<p>Hi i'm getting frustrated with all these people on CC saying that going to a better college and forgetting about the lesser ones. In fact, I followed Loren Pope's book and Paul Boyer's book a couple of years ago and turned down some of the state universities I got accepted into and ended up at some no name college. It seems people on CC are opposed to these authors? I mean what's the best choice here? </p>
<p>Going to a college you like, great fit, got scholarships, excellent location, affiliation with religion, like the smallness, beautiful, but decent reputation and ranking, and being happy for 4 years. </p>
<p>OR Going to a higher ranking college or one with the best academic reputation, suffer a bit because of the other circumstances and have a great career in the long run?</p>
<p>I mean it makes me seriously worry that my college never even made it to the top 200 ranking on the US news and people on CC are saying that i'm screwed because of it. </p>
<p>Importantly, Is it even possible for the ones who went to the lesser college have as much opportunities as the ones who go to somewhat upper elite colleges?</p>
<p>Yes. The answer is yes. Go to a school where you will be happy for four years. That will affect your grades, ECs in college, etc. Take advantage of what you have at the school that is right for you, and you have gotten as much out of college as possible.</p>
<p>Note: This is what my parents said. I haven't been to college yet.</p>
<p>But what if I care my about the long run after college rather than what I get in 4 years? Let's say I go to Wheaton College. But I dream of working for Lockheed, NVidia, Pixar, Microsoft, IBM, etc. (Or any of the fortune 100s). Will they know what the heck Wheaton is. Will any company in California know what Wheaton is?</p>
<p>Is it that lesser colleges are only for local jobs nearby since the name and reputation of a lesser college can only go so far?</p>
<p>I think the obvious answer is that you'll have to work much harder, and make many more sacrifices to achieve your goal than someone that goes to a Berkeley or a Michigan or a Cornell, etc,. I don't know how these companies recruit students, but I suppose that if you are able to get your foot in the door and then prove your competence, anything is possible. Getting considered is the hardest part of going to a "no name college"</p>
<p>I know for a fact Microsoft will be hard. I've seen few schools in california where MS virtually hired none whereas they were #1 employer for CS departments in ivy-leagues in the east coast.</p>
<p>I know couple of kids from no-name state schools having no prob of getting into IBM. </p>
<p>NVidia... seems tough place to get into as well. they required 3.5 gpa. dunno about how much they value the name of your school.</p>
<p>Lockheed seems most plausible. they have offices spread across america and they hire almost from any engineering schools out there. i've seen kids from Prairie View A & M getting into Lockheed, which is predominantly african american school w/ SAT median of 800... (lowest of any schools i've ever seen in my life - out of 1600)</p>
<p>and lastly, the places you want to be employed seems all over the board...</p>
<p>Lockheed is AE/ME playground (although they said they need alot of CS guys...but pays alot less than #1 CS companies, say MS)
IBM - EE/CE stuff ... or business if you want to tackle their analyst position...
Microsoft --CS/EE/CE.. (PM position is a bit more flexible but you still need to know above-intermediate programming and hardware)
Pixar - 3d Animation? i guess they prob'ly hire CS guys too...maybe</p>
<p>^Agreed, at least in this area. Your degree won't keep you out of many, if any, places, but you will have to prove yourself more than a Berkeley student.</p>
<p>To be frank, the Cornell student has achieved a 3.4 in one of the most rigorous engineering (I'm assuming you're talking about an engineering/CS program here) programs in the country. In addition, that sole internship is probably substantive and relevant to the area of study. I'm not saying that I'd hire one or the other without looking at transcripts, but all else equal, the Cornell student gets the thumbs up(95 percent of the time).</p>
<p>During his visit to Waterloo in October 2005, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates stated, "Most years, we hire more students out of Waterloo than any university in the world, typically 50 or even more."</p>
<p>What the... Wheaton is not a no-name college. I know "what the heck Wheaton is," and so do the knowledgeable posters in this community.</p>
<p>A vast majority of students don't make it into the Ivy League or any of the national universities. Don't despair.
You can pretty much do or be what you want if you put your mind and heart to it.</p>
<p>i am canadian.. i dunno if it is the world. but engineering wise , bill gates only visits waterloo in Canada. I am not quite sure why because u of T engineering is as good if not better than Waterloo's. Anyway, if you want a job in microsoft and looking for Canadian College, think only Waterloo. However, in my opinion it is not the best. But i guess that does not really matter.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I know for a fact Microsoft will be hard. I've seen few schools in california where MS virtually hired none whereas they were #1 employer for CS departments in ivy-leagues in the east coast.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>
[quote]
Waterloo is the Stanford of Canada.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>oh. nm. i thought you were contradicting what i just said.</p>
<p>looking over at wikipedia, that school even has a contract with MS to teach its students C#.</p>
<p>
[quote]
What, so would you saying you would hire a 3.9 alleghany college student with 3 internships than a 3.4 cornell dude with 1 internship?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I'd take the kid from Cornell four times out of five. But the problem with this is that you're not just competing against a 3.4 from Cornell. Especially at Microsoft, you'll be competing against 3.7's, 3.8's, and the occasional 3.9 from Cornell, many of whom have very impressive internships.</p>
<p>It's not impossible, but you can't just go through the motions and get good grades at your school. You'll need to have something on your resume that really stands out.</p>