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The colleges that pay off if you want to write software

At most of these schools the whole degree costs less than a single year of the pay it leads to.

$164,700
What four years is listed at
$80,800
What a family in the middle pays
$103,500
What graduates earn four years out

The price on the website is not your price

Across these schools four years is listed at about $164,700. A family earning between $75,000 and $110,000 pays about $80,800 of it.

The schools with the largest listed prices are often the ones that close the most of the gap, so a price that looks impossible is the wrong reason to cross a school off.

The gap is widest at Williams College, which lists $84,860 a year and bills a family in the middle $3,030.

Where the degree pays for itself fastest

What four years costs a family in the middle, then what people who studied there earn four years after they finish.

  1. Williams CollegeMA
    $12,120
    Costs
    $209,574
    Then earns
    8%
    Gets in
  2. Princeton UniversityNJ
    $17,912
    Costs
    $217,973
    Then earns
    5%
    Gets in
  3. Dartmouth CollegeNH
    $34,136
    Costs
    $201,702
    Then earns
    5%
    Gets in
  4. Harvard UniversityMA
    $39,764
    Costs
    $203,169
    Then earns
    4%
    Gets in
  5. Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMA
    $46,220
    Costs
    $225,141
    Then earns
    5%
    Gets in
  6. Stanford UniversityCA
    $44,368
    Costs
    $214,907
    Then earns
    4%
    Gets in
  7. Columbia University in the City of New YorkNY
    $47,128
    Costs
    $188,265
    Then earns
    4%
    Gets in
  8. Cornell UniversityNY
    $57,244
    Costs
    $223,309
    Then earns
    9%
    Gets in
  9. University of ChicagoIL
    $50,408
    Costs
    $178,068
    Then earns
    4%
    Gets in
  10. Washington University in St LouisMO
    $50,412
    Costs
    $177,066
    Then earns
    12%
    Gets in
  11. Pomona CollegeCA
    $62,876
    Costs
    $217,051
    Then earns
    7%
    Gets in
  12. University of California-BerkeleyCA
    $60,296
    Costs
    $204,379
    Then earns
    11%
    Gets in
  13. Brown UniversityRI
    $64,876
    Costs
    $214,479
    Then earns
    5%
    Gets in
  14. Vanderbilt UniversityTN
    $48,612
    Costs
    $160,021
    Then earns
    6%
    Gets in
  15. Brigham Young University-IdahoID
    $35,944
    Costs
    $117,895
    Then earns
    96%
    Gets in

What the job is like · What the major is like

The same list, among schools that take most people who apply

Every school here admits more than half the people who apply to it.

  1. Brigham Young University-IdahoID
    $35,944
    Costs
    $117,895
    Then earns
    96%
    Gets in
  2. CUNY Queens CollegeNY
    $36,440
    Costs
    $112,903
    Then earns
    64%
    Gets in
  3. California State University-Los AngelesCA
    $29,420
    Costs
    $87,525
    Then earns
    91%
    Gets in
  4. CUNY City CollegeNY
    $39,928
    Costs
    $116,238
    Then earns
    60%
    Gets in
  5. CUNY Hunter CollegeNY
    $35,240
    Costs
    $102,321
    Then earns
    54%
    Gets in
  6. California State University-FullertonCA
    $35,720
    Costs
    $87,460
    Then earns
    91%
    Gets in
  7. University of Minnesota-MorrisMN
    $37,780
    Costs
    $92,449
    Then earns
    75%
    Gets in
  8. California State University-San BernardinoCA
    $30,980
    Costs
    $74,845
    Then earns
    94%
    Gets in
  9. California State University-NorthridgeCA
    $45,048
    Costs
    $101,348
    Then earns
    93%
    Gets in
  10. CUNY Lehman CollegeNY
    $38,784
    Costs
    $85,351
    Then earns
    57%
    Gets in
  11. Portland State UniversityOR
    $51,972
    Costs
    $113,889
    Then earns
    91%
    Gets in
  12. Brigham Young UniversityUT
    $65,512
    Costs
    $142,800
    Then earns
    68%
    Gets in
  13. University of Illinois SpringfieldIL
    $49,396
    Costs
    $102,020
    Then earns
    86%
    Gets in
  14. Michigan Technological UniversityMI
    $51,252
    Costs
    $105,428
    Then earns
    92%
    Gets in
  15. California State University-Channel IslandsCA
    $49,144
    Costs
    $100,887
    Then earns
    95%
    Gets in

What the job is like · What the major is like

Try the work before you pick the school

You can write something real and ship it this afternoon, for free, and find out whether the work is anything you want before you spend four years on it.

club-signup · draft

export default function App() {
  // TODO: the one thing it does
  return <main>Club shifts</main>
}

an empty shell, waiting on your call

Can you just... make something that fixes this?

Riley wants all of this. What does your app actually do this afternoon?

The list where everyone picks a dayThe reminders

Try a day as a software engineer

A short, playful taste of the real work.

Try it out

Where these numbers come from

The Sidequest team