What is IT?
Information Technology (IT) was a term coined in 1958 by Harvard Business Review to differentiate between machines built for a specific, limited purpose and general computing machines that could be programmed with many tasks. IT uses computers – their infrastructure and storage – to create, process, store, secure, and exchange all forms of electronic data.
That covers a wide range of technology, including but not limited to:
- Analytics
- Automation
- Artificial intelligence
- Cloud computing
- Communications
- Cybersecurity
- Data/database management
- Infrastructure
- Internet of things
- Machine learning
- Maintenance and repair
- Networks
- Robotics
- Software/application development
- SCADA
Clearly, there are a lot of uses for Information Technology. In a business, the IT department will develop and maintain applications, services, and infrastructure. They’re what allows the company to process data and create systems that help everything run smoothly and more efficiently.
Jobs for IT Majors
Many colleges offer degrees in Information Technology, and almost every college will offer tangential degrees like information systems, computer science, networking, and cybersecurity. Some possible jobs you might pursue after college with these types of degrees are:
- IT Technician
- Support Specialist
- Quality Assurance Tester
- Web Developer
- IT Security Specialist
- Systems Analyst
- Computer Programmer
- Network Engineer
- Database Administrator
IT is a broad field of study, so there are many other careers you could throw onto the list. If you’re curious what colleges give you the best launching pads into IT careers, the rest of the article is for you, because we’ll go through the best schools for Information Technology.
Top IT Colleges
Cornell University
Cornell is a private Ivy League university in the town of Ithaca, New York. It’s fairly large, with 15,500 undergraduate students, and admissions are very tough with a mere 8% acceptance rate.
There are a range of IT degrees offered at Cornell, including those in computer science, information science, electrical and computer engineering, and applied and engineering physics. Other interdisciplinary fields include a Masters in Business Administration with a focus on digital technology, and a Masters in applied information systems.
Ranked the #1 school for IT by Niche and #4 by CollegeFactual, Cornell is widely recognized as a top school in the nation for studying information technology. They take part in a wide breadth of research, including:
- Computational Social Science
- Critical Data Studies
- Data Science
- Economics and Information
- Education Technology
- Ethics, Law, and Policy
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Human-Robot Interaction
- Incentives and Computation
- Infrastructure Studies
- Interface Design and Ubiquitous Computing
- Natural Language Processing
- Network Science
- Social Computing and Computer-supported Cooperative Work
- Technology and Equity
Stanford University
A private research university in Stanford, California, Stanford University is an elite Ivy League college with about 7,700 undergraduate students. It is extremely difficult to get into, with an acceptance rate of under 4%.
You only have to look across the street to see why Stanford is a leading IT school. The college is right in the heart of Silicon Valley – close to and possessing strong ties with top tech companies like Apple, Facebook, and Google. Stanford offers unparalleled opportunities for internships and networking in the industry. If you’re considering launching a startup of your own, there are resources like the Stanford Technology Ventures Program and the StartX Accelerator to help you get there.
The school has a plethora of resources as well. Students have access to the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and the Center for Integrated Systems. Being a top university, the faculty at Stanford are at the top of their fields, performing influential research and on the forefront of IT development.
Stanford offers degrees in computer science and electrical engineering – either a Bachelors, Masters, or Ph.D. The Stanford Center for Professional Development (SCPD) also provides online and on-campus courses or certificates in different IT and computer science topics.
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University is a private research college in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with an undergraduate enrollment of around 7,500 students. It is another highly competitive school, with an admissions rate of 11%.
The five most popular majors at Carnegie Mellon should say a lot about why they’re one of the top IT schools:
- Computer Science
- Electrical and Electronics Engineering
- Business Administration and Management
- Systems Science and Theory
- Mechanical Engineering
Clearly, this is a place students flock to in order to learn more at IT. Carnegie Mellon offers more than those programs, like one of the first undergraduate degrees in Artificial Intelligence. Some other options include information systems, information technology, software engineering, AI and innovation, information networking, information security, robotics systems development, and computational data science.
