When recruiting for your software engineering roles and internships, you might generate your list of target schools from our list of the most gender-balanced computer science programs. But your talent acquisition strategy will also benefit from targeting these schools that graduate the highest quantity of female computer science majors each year.
While these programs are still male-dominated, the size of these programs contribute to higher numbers of female computer science majors entering the workforce each year, making them a great resource for finding talented candidates. Additionally, many of these programs exist at public universities and Hispanic-Serving Institutions, allowing for greater levels of socioeconomic and ethnic diversity than when recruiting at private colleges.
By targeting a combination of the schools listed below and the schools with the most gender-balanced CS programs, you can ensure you’re working toward a gender-balanced pipeline of software engineering talent.
Note: The figures collected in this article represent the most up-to-date publicly available information, and therefore may not reflect the current numbers of each program.
University of California – Irvine
Type of School: Public, HSI
Total Number of CS Graduates: 903
Percent of Female CS Graduates: ~23.6%
# of Female CS Graduates: 213
UC Irvine has many resources for their female CS students including the student organization, “Women in Information and Computer Science.”
Georgia Institute of Technology
Type of School: Public
Total Number of CS Graduates: 617
Percent of Female CS Graduates: 24.9%
# of Female CS Graduates: 154
In 2018, Georgia Tech was ranked 16th in the world for computer science by the U.S. News and World Report.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Type of School: Public
Total Number of CS Graduates: 503
Percent of Female CS Graduates: 30%
# of Female CS Graduates: 151
The amount of women in CS and engineering at UI Urbana-Champaign has been steadily increasing since the program’s inception in 1993, and they now have over 1,800 women in their school of engineering.
University of California – San Diego
Type of School: Public
Total Number of CS Graduates: 447
Percent of Female CS Graduates: 18.9%
# of Female CS Graduates: 84
In 2016, UC San Diego was ranked #1 for schools with the highest percentage of female STEM majors.
Stanford University
Type of School: Private
Total Number of CS Graduates: 330
Percent of Female CS Graduates: 33.3%
# of Female CS Graduates: 110
Stanford’s CS curriculum stands out for its unique design that allows students to specialize in different subfields like artificial intelligence, biocomputation, and graphics.
University of Maryland — Global Campus
Type of School: Private
Total Number of CS Graduates: 206
Percent of Female CS Graduates: 23.7%
# of Female CS Graduates: 49
Formerly known as University of Maryland — University College, this school offers their CS classes both online and on-campus therefore reaching a larger demographic of students.
Carnegie Mellon University
Type of School: Private
Total Number of CS Graduates: 190
Percent of Female CS Graduates: 50%
# of Female CS Graduates: 105
Carnegie Mellon also stands out as one of the most gender-balanced programs in the country after they implemented multiple strategies to retain more women in the program.
University of Maryland – College Park
Type of School: Public
Total Number of CS Graduates: 592
Percent of Female CS Graduates: 23.9%
# of Female CS Graduates: 142
University of Maryland was ranked #9 in best public universities for computer science by U.S. News.
Oregon State University
Type of School: Public
Total Number of CS Graduates: 657
Percent of Female CS Graduates: 17%
# of Female CS Graduates: 112
Oregon State provides the only online computer science program in the nation that allows students to complete their degree in just one year.
Columbia University
Type of School: Private
Total Number of CS Graduates: 600
Percent of Female CS Graduates: 39.5%
# of Female CS Graduates: 240
Columbia made a conscious effort to increase the amount of women in their CS program by implementing strategies like showcasing the dynamic set of problems that can be solved by CS.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Type of School: Private
Total Number of CS Graduates: 737
Percent of Female Graduates: 37%
# of Female CS Graduates: 272
The department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science is the largest department at MIT with over 130 faculty members.
University of Washington in Seattle
Type of School: Public
Total Number of CS Graduates: 361
Percent of Female CS Graduates: 31%
# of Female CS Graduates: 112
The UW CS program put a focus on diversifying their department through initiatives like K-12 outreach programs, forming a student advisory council, developing a CSE diversity team, and creating a pipeline mentorship program for female computer scientists.
University of Texas at Austin
Type of School: Public
Total Number of CS Graduates: 365
Percent of Female CS Graduates: 20.8%
# of Female CS Graduates: 76
University of Texas is home to one of the top 10 best CS departments in the nation, and some of their specialty research focuses include artificial intelligence, bioinformatics, and data mining.
University of Central Florida
Type of School: Public, HSI
Total Number of CS Graduates: 518
Percent of Female CS Graduates: 17.8
# of Female CS Graduates: 92
The University of Central Florida has been named the nation’s #1 workforce supplier to the aerospace and defense industry by Aviation Week.
University of California – Berkeley
Type of School: Public
Total Number of CS Graduates: 594
Percent of Female CS Graduates: 27.9%
# of Female CS Graduates: 166
UC Berkeley is located right near Silicon Valley which they use to their advantage as part of the curriculum, and it also provides students with unique research and summer job opportunities.
University of Michigan
Type of School: Public
Total Number of CS Graduates: 270
Percent of Female CS Graduates: 29.3%
# of Female CS Graduates: 79
The University of Michigan has a program to help increase diversity in CS called “CS Kickstart”. They provide a week-long introduction to CS that takes students of any gender identity with any level of CS experience, and shows them what they can do with a CS degree.
