a master's degree in computer & information sciences is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #4 out of 37 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 8 schools in Virginia to determine which ones were the best for computer & information sciences students pursuing a master's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 1,772 master's degrees in computer & information sciences during the 2022-2023 academic year.
DEBUG: Checking offer "MS in Cyber Security - IT Management" with relevance 0.8
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "MS in Cyber Security - IT Management" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.8)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Software Engineering (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" with relevance 0.7
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "Software Engineering (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.7)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Software Engineering (I Have a Bachelors)" with relevance 0.7
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "Software Engineering (I Have a Bachelors)" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.7)
DEBUG: Checking offer "AS in Cybersecurity" with relevance 0.7
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "AS in Cybersecurity" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.7)
DEBUG: Checking offer "BS in Computer Science - Data Analysis" with relevance 0.7
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "BS in Computer Science - Data Analysis" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.7)
DEBUG: Checking offer "BS in Computer Science - Information Security" with relevance 0.7
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "BS in Computer Science - Information Security" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.7)
DEBUG: Checking offer "BS in Information Technologies - Business Management" with relevance 0.7
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "BS in Information Technologies - Business Management" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.7)
DEBUG: Checking offer "BS in Information Technologies - Cybersecurity" with relevance 0.7
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "BS in Information Technologies - Cybersecurity" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.7)
DEBUG: Checking offer "BS in Information Technologies - Data Analytics" with relevance 0.7
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "BS in Information Technologies - Data Analytics" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.7)
DEBUG: Checking offer "BS in Information Technologies - Project Management" with relevance 0.7
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "BS in Information Technologies - Project Management" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.7)
DEBUG: Checking offer "MBA in Information Technology Management" with relevance 0.7
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "MBA in Information Technology Management" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.7)
DEBUG: Checking offer "MS in Information Technology - Database Design" with relevance 0.7
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "MS in Information Technology - Database Design" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.7)
DEBUG: Checking offer "MS in Information Technology - Healthcare Informatics" with relevance 0.7
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "MS in Information Technology - Healthcare Informatics" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.7)
DEBUG: Checking offer "MS in Information Technology - Information Security" with relevance 0.7
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "MS in Information Technology - Information Security" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.7)
DEBUG: Checking offer "MS in Information Technology - Enterprise Technology Management" with relevance 0.7
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "MS in Information Technology - Enterprise Technology Management" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.7)
DEBUG: Checking offer "MS in Information Technology - Software Application Development" with relevance 0.7
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "MS in Information Technology - Software Application Development" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.7)
DEBUG: Checking offer "MS in Information Technology - Web Design" with relevance 0.7
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "MS in Information Technology - Web Design" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.7)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Science & Engineering Bachelors Programs (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" with relevance 0.6
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "Science & Engineering Bachelors Programs (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.6)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Science & Engineering Diploma Programs (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" with relevance 0.6
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "Science & Engineering Diploma Programs (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.6)
DEBUG: relevant_offers count = 36
DEBUG: relevant_offers > 0, checking for ESYOH offers
DEBUG: ESYOH filtering - found 12 ESYOH offers with relevance >= 0.5
DEBUG: esyoh_offers count = 12
DEBUG: ESYOH offers found, rendering ESYOH widget
DEBUG: most_relevant_only = true, filtering for most relevant
DEBUG: Found 4 offers with relevance >= 1.0
Choosing a Great Computer & Information Sciences School for Your Master's Degree
The computer & information sciences master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality computer & information sciences program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
A Great Overall School
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.
Early-Career Earnings
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of master's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their master's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.
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 sciences students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - The number of computer & information sciences 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 sciences 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 sciences related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for computer & information sciences students working on their master's degree.
When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Computer & Information Sciences Master's Degree Schools in Virginia list to help you make the college decision.
DEBUG: Raw major_slug = "computer-information-sciences"
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 & information sciences master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality computer & information sciences program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
