I agree 100%. I think the sweet spot might be to get your feet wet in a high wage, high COL area and then move with a work and wage history to a lower COL area.
My son chose the job he’s in because it interested him the most. It was serendipitous that it was also his highest salary offer. He’s not very materialistic, so the money isn’t that important to him.
100% agree - especially due to impacted major. Unless the test scores come up, I think both NCSU & UNC would be in the reach category.
I live in NC and am amazed every year at how much the stats go up for incoming freshmen at UNC, since my D was a freshman in 2013 (they publish a stat snippet for each entering freshman class). I was also surprised to hear of multiple cases of students with solid stats being turned down from NCSU this year (mostly in impacted majors). If you’re in NC, not only does county matter but also high school (although UNC will forever deny that these are factors). Unless the applicant is solidly at the top of the stats for each of these colleges, nothing is a certainty.
I have heard of those sort of salaries in the 150 K range for kids going to the West Coast from Georgia Tech in CS. The cost of living is a huge negative though. Any idea on how kids in ancillary headquarters for FAANG or similar, not in Silicon Valley, are compensated. Of course many of these kids want to go to Cali so just for my own personal knowledge 
Nah, I don’t wanna live in Cali. Here in the Cary RTP area, in about 2 or so years, Apple is bringing thousands of jobs. House rates have increased significantly already. My goal is to work here in the RTP area making a minimum of 200K a year at Apple (obviously hope to get there a few years out of undergrad, not right out of undergrad. I hope to make at least a 100K right out of undergrad), not in Cali.
I don’t think those are unreasonable goals. It won’t be easy no matter where you go. The trendy jobs are highly competitive. You’d make your path easier by choosing a school that Apple routinely recruits at. That’ll require digging into LinkedIn profiles and researching job fair listings at the schools.
Where you want to work will evolve with time as you get to know people who are in the workforce. Apple does cool stuff, but they have a locked down approach that can get fatiguing, especially in the divisions working on new stuff.
Good luck.
I think it’s extremely unrealistic to expect to work at a company and specific location . Life is about the unknown. You don’t even know about CS yet at the professional level. What if you get to college and like so many change. There are zillions of tech opportunities out there. You may apply to intern at Apple and not get in. But guess what you’ll get in somewhere great. I wanted to be in sports tv. I worked at the holy grail ESPN. I no longer loved sports. So be careful.
Finally and obviously I don’t know the tech world like @eyemgh but I’m guessing $200k for an individual contributor or even manager in the RTP is highly unrealistic in the corporate world. I work for a major car manufacturer and used to for another. Our top managers in all facets, from sales to engineering to IT, below the executive level don’t make $200k.
OP I hope you do, but you’ll have better odds if you go to law school and hang a shingle with your name on it. Yes law is tough. My point is if you are working for someone else, there is always a limit to upside.
That said many a family making $100-150k lives a very nice life.
I agree that you can’t simply set your eyes on the prize and assume you’ll get there. My son amassed an impressive set of accomplishments between his GPA, internships, and projects, but it was just crickets from most companies he applied to. Even in a hot market it’s hard to get a foot in the door as a new grad. That’s why choosing a school that has established paths to internships and jobs is important. It doesn’t have to be an expensive, big name either. The top employer at SJSU is Apple.The more likely path is as a second or third job.
Compensation was surprising to me too. I was blown away at the money once I got more of an inside look. There are SEs at Apple making over $500k and Directors making more than $1M. That’s largely due to their stock options.
But the stock growth of a $2 trillion company will likely not replicate the past. Tim Cook has out jobbed Steve Jobs. It’s good info though. Thx for sharing.
The tech explosion has been crazy. It’s not just Apple though. Below are total compensation packages for entry level and the highest level listed on Levels.
Google $192K $1.02M
Amazon $164K $627K
Microsoft $158K $480K
Uber $170K $780K
Lyft $218K $568K
Salesforce $175K $660K
Stripe $226K $588K
Oracle $177K $463K
Tesla $130K $500K
DoorDash $196K $516K
Square $159K $400K
Now these are almost certainly outliers for the nation, but in the hyper competitive west coast environment, Apple is not alone.
I included established companies and startups. I left off a lot of companies, but Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, AirBnB, Robinhood, Pinterest, Netflix, and Snap all pay in the same range. 
… and still be able to save for their kids’ college, their retirement, and other longer term financial goals.
Of course, remember that stock-based compensation is highly variable, depending on what the company’s stock is doing. You really want to keep your cost of living below your base pay (which should not be hard to do at base pay of $100k+ or even $70k+) and treat the extra from stock-based compensation as gravy.
Computing is not always a gravy train. Of course, many current high school and college students may not remember the crash in 2000-2003 or so.
So at the end of the day, if I get my SAT to 1500+ I should be good for some of these schools on my list?
Also, I discussed with my parents about budgeting and such and my preferences are in-state schools (close to home), good ranking for CS, if its less than a t50 school then the budget is <40K a year.
