Two North Carolina universities made the valuecolleges.com list of the top 50 best value big data graduate programs. The list, which is presented alphabetically, rather than raCutnked, includes North Carolina State University, and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Value colleges says shortages in the field are in the millions, and its list can help interested students find big data programs that provide the best educational value.

“Data Analytics is the technical term, but everyone commonly knows it as Big Data,” says value colleges editor Carrie Sealey-Morris, “not many people know what it means, no one knows exactly where it’s going, and there are definitely not enough people doing it.”

Sealey-Morris explains, Big Data is just beginning to come together as a course of study. “It’s an exciting time, with projected employee shortages estimated well into the millions,” she concludes, “so getting into the field now means making a career path where few have trod and no one is likely to get in your way.” The Value Colleges Best Values ranking will help students be sure they’re getting a smart investment.Here ixs the full list:

The top 3 best values for 2016 are Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA, followed by Stanford University in Stanford, California, and Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California.

The entire list can be found below (in alphabetical order):

Bentley University – Waltham, MA

Boston University – Boston, MA

Brandeis University – Waltham, MA

Carnegie Mellon University – Pittsburgh, PA

Case Western Reserve University – Cleveland, OH

Drexel University – Philadelphia, PA

George Mason University – Fairfax, VA

Georgia Institute of Technology – Atlanta, GA

Illinois Institute of Technology – Chicago, IL

Indiana University Bloomington – Bloomington, IN

Kennesaw State University – Kennesaw, GA

Louisiana State University – Baton Rouge, LA

Michigan State University – East Lansing, MI

New York University – New York, NY

North Carolina State University – Raleigh, NC

Northwestern University – Evanston, IL

Oklahoma State University-Stillwater – Stillwater, OK

Purdue University – West Lafayette, IN

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute – Troy, NY

Rutgers University – New Brunswick, NJ

Saint Joseph’s University – Philadelphia, PA

Santa Clara University – Santa Clara, CA

Seattle University – Seattle, WA

Stanford University – Stanford, CA

Stevens Institute of Technology – Hoboken, NJ

Syracuse University – Syracuse, NY

Texas A&M University – College Station, TX

Texas Tech University – Lubbock, TX

University of Alabama-Huntsville – Huntsville, AL

University of California-San Diego – San Diego, CA

University of Chicago – Chicago, IL

University of Cincinnati – Cincinnati, OH

University of Connecticut – Hartford, CT

University of Florida – Gainesville, FL

University of Illinois-Chicago – Chicago, IL

University of Iowa – Iowa City, IA

University of Maryland – College Park, MD

University of Massachusetts – Amherst, MA

University of Michigan-Dearborn – Dearborn, MI

University of Minnesota-Twin Cities – Minneapolis/Saint Paul, MN

University of New Hampshire – Durham, NH

University of North Carolina-Charlotte – Charlotte, NC

University of Oklahoma – Norman, OK

University of Rochester – Rochester, NY

University of San Francisco – San Francisco, CA

University of Tennessee – Knoxville, TN

University of Texas-Austin – Austin, TX

University of Texas-Dallas – Dallas, TX

University of Virginia – Charlottesville, VA

Worcester Polytechnic Institute – Worcester, MA

On the web:

http://www.valuecolleges.com/rankings/best-big-data-graduate-programs-2016/