<p>@lookingforward:</p>
<p>UW-Madison, UT-Austin, and UIUC <em>are</em> top engineering schools (like Stanford). Can you not get that through your head? Nothing the OP says indicates to me that he cares about prestige outside of engineering and CS. You are the one who has decided that the OP is focused on “uber-prestige schools”, not the OP.</p>
<p>Purple Titan, OP has not mentioned these other schools. Let him. He did mention Stanford and “prestige.” </p>
<p>It does zero good for you to assume what OP is thinking. (Especially when he started a thread thinking his income would be some edge- to me that shows a little less understanding, etc, etc.) I went back over the thread and don’t see him mention any other schools by name. And don’t assume I don’t know good engineering programs and then get huffy about it. Please and thank you. If OP has nothing more to say, I’m out.</p>
<p>He mentioned Stanford and “prestige in CS and engineering”. Somehow, that became “uber-prestige schools” to you. I agree that it does zero good to assume what the OP is thinking, which is why I listed the schools that can get him to his purported target: a top software firm.</p>
<p>Also, if you know what some good engineering programs are, then why wouldn’t you think that he had UIUC, UT-Austin, and UW-Madison in mind when he mentioned “top engineering schools”?</p>
<p>One measure of prestige is based upon acceptance rates. The lower the acceptance rate, the more of a “wow-factor” it creates . . . as in “Wow, this kid got into Stanford! Let’s bring him in for an interview and see if we can find out what what Stanford saw in him.” (As shallow as it sounds be, it happens all the time with employers.) So when the OP mentioned a school like Stanford, with it’s 5.1% acceptance rate, that automatically placed them into the “uber prestige” seeking category. While UIUC, UT-Austin, UW-Madison and Carnegie Mellon are wonderful schools, they don’t have the same cache or single digit acceptance rates as uber selective schools like Stanford, MIT, Princeton or CalTech. I think that’s what @LookingForward was alluding to. Yes, the OP can get a great education at any of those schools, but nothing says prestige these days like Stanford. Even the Harvard Crimson seems to think so: <a href=“The Harvard Crimson”>http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2014/4/13/why-stanford-is-better/</a></p>
<p>His first post states
Top engineering schools for Computer Science. Maybe for some it reads Harvard/Princeton prestigious for others it read top CS engineering schools like UIUC, etc…</p>
<p>OP, my daughter who is at UCSD(not selective) but top CS programs, knew somebody who was rejected to Computer Science at her school, this guy developped Apps for money. He was accepted to UCSD but not to Computer Science. While my daughter does not have as much experience in program( except for a summer program) was accepted and was offered Regents. So I think these Apps thing may not be viewed as favorably by Adcoms.</p>
<p>@gibby:</p>
<p>In what industries does “it happen all the time with employers”? Real, verified examples, please (and yes, I know the Wall Street and MBB consulting targets, though UIUC STEM students are evidently among Goldman’s quantitative target schools now).</p>
<p>Back in 2004 (when Microsoft was still at the top of the heap), Bill Gates noted that Microsoft hired more CS grads from UIUC than from any other school in the world. When it comes to startup founders with CS degrees, Stanford/MIT/Harvard lead the pack, but Illinois & Cal are in the next tier (trailed by UMich/Cornell/Columbia/UPenn). The rest of the Ivies (including Princeton, surprisingly) have only a couple each (and while Harvard CS is much smaller and MIT is a little smaller, Stanford just had 200+ decare for CS, which is about as many as Illinois graduates in CS; Columbia has almost 200 declare for CS; I imagine that the fairly big Ivies of Cornell and UPenn are similar; Cal should be the same size as UIUC).</p>
<p>@Gibby, do you have a background in software? I know that some people are shocked to hear this (especially the East-Coast Ivy-obsessed), but tech recruiters tend to understand how good various CS programs are. Evidently, the 2 top feeder schools for one Bay Area software giant are Wisconsin and CalPoly-SLO. The top high-frequency trading firms all recruit Illinois and CMU as well as MIT/Cornell/Princeton (most hit Stanford and Cal as well, though some don’t bother).</p>
