San José State was recognized as the No. 2 school in the nation for programming and software engineering skills from a report conducted by CodeSignal.
CodeSignal is an artificial intelligence software that helps companies find candidates based on their skills through assessments and technical interviews, according to the company’s website.
SJSU ranked second place above Ivy League colleges such as Princeton University, Brown University and Yale University, while the top spot is occupied by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Michael Kaufman, dean of the College of Science, said he couldn’t be more proud of the students and this achievement.
“I know that our students and faculty are proud of this recognition,” Kaufman said. “SJSU has long provided excellent, hands-on, industry-relevant education and rankings like this serve to highlight what we’ve known here for a long time.”
The College of Science department currently holds 2,800 graduate and undergraduate students, according to the College of Science webpage.
“The ranking serves to highlight that our programs, faculty and location in Silicon Valley are worth the investment,” Kaufman said.
Opportunities are available for SJSU students, as tech companies such as Apple, Meta and Google are located in the heart of Silicon Valley, according to a SJSU webpage.
San José State is ranked No. 1 in Business Insider’s “Most Silicon Valley Hires,” according to the same source.
“I think it gives our current students the confidence that they can compete with anyone when it comes to careers in tech,” Kaufman said.
Sheryl Ehrman, dean for the Charles W. Davidson College of Engineering, said she believed in the students and knew they were capable of such a high recognition.
“I’m extremely proud to see this outcome,” Ehrman said. “We know our students are ready to work from day one and they are sought after in Silicon Valley. This independent and objective assessment only reinforces this.”
The engineering program at SJSU ranks at No. 7 among public universities, according to a SJSU webpage.
Ehrman said the ranking draws attention to SJSU.
“I think when students consider the ranking in combination with other factors such as our faculty and lecturers who have industry experience, our amazing Career Center, our strong programs in computing across three colleges and our low cost of attendance, it’s hard to beat SJSU,” Ehrman said.
Tuition at SJSU costs about $9,000 for the 2026-2027 school year, according to SJSU’s costs of attendance webpage while tuition at MIT costs about $67,000 for the 2026-2027 academic year.
SJSU stands out from the other top 10 universities on the list and is the most inexpensive college to attend, with Berkeley being the closest around $18,000 a year, according to the Berkeley financial aid website.
Stanford University is also on this list at No. 17 with approximately 5,000 engineering students and has a 3% to 4% acceptance rate.
Farther down the list at No. 40 is Santa Clara University.
These two private universities that neighbor SJSU have a higher cost of tuition and a lower acceptance rate.
Other universities, such as Stanford, Duke and Cornell, are also mentioned with the other 50 universities on the list.
“This ranking should be a motivation for current students,” Ehrman said. “It confirms that our current students have the skills employers are seeking.”
The acceptance rate for engineering at SJSU is between 25% to 50% compared to the other nine universities in the top 10, with CalTech having a 2% acceptance rate and UPenn with a slightly higher rate of 3%.
Christopher Pollett, a computer science professor, said he is happy to be involved with this achievement.
“Hopefully this means that SJSU will get more resources from the CSU and State of California,” Pollett said. “If they take a bet on success strategy, that will translate into being able to serve more students.”
SJSU recently hit an enrollment high of approximately 40,000 students, and recently implemented promise programs as it provides local opportunities to high school students.
When it comes to students looking for jobs, SJSU was ranked No. 1 in job outcomes for international students, according to an Aug. 11, 2025 SJSU NewsCenter blog post.
“Companies are interested in the quality of the individual applicants and using a ranking as a shortcut to determining this would seem risky,” Pollett said. “But rankings are probably more of interest to students as a sign that if they go some place they can be trained up to a level that companies want.”