Arizona State University
Type of School: Public
Total Number of CS Graduates: 550
Percent of Female CS Graduates: 20.1
# of Female CS Graduates: 111
ASU has created a sense of community for women in CS by sending hundreds of women to the Grace Hopper conference, and creating a Women in Computer Science student club.
Georgia State University
Type of School: Public
Total Number of CS Graduates: 312
Percent of Female CS Graduates: 22%
# of Female CS Graduates: 69
In April 2019, Georgia State received funding from the National Center for Women & Information Technology to help recruit and retain more women in CS. They will be implementing community building discussion meetings and mentorship programs.
Purdue University
Type of School: Public
Total Number of CS Graduates: 414
Percent of Female CS Graduates: 21%
# of Female CS Graduates: 87
Purdue attributes the increase of women in their CS program to doubling the number of female CS faculty since 2012, and better targeting their first year CS course to students of any experience level.
Stony Brook University
Type of School: Public
Total Number of CS Graduates: 342
Percent of Female CS Graduates: 39%
# of Female CS Graduates: 133
Since 1993 Stony Brook’s Women in Science and Engineering honors program has drawn in high school grads showing exceptional talent in STEM.
Texas State University
Type of School: Public, HSI
Total Number of CS Graduates: 219
Percent of Female CS Graduates: 15.2%
# of Female CS Graduates: 33
Texas State’s CS degree offers classes on topics like computer architecture, data structures and algorithms, automata theory, software engineering, computer graphics, computer networks, and more.
University of California – Davis
Type of School: Public
Total Number of CS Graduates: 362
Percent of Female CS Graduates: 30.2%
# of Female CS Graduates: 109
CS majors at UC Davis focus on designing systems for application in science, industry, and management, and have gone on to work for companies like Microsoft, IBM, Lockheed Martin, and numerous startups.
University of California – Santa Cruz
Type of School: Public, HSI
Total Number of CS Graduates: 470
Percent of Female CS Graduates: 17%
# of Female CS Graduates: 109
At UC Santa Cruz there’s a close relationship between the CS program and other departments, creating a unique experience for students where they can be part of research on bioinformatics, computational biology, biomolecular engineering, and human genome mapping.
University of Texas at Dallas
Type of School: Public
Total Number of CS Graduates: 489
Percent of Female CS Graduates: 21.6%
# of Female CS Graduates: 106
At UT Dallas over 80% of students major in science, technology, or business, and computer science is one of the most popular programs.
Rutgers University
Type of School: Public
Total Number of CS Graduates: 481
Percent of Female CS Graduates: 21%
# of Female CS Graduates: 101
Rutgers puts on a biannual 24-hour hackathon called “HackRU” where over 600 students participate in competitions, listen to speakers, and collaborate on projects.
Florida International University
Type of School: Public, HSI
Total Number of CS Graduates: 397
Percent of Female Graduates: 14.1%
# of Female CS Graduates: 56
Florida International University’s School of Computing and Information Sciences is the top producer of computer science degrees in Florida.
University of Wisconsin – Madison
Type of School: Public
Total Number of CS Graduates: 537
Percent of Female CS Graduates: 18.4%
# of Female CS Graduates: 99
The school received a grant of $279, 211 from the Center for Inclusive Computing to increase the number of female graduates with bachelor’s degrees in computer sciences. Additionally, they have an active chapter of ACM-W (The Association for Computing Machinery – Women in Computing). The WACM organizes mentoring opportunities, speaker series, lunches, and other social events, as well.
New Jersey Institute of Technology
Type of School: Public
Total Number of CS Graduates: 394
Percent of Female CS Graduates: 14.8%
# of Female CS Graduates: 58
NJIT boasts that their graduates enjoy, on average, a starting salary of $82,232 and a mid-career salary of nearly $100,000. Their Computer Sciences Department is the largest among all research universities in the New York metropolitan area. Forbes Magazine recently ranked NJIT #1 Nationally in Student Economic Upward Mobility.
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Type of School: Public
Total Number of CS Graduates: 266
Percent of Female CS Graduates: 13.7%
# of Female CS Graduates: 36
UMass Amherst has two student groups—one for undergraduates and the other for graduate students and faculty members—dedicated to women in computer science. The graduate and faculty group organizes professional panels and career development events, hosts lectures from female leaders in various fields, and engages community members through informal social media engagement. The undergraduate club focuses on bonding all female and non-binary members of the computer science major community.
Northeastern University
Type of School: Private
Total Number of CS Graduates: 264
Percent of Female CS Graduates: 24%
# of Female CS Graduates: 63
NUWIT—Northeastern University Women in Technology—supports women in Northeastern’s computer science program through hosting lectures and other community events. Northeastern also recently launched the Center for Inclusive Computing with the mission to increase female representation in tech. The CIC will work with US universities that have large computer science programs to support their efforts to increase female and minority representation.
As more and more schools invest in creating gender-balanced programs, the number of talented women beginning their careers in computer science will only continue to grow. Keep these schools in mind when planning out your campus recruiting strategy to connect with the highest volume of women majoring in computer science.
