I’m currently looking at 4 year colleges to transfer to. I narrowed down my search to schools such a Virginia Tech and VCU, but the issue is the cost of tuition. My alternatives are either USC or Clemson since they’re instate. I was wondering does it really matter what college you got to especially when it comes to starting slaries?
These are fine schools and you should look at which school helps you meet your goal at the lowest cost. They don’t pay you more because you have more school debt.
So my starting salary won’t be lower because of the school I went to?
University of South Carolina and Clemson are both excellent schools. If cost is a factor, paying the Out of state costs in VA might not be such a good idea.
Also, if you re at a CC in South Carolina, it’s very possible your courses will more easily transfer to YOUR instate public universities than to OOS ones.
For the same employer, it will not significantly differ for the first job out of college.
Different employers may recruit at different colleges, particularly smaller employers that are more likely to favor nearby colleges. Employers looking for students in specific majors may prefer schools known for that major and which have larger numbers of students in that major.
A large percentage of employers have a 3.0 cutoff GPA to move on to the interview stage. I.e. a 3.01 GPA will be significantly better than a 2.99 GPA in terms of job interview opportunities. Beyond that, work experience (summers, co-op jobs, part time jobs in school) will also help.
Your best chance is to go in-state. Unless your parents are paying for the huge tuition difference, the cost of going out of state will easily nullify any salary gains, and leave you with plenty of extra debt left over. Excess student debt, with a fledgling new career will chew you up and spit you out. Banks have no mercy.
My firm hires nationally. People don’t get paid more for their college selection.
This is a hard question to answer. In general, a company makes an offer based on what the market demands for the skill set that they need. It shouldn’t matter where you acquire that skill set. It really is more about what you can do then the name. Now the skill set from school A might not be equal to the school B even if the degree was the same. You can argue that even at the same school, the skill set varies depending on the course selection and job experience. For example, a top student with an engineering degree from MIT might get a better offer than a average student from a low ranked engingineering school. But the company is not offerring more for the MIT name. They are offering more for the better skill set. If both have the similar skill sets then the offer should be similar.
Bottom line, in my view, the company pays for skills not the name of the school. Now if the company feels that based on the past experience that one school has a better program that provides a better skill set then they might pay more if that better skill set is needed. Otherwise probally not.
Once you get past the first job few will care where you went to school. What will matter is your job skills and experience.
What you need to ask is if the schools are looking at will allow you to achieve you goals.
In my 25+ years as an engineering manager, I’ve never saw as case in which the salary offered was somehow related to the school.
What matters most in the long run is finishing a degree. Your GPA matters most for the first job or if you want to go to graduate school. Why not go to school where you will come out with the least debt if you need loans, or if your parents are paying go to the place that puts less strain in their budget? You are fortunate to have great in state options.
Agreed. Even if it were true that having a sheepskin from a more elite school would contribute to a higher starting salary (it shouldn’t, for the very vast majority of jobs), if it means leaving college with more debt, well thats not worth it.
I don’t see your in-state choices you have specifically listed as inferior to the OOS options you listed. I’d go with USC or Clemson.
Your skills and major would matter more.
I see Clemson and VTech as extremely similar.
No, it really doesn’t matter. Most employers do not care where your degree is from, it just matters that you have it. It’s what you do in college and your GPA (for grad school) that count.
But it really does not matter.
Well I want to major in computer science and I do want to go to MIT or Carnegie Mellon also, but I’m saving those schools for grad school. Will it still matter where I went to college if I want to go to those kind of universities to get a Masters or PhD?
Clemson and VTech are essentially the same.
I think there may be some difference in starting salaries, but not huge ones. When we were looking at colleges average salaries from RPI vs CMU were about $10,000 apart. But whether two kids from either school were getting the same exact salary, if they started in the same position at the same company I don’t know. If you do end up going to MIT or CMU for grad school - your employer will be looking at what you accomplished there. It CS, it’s all about skills and experience. Get internships wherever you end up.
IMO the schools you mentioned are at pretty much the same level. Not the tippy tippy top, but all very good.
The relationships can be less direct. For example, USC is in Los Angeles; and Clemson is in South Carolina. Some of the bigger companies will recruit at both, but smaller companies often focus their recruiting at nearby schools. For example, I’d expect USC CS grads to have a notably different list of typical first companies from Clemson grads, leading to a much higher average starting salary than Clemson. However, among grads from both schools who choose to head out to SV after graduation and find a similar related job in that area, I’d expect similar very high salaries and similar very high cost of living.
^^^ USC as in University of South Carolina. 
Sorry, I clearly read the post too quickly. Nevertheless, a similar principle applies to other schools/states on the list.