2024 Best Information Technology Master's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region

If you pursue a master's degree in information technology, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #26 most popular program in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.

For its 2024 ranking, College Factual looked at 12 schools in the Far Western US Region to determine which ones were the best for information technology students pursuing a master's degree. Combined, these schools handed out 589 master's degrees in information technology to qualified students.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Information Technology School for Your Master's Degree

Your choice of information technology for getting your master's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality it program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:

Overall Quality Is a Must

The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To take this into account we consider a school's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a combination of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

Average Early-Career Salaries

Average early-career salary of those graduating with their master's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your master's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

• Major Focus - How much a school focuses on information technology students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of information technology students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
• Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
• Student Debt - How much debt information technology students go into to obtain their master's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized information technology related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for information technology students working on their master's degree.

More Ways to Rank Information Technology Schools

The it school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Information Technology Master's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region.

 

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Information Technology in the Far Western US Region

The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in information technology.

10 Top Far Western US Region Schools for a Master's in IT

1

University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA

29 Annual Graduates

University of Southern California is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in information technology. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in information technology from University of Southern California

2

University of Washington - Seattle Campus
Seattle, WA

88 Annual Graduates

$97,726 Median Starting Salary

Any student who is interested in a master's degree in information technology needs to look into University of Washington - Seattle Campus. UW Seattle is a very large public university located in the large city of Seattle.

Those information technology students who get their master's degree from University of Washington - Seattle Campus receive $5,074 more than the average it grad.

More information about a master’s in information technology from University of Washington - Seattle Campus

3

University of California - San Diego
La Jolla, CA

38 Annual Graduates

Any student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in information technology has to check out University of California - San Diego. Located in the large city of La Jolla, UCSD is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in information technology from University of California - San Diego

4

University of Nevada - Las Vegas
Las Vegas, NV

44 Annual Graduates

University of Nevada - Las Vegas is a good choice for students interested in a master's degree in information technology. Located in the midsize city of Las Vegas, UNLV is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in information technology from University of Nevada - Las Vegas

5

University of San Diego
San Diego, CA

40 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of San Diego, USD is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population.More information about a master’s in information technology from University of San Diego

6

National University
San Diego, CA

85 Annual Graduates

$77,429 Median Starting Salary

National University is a large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of San Diego.

Master's students who receive their degree from the it program earn around $77,429 in the first couple years of their career.

More information about a master’s in information technology from National University

7

Seattle Pacific University
Seattle, WA

7 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Seattle, SPU is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.More information about a master’s in information technology from Seattle Pacific University

8

Central Washington University
Ellensburg, WA

19 Annual Graduates

CWU is a medium-sized public university located in the town of Ellensburg.More information about a master’s in information technology from Central Washington University

8

California Baptist University
Riverside, CA

25 Annual Graduates

Cal Baptist is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Riverside.More information about a master’s in information technology from California Baptist University

9

California State University - San Marcos
San Marcos, CA

12 Annual Graduates

Located in the large suburb of San Marcos, CSUSM is a public university with a large student population.More information about a master’s in information technology from California State University - San Marcos

Best Information Technology Colleges by State

Explore the best information technology schools for a specific state in the Far Western US Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
California	253	347
Washington	183	197
Nevada	105	44

View All Rankings >

Rankings in Majors Related to IT

One of 10 majors within the Computer & Information Sciences area of study, Information Technology has other similar majors worth exploring.

IT Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
Computer & IS Security	312
Information Technology Management	164
Information Technology Project Management	96
System, Networking, & LAN/WAN Management/Manager	17

Majors Similar to IT

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Computer Science	3,612
Computer Information Systems	1,053
Information Science	650
Computer Software & Applications	420
Data Processing	101
Computer Programming	24
Computer Systems Networking	23

Notes and References

• The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
• The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
• Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
• Credit for the banner image above goes to Craig Dennis. More about our data sources and methodologies.