<p>It’s tough to rank them in a linear fashion because several of these programs have different approaches to CS. </p>
<p>Here’s an example: <a href=“http://www.quora.com/Artificial-Intelligence/What-are-the-main-areas-of-research-at-the-AI-department-at-MIT-UCB-CMU-Stanford”>http://www.quora.com/Artificial-Intelligence/What-are-the-main-areas-of-research-at-the-AI-department-at-MIT-UCB-CMU-Stanford</a></p>
<p>Fit comes into play here (although obviously you wanna look at undergrad info rather than grad info). The “#1” program is the one that takes the approach to CS that best fits you. It could be CMU SCS for its interdisciplinary nature, breadth, and the independent CS department; it could be UT Austin because of the proximity to Austin (a rising start-up hub, right behind Silicon Valley), the cultural atmosphere, and the Turing scholars program; it could be Berkeley due to its proximity to Silicon Valley, the rigor of the EECS program, and the school’s excellence in both systems and theory CS.</p>
<p>On that note, try to find out if the programs are more systems-focused or more theory-focused. But it’s all about fit at this stage, though I wouldn’t go with as broad of a “#1” list as PurpleTitan suggested. The 4 programs I would always consider tied at #1 (since they’ve been top 4 for as long as anyone can remember and move around a lot in rankings) would be MIT, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, and the University of California at Berkeley (in no particular order). But don’t get caught up in that because Caltech or Cornell or Harvard could fit you better.</p>
<p>Also, I don’t know why Rice is on that list vying for #1. They’re not even top 10 when it comes to grad CS rankings- but you might enjoy the atmosphere there the most.</p>