Some safety schools I looked into are ASU (which will cost me 30K a year after my scholarship), Milwaukee School of Engineering (which will cost me somewhere around 30-40K a year), UNCC (in-state so is fairly cheaper), and UNCG (which is pretty cheap as well).
Do I have a well-rounded list now? Please feel free to add any schools that fit my requirements listed above. Thanks
No one said you will not get into schools. Most said Ga Tech unlikely (not impossible) and some said UNC and even NC State similar.
You should add schools that work for you. What are your hot buttons. You mentioned cost and close to home.
How about South Carolina where you’d go cheap and Clemson, both wonderful Honors colleges. Alabama with the nicest engineering campus you’ll ever see and you’ll go dirt cheap. Auburn is strong as well. UF is a possibility and is reasonable at full pay. Rose Hulman, the top rated non PHD school year after year. It’s small but you’ll get money. Pitt. Rochester, Case Western and RPI. Arizona will be even cheaper than ASU. ASU places more in Silicon Valley since that’s your pull but both are strong. Delaware….UMD is strong but likely full pay. $55k or so. Delaware a bit less but not near as strong.
You have to be on a campus for four years, day after day after day. What is it you want ? Large, medium, small. Greek, not Greek. Sports. Not sports. Urban, rural, suburban.
Wanting to work at Apple is a silly reason to choose a school.
Stop telling us we said you won’t get in anywhere. No one said that. You have schools that are match and safety in Va Tech and RIT.
If you find Arizona State a place you don’t want to end up and I don’t know why as they are strong, a great honors college and huge tech placement, then you shouldn’t apply to a NC regional school like Greensboro. Even if your ACT remains unchanged you will have a lot of opportunities at a reasonable cost.
But first come up with the things you want in a school besides it could help get me a job at Apple. Let’s find you a school where you can thrive.
It’s no sillier than wanting to work for NASA or SpaceX, or to want nice weather, to be near mountains, or to want good sports teams. I don’t think it’s our job to tell students what they want. Letting them know how realistic those wants are is.
Fair point. Thanks for pointing that out. Let me re-state. Going to a school because you assume it’s a ticket in is not a reason.
Btw I say this having gone to Syracuse to be the next great sports journalist. They are the Mecca. I did exactly this same thing I am speaking against. Most people I kept up with are in unrelated jobs like me. I work for a car manufacturer visiting car dealers for a living. Yes you hear the same names over and over and yes there are many grads in industry but most are not.
I’m simply trying to say, find the place where you can thrive. You will end up where you are meant to be. I’m sure Apple has employees from hundreds of colleges. With hiring done over the internet today there will be more and more kids getting into places from less thought of schools. Yes, there will be primary feeders but going to a non- feeder won’t mean impossibility.
You make a fair point tho. My words were misspoken.
Greek or no greek? Sports? Why do these things even matter? After the 4 years at uni, I won’t give one damn about if I chose a school that had warmer weather and more sports events. I will, however, care about my job and the salary that I’m making.
All these schools like Clemson and Auburn aren’t even t100s (Clemson nearly #384 and Auburn at #111). That’s a real shame. I’m not going to go somewhere just because its cheap. I care about status, prestige, job opportunity, and rankings of schools. Mind you, these are just my preferences.
I’d rather just apply to top schools and take my chances than go to a CS school that’s not even in the top 100 in the US.
What will you do if you get shut out? If you care so much about status and prestige, what kind of status and prestige will you gain by not going to college at all or starting at community college?
If you survive your four years. Many CC posters, MIT grads themselves, have stated 3 years out where you went won’t matter in CS.
Since prestige is all that matters and I’m not sure how you define it because there is no standard meaning, apply to the top 15 and call it a day. As you state surely you will get in somewhere. Or not.
Ps you need to recheck your rankings.
Here is computer science. One source. Anyway you’ve been given a lot of fine names by many people. You seem to choose to focus on the negative and ignore most focusing on one you want to bash. You should change your outlook. There are a lot of very smart people out there and they will be your classmates whether at MIT or Clemson. And they all have the ability to do many great things.
Also above you said you have a budget - you say for less than too 50 but if your parents only want to spend $40k it like won’t matter where. I hope you get into UNC or NC State and problem solved. But there are many fine schools that are cheap from ASU up to UAH Good luck. RPI looks like your best bet for prestige. The CC, by the way, has discussions of many looking to transfer out. Why. I don’t know. But who cares. It’s a great name. You can suffer if it’s not the right fit since that wouldn’t matter to you.
Good luck.
https://www.niche.com/colleges/search/best-colleges-for-computer-science/
No one is saying those are the things you should care about. What they are saying is that you can get a good CS education at quite a few schools and that what your experience will be like at those schools will not be the same. Your 4 years will largely be shaped by the intangibles you find important. This forum is littered with students looking for advice on transferring OUT of prestigious schools because they failed to find schools where they fit. You have to spend 4 years of your life there. What do you want it to be like?
This is very different than caring about the quality of education that you can get at a particular school.