related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for computer software & applications students working on their master's degree.
More Ways to Rank Computer Software & Applications Schools
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Computer Software & Applications Master's Degree Schools list, to help you choose the best school for you.
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University of Southern California is one of the best schools in the country for getting a master's degree in computer software & applications. USC is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Los Angeles.
Master's recipients from the computer software & applications program at University of Southern California earn $40,642 above the standard graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
George Washington University is a wonderful decision for individuals pursuing a master's degree in computer software & applications. GWU is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Washington.
Those computer software & applications students who get their master's degree from George Washington University make $12,206 more than the average computer software grad.
Located in the large city of Saint Paul, UST MN is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population.
Master's recipients from the computer software & applications program at University of St Thomas Minnesota make $12,772 more than the typical graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
Boston U is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Boston.
Computer Software & Applications master's degree recipients from Boston University earn a boost of approximately $4,807 over the average earnings of computer software & applications graduates.
Located in the city of Chicago, DePaul is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.
Master's recipients from the computer software & applications program at DePaul University make $20,954 more than the average graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
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.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
The computer software 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:
