Computer Science at Smith College

Smith's computer science graduates earn $66,981 in their first year—about $20,000 below Massachusetts' median for CS programs and landing in just the 25th percentile statewide. That gap matters because students at this highly selective liberal arts college (20% admission rate, 1480 average SAT) are competing for jobs against graduates from MIT, Harvard, and other top Massachusetts programs where first-year earnings routinely exceed $100,000. The program does keep debt reasonable at $19,000, creating a manageable 0.28 debt-to-earnings ratio, but the low earnings suggest Smith CS graduates may be taking different career paths than their peers at other selective schools.

The small sample size—fewer than 30 graduates—means these numbers could swing significantly year to year, so don't treat them as definitive. Still, the pattern is hard to ignore: among 33 Massachusetts CS programs, this ranks near the bottom quartile for earnings despite Smith's academic prestige. Some graduates may be pursuing graduate school, nonprofit work, or other paths that suppress initial earnings but lead to better long-term outcomes.

If your child is set on computer science as a career-focused degree, Smith's outcomes suggest they'd face an uphill battle in the Massachusetts tech market compared to graduates from MIT, the region's public universities, or even peer liberal arts colleges like Williams ($110,814) and Amherst ($100,596). The education will be excellent, but the earnings data indicates it may not translate into typical tech industry opportunities.