CMU’s graduate program is especially robust, with hundreds of masters degrees handed out year after year.
University of Washington
Located in Seattle, Washington, the University of Washington is a large public institution with almost 30,000 undergraduates. They accept 48% of applicants, making admissions competitive but attainable. It is one of the top IT schools in the nation.
There are a few IT type degrees offered at UW, either through the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering or the Information School (iSchool).
- Computer Science
- Computer Engineering
- Informatics
- Information Management
- Information Science
The continuing education programs provide professional skills as well, like data science, cybersecurity, software development, and project management.
Some resources unique to IT at UW include the Center for Game Science, the Network Security Lab, DataLab, and the eScience Institute. The Paul Allen School is one of the best out there, and graduates are able to plug themselves into the bustling West Coast tech scene.
Western Governors University
We’ve highlighted some prestigious, four year universities so far with amazing IT programs. We also want to give Western Governors University a place on this list – an accredited, fully online university with 113,000 students and an acceptance rate of 100%. It may not carry the name brand as some of the other universities on this list, but they have great, flexible IT programs – and it doesn’t carry nearly the price tag either.
Many people looking for degrees in IT might be working professionals looking to switch jobs or get further in their career, and WGU is a great place to do this. 87% of students involved in the undergraduate program are over the age of 25. WGU is a great school to attend no matter what stage of life you’re in.
Despite being fully online and handling a huge number of students, WGU is ranked as the #2 school for IT by Niche, and the #1 value school for IT by CollegeFactual.
Brigham Young University
BYU is a large private research university in Provo, Utah, with an undergraduate population of 32,000 students. They accept a little less than ⅔ of students that apply, with an acceptance rate around 60%.
BYU offers a plethora of options for IT students, including a degree in Information Technology itself, along with computer science, cybersecurity, computer engineering, information systems, and information systems management. Seniors in IT get the chance to do a capstone project where they partner with industry leaders and a professor to build IT solutions, getting real experience before they graduate.
Undergraduates also have the chance to apply for the IMMERSE program, a multi-year affair intended to cultivate real-world engineering leadership skills for promising students. There, students get to work with faculty, gain technical experience, and learn valuable teamwork skills before they hit the workplace.
University of California – San Diego
UC San Diego is a top tier college right by the coast, in the suburb of La Jolla. There are 33,000 undergraduate students, and the acceptance rate is a competitive 24%.
Computer science is the most popular degree at UC San Diego across undergraduate and graduate students. They offer the usual suspects of computer engineering, electrical engineering, and data science, but they also have some other unique IT related degrees:
- Cognitive Science – Specializing in Machine Learning and Neural Computation
- Cognitive Science – Specializing in Design and Interaction
- Bioinformatics
- Bioinformatics and Systems Biology
There are numerous resources available at UC San Diego that make it a top tier school for information technology.
- San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC): Gives support for data-intensive research with powerful computational resources.
- California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2): Conducts innovative research on IT and telecommunications.
- Contextual Robotics Institute: Home of robotics research and education, bringing together computer science, engineering, and cognitive science.
- Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute (HDSI): Beautiful facilities for data science research and education.
- Qualcomm Institute: Advanced labs for research in wireless communication, multimedia, and cyber-physical systems.
- Institute for Neural Computation (INC): Researches machine learning, neural networks, and computational neuroscience.
- Cognitive Science Department Labs: Researches human-computer interaction, machine learning, and cognitive modeling
Finding the School For You
IT covers a lot of areas of discipline, so the first step toward choosing the right college for your career path is deciding where you want to specialize. From there, once you have a preferred major or majors, then you can check out the programs for these 7 schools, or one of the many others with IT programs.
There’s no doubt that IT is on the rise around the globe. This is an exciting field, and we hope that this article got you closer to building your future IT career!
