Best Small Colleges for Computer Science

Many of the best computer science schools are housed within large universities. Among these institutions, undergraduate populations vary greatly from MIT (4,500) to Carnegie Mellon (7,000) to Cornell’s (15,000), but they are all still much larger than your average liberal arts school. Teens looking to study computer science at a top program while simultaneously enjoying the intimate and supportive environment of a liberal arts college often have trouble locating a list of best CS schools meeting this unique criteria. Fortunately, that will no longer be the case. The schools making College Transitions’ list of Best Small Colleges for Computer Science Majors all have expert faculty, top-notch facilities, and strong graduate outcomes.

Click the links below (links coming soon) for more information about each college’s computer science program. We also included the undergraduate enrollment of each school, the percentage of overall degrees conferred in computer science, and the number of alumni employed at top tech companies (Microsoft, Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Twitter, LinkedIn, Adobe, Airbnb, and Lyft). We recognize that not every alum employed at these companies was necessarily a CS major but we believe this will give prospective CS students a good idea about industry and alumni connections in the field. Lastly, you will find the most current admissions-related data for each institution.

List of institutions last updated August 19, 2020

InstitutionPercent of Total Degrees (CS)Number of Alumni at Top Tech CompaniesUndergraduate EnrollmentAdmission RateSAT Math (middle 50%)SAT R/W (middle 50%)ACT (middle 50%)Rank (Top 10%)Rank (Top 25%)Rank (Top 50%)
Amherst College7%1461,83911%720-790690-76031-3488%98%100%
Bowdoin College5%1441,8359%670-780660-74031-3485%97%100%
California Institute of Technology27%9329386%790-800740-76035-3699%100%100%
Carleton College10%2432,11919%690-790670-75031-3471%93%100%
Colby College6%1512,00310%700-780680-74031-3468%89%99%
Colgate University5%2212,98022%670-770660-73031-3469%92%100%
Connecticut College4%941,86137%660-740650-71030-3345%81%96%
DePauw University9%1451,97264%570-700560-66023-3043%77%98%
Grinnell College12%1481,73323%700-790670-74031-3462%87%98%
Grove City College4%512,33879%495-635590-64024-3033%81%90%
Harvey Mudd20%50389513%780-800710-77033-35N/AN/AN/A
Hendrix College4%401,20272%540-700560-71024-2960%81%96%
Knox College6%521,25868%540-680550-67024-3135%69%97%
Middlebury College5%3442,58015%690-780670-75032-34N/AN/AN/A
Mount Holyoke College8%2092,19036%640-770630-72027-3252%82%97%
Pomona College8%3041,7177%700-790690-75032-3593%100%100%
Smith College5%2112,53132%660-780670-74030-3375%96%100%
Swarthmore College9%2221,6679%700-790680-75031-3587%100%100%
Wesleyan University3%3103,01816%670-770650-74031-3467%N/A94%
Williams College6%2742,07812%710-790700-76032-3585%98%99%
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology14%2772,00074%620-750590-68025-3238%73%94%

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