Good quality CS schools

<p>Why are they ranking by mid-career pay? Isn’t starting pay more affected by the college you went to? I’ve read that once you land your first job, the college you went to matters even less.</p>

<p>And why should a college matter how much you get paid?</p>

<p>UCSB and UCI do not have better CS programs than UCLA. That list is bogus.</p>

<p>The idea of ranking universities by salary bugs me. Among other things, it does not take into account the types of students attending those schools and the inherent wage differences in different regions. Plus, there is just the issue that it implies that the primary reason to got to a specific college is to haul in as much cash as you can.
My brother graduated with ~3.3-3.5 GPA from Michigan Tech and landed a starting job at $90,000. He picked the school because it was a good fit academically and for his personal outdoor interests, not because of rankings, either money-based or whatever BS-based thing the USNWR pulls out.</p>

<p>I’m not a big believer in any type of rankings for CS degrees, but the list at least gives an indication that where you go to school doesn’t have much to do with your eventual success in the field.</p>

<p>If I can get a quick question in,</p>

<p>I’m an undergraduate at George Mason. I switched my major to CS and have 3 years left. I’m considering trying to transfer to Virginia Tech, the only downside being I will go a bit more in debt and it will probably take 1/2 - 1 year longer to graduate. Do you guys think George Mason is fine, or will Tech open up more opportunities?</p>

<p>At GMU, you can get a good base of CS knowledge for industry software jobs (of course, continuing self-education throughout your career is necessary). For CS electives, you should consider 450, 455, 463, 468, 471, 475 as listed in <a href=“Undergraduate Programs | George Mason Department of Computer Science”>Undergraduate Programs | George Mason Department of Computer Science; .</p>

<p>You must be near the Washington area. While VaTech does have a good reputation, this is Federal “Gubment” area and the Feds don’t care about whether the grad is from GMU or VaTech.</p>

<p>They (employers) care how good you are in Java, C++, C#, Ruby, Hadoop, RESTFul Services, databases and networks.</p>

<p>In the metro DC area, degrees are more of “check off the box”.</p>

<p>Thanks for the replies.</p>

<p>I have little to no interest working a government job. While I am going to school in Virginia, I am not intending to live out my life in this area. As far as getting into a good grad school or working for the top companies, I believe VA Tech may offer better opportunities than George Mason. Still nervous about switching, but I believe it’s the right choice.</p>