When it comes to earning a computer science degree, some universities set you up for success better than others – and now we’ve got the data to prove it. IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System) data compiled by Zippia and provided to Dice shows that students of some schools earn more post-graduation, and throughout life. Unsurprisingly, MIT and Stanford top the list; these are two schools with historically great CS programs and a litany of notable graduates. The Ivy League is also prominent on the list. Zippia says its qualifiers for this list are simple: At least ten percent of the graduating class had to earn a computer science degree in the 2016-2017 school year. Zippia’s list is ranked by median income, though the mean is also listed. One interesting note: MIT graduates almost double the CS grads as most other colleges on the top-ten list. Cornel University and Stanford produce quite a number, but even Carnegie Mellon was far behind. After graduation, Silicon Valley is still the place to be. In a previous ranking, Silicon Valley and surrounding areas dominated as the best locales for tech pro earnings, which is unsurprising, as many of the top tech companies are headquartered there. Some states are known to pay tech pros poorly, a list topped by Alabama. Colleges in those poor-paying states also don’t have universities on the IPEDS list. Interestingly, many states with universities on this list were also noted as great places for startups, suggesting graduates don’t always leave upon graduation for Silicon Valley. Tech pros make a lot, and are typically unhappy with their pay; but we’ll point out that the median earnings on this schools list falls in line with our own Salary Survey data. A great education can give you a head start in tech, pretty much no matter what school you graduated from. Download Dice's Salary Report Now!