Universities do provide some regional advantages for local jobs but the competitive edge is mostly in the weather and recreational opportunities.
Thank you for the advice. I’m applying to a ton of schools so hopefully I’ll have a good set of schools to choose from come March. I used the ranks to get familiar with schools that are considered good for comp sci to have a general idea since at the time I was very ignorant about OOS. I personally just don’t like the Florida schools, but I won’t go into debt to go OOS. My stats were posted early in the thread btw
I would consider some private schools in California that are more likely to give financial aid or any aid. UCs will give you nothing unfortunately, I went through the same process but ended up at Pomona Colleges, one of the Claremont Colleges, with a ton of financial aid and stats similar to yours! I would look into applying there or to Harvey Mudd, both have great computer science programs.
Thank you for the advice, I’ll definitely look into those schools. My current “dream” school rn is USC for computer science (games). Although my stats aren’t amazing I hope I get lucky with my essays or extracurricular or literally anything that’ll get me in. I’m glad my dream school didn’t turn out to be UCLA or I’d be in debt
Consider San Jose State. Heart of Silicon Valley and I think lower cost than UCs.
OOS tuition for a Cal State school is about 20,000 a year. Add room and board and it’s going to be 30,000+. Not as expensive as a UC but not worth it for OOS.