What are some good schools with generous merit aid?

Hi. I’m in cs, and I’m a senior, and I’ve signed with a top company. So hopefully you won’t ignore me when I tell you something you may not want to hear…

…which is that you may have to go to a school that you, personally, don’t consider “good” (I’m just guessing you might feel this way since many HS seniors do – but maybe I’m wrong).

Here’s the objective truth about what you need for cs (minus tippy top quantitative WS firms):

  • Accredited school
  • Accredited program

That’s literally it for undergrad cs. Engineering is the LEAST prestige-dependent of all fields (see The Economist piece on this), and CS is the LEAST prestige-dependent field within that subset.

Are there benefits to attending tippy top schools? Idk, dude, maybe. But let me tell you: my friends at Harvard deal with all the same problems that I deal with. My friends at MIT are just as pissed at their administrators as students at my school are. We all eat mediocre dorm food and complain about nasty professors.

The problems really are kinda the same across the board, and honestly? The education is pretty on-par too if I say so myself (and I do). Calculus is calculus.

I had the stats in high school to pull major admissions offers: I chose to go somewhere I had a full ride. We’re completely unranked: I still landed one of the most competitive, well-paid internships every single year, and signed with a tippy top tech company. My fellow interns were from Harvard, UMich, et al… and also no-name rural schools and unranked institutions like mine. Nobody cares as long as you can code.

Sure, there is a minor benefit to having a dedicated school recruiter: but not having one is not something you can’t overcome by shooting a recruiter a message on LinkedIn (takes five minutes). The people who rely on prestige for “access” to companies are, in my opinion, ridiculous. You can do that yourself with barely any effort (tippy top quant firms not included, again).

I’ve saved a TON of money by making this life choice. I think it might actually be the most powerful, best choice I ever made in my entire life, and I’m very grateful that 17 y/o me was mature enough to turn down the siren song of the “more prestigious” path and take the affordable one.

I haven’t suffered at all. I’ve actually come out quite a bit financially ahead than most of my peers at more prestigious schools (AND those kids have been frequently getting turned down at my employer, which has been a pretty awkward experience to go through… but it happens).

A quote from a friend at Harvard who messaged me last week: “I thought the name would mean more.”

It doesn’t.

So make the best choice for you. Go to an affordable school, like a Bama (which is fantastic for cs). Save yourself the burden of loans, save that internship money, save that campus job money. You’ll come out really, really grateful that you can start out your adult life with the apartment you want, the nice wedding you want, the traveling you want…

I’m very grateful to my former self.

Just some advice.