Okay so I am highly debating on which CS college I should go to, if I go to UCSD its about 20 minutes from where I live, so I am very fortunate to have that so close by.
The only problem with UCSD is that Berkeley just pays so much more after graduation. Everyone says that Berkeley is #1 but people also say that after your first job then nobody cares what college you went to, that a college is only good for getting your foot in the door. If that is true, then why not just get your foot in the door at some other college and work your way to higher and higher pay?
So a mid career salary for CS major at UCSD is 115k, while Berkeley is around 140k. Why is that? Whats to stop me from just getting my foot in the door after graduating from UCSD and then looking for higher pay jobs around silicon valley, or work for some company like microsoft since I will have experience? Are those top companies really looking for fresh grads from Berkeley instead of people that have multiple years of experience?
San Diego is pretty inexpensive area by about 20%. Plus I think there are a lot of government jobs there, pay but stable employment. My coworker moved from San Diego to SV and got a 20% cost of living raise. You can buy a nice house in San Diego between $800k to $1 million easily, not in the Bay Area, it probably costs twice as much and that’s if you are lucky to find one you like.
My daughter goes to UCSD and my coworker’s son goes to UCB L&S CS. They are both sophomore. Last I talked to him, his son didn’t have an internship yet, while mine got one.
Though I also trust Linkedn as it is more informative, I think Harvard, Rice, and UPenn in general has a more rigorous approach to CS despite its lower CS grad ranking.
UCSD fortunately has the proximity advantage (Qualcomm) and it is no slouch either. But I just want to note this so that people would know that those schools are also very good choices for undergrad CS.
Rice CS is… some of the most rigorous undergrad CS out there, and students in those 3 schools tend to go to grad school after so it isn’t a fair comparison (added on with UCSD is nearer to Silicon Valley than the rest).
Anyways, UCSD is a fantastic school for CS. Berkeley grads might get paid more due to proximity (and maybe cause they are better (?)) but the difference isn’t notable.
Individual matters more once you start attending schools like UCSD for CS. You can have just as good opportunities if you do well there in UCSD. Don’t frat so much. It is a top CS school.
Do you know that UCSD’s chancellor used to be a dean of engineering for Carnegie Melon. I think he has his connections with the top CS folks. I think he will hire the right people to help UCSD CS department.