<p>I guess my point is, who cares about overall prestige (as opposed to reputation in a particular field) if you can get anywhere you want to in the software world from any of these schools?</p>
<p>
My daughter took a year and half off after her freshman year at Harvard. During her break, she went looking for all kinds of jobs in New York City – legal, investment banking, film production, even bartending. She pounded the pavement, dropping her resume off with various companies and while everyone told her they were not hiring, when they saw Harvard at the top of her resume, they said “Wait a minute. You go to Harvard? Don’t go, I can make some time for you.” She received many offers not because of her major (she didn’t have one at the time), but because of the college she attends. The same thing happened with my son who is at Yale. This summer he is working at a well-know google-like music sharing company as a paid CS intern even though he is not majoring in CS (he does know Java). He basically got the interview – which became 3 interviews and then the offer – because of where he goes to school. So, sometimes, at least on the east coast, where you go to school matters as much as what you study. </p>
<p>Yeah, but I also know somebody who graduated from Harvard as recent as 2012, guess where he is, teaching English in China or some foreign countries like that. If it were so easy for him with a Harvard degree then why not go to NY. I have to admit Harvard and Yale impresse a lot more people on the East Coast.</p>
<p>Ok, folks, here’s his list from his chance thread: Stanford, Harvard, MIT, Caltech, UC Berkeley, UCLA. Carnegie Mellon, Harvey Mudd. On this thread and that one, states a 36 ACT. Plus one for Duke where he’s making 75k, not 50. However, on a 6/30 thread, his June ACT scores are 30 Composite, incl a 30 in Math. And says he’s a rising junior. On 4/14, it’s one heck of a long college list. And the EC’s are a long list there- no web apps but an ACT prep biz that earns him 6k.
Look at it, it’s crazy.
Yup, Gibby. This kid is all over the map. </p>
<p>His uw GPA is off, 5 Bs and it’s 3.91. Doesn’t sound right. It looks like a pipe dream. </p>
<p>The Northeast definitely is more snobbish about HYPSM or Ivies vs. state schools. I’ll give you that. Folks outside that area (in the Midwest & West Coast, specifically, where I have lived) who studied CS would put UIUC, Cal, and CMU in the top tier of CS schools, however. And while I’m not saying that they’re better than Stanford/Harvard/MIT (which do offer more opportunities), most wouldn’t differentiate between those schools and Ivies/Ivy-equivalents in CS.</p>
<p>Some mom here mentioned her daughter is at Stanford and has been having problem finding internship. Now we all know that Stanford is better than Harvard(:D) and if this student has problem in the WestCoast with her Stanford education that means the WestCoast people don’t care that much about prestigue. How is that for a logic/deduction. :D</p>
<p>@DrGoogle The sample size is too small to make that assumption and there are multiple variables in play when it comes to receiving quality internships (such as GPA). :/</p>
<p>My post is in response to Gibby’s post, her sampling size is 2. I agree mine is too small, anecdote evidence but I was trying to counter Gibby’s point that there is no guarantee. She didn’t mention her kids GPA, just the name Harvard and Yale. But there was a lot of smiley faces in my post to mean I was not serious in making these allegations.</p>
<p>^^ FWIW: My daughter is a super-senior (graduating in Dec 2014) and has a 3.97 GPA; she is currently a John Harvard Scholar, which is awarded to the top 5% of students. My son is a rising senior and has a 3.94 GPA. So. maybe their GPA’s had something to do with their internships . . or maybe my sampling size of 2 is too small :)) </p>
<p>Yeah, but if any students even at Cal state U had that kind of GPA, they would have been hired to, Harvard or not . So your other posts were even more meaningless to other students. </p>
<p>I was going to say. The top CS students at UIUC/Wisconsin/Texas (or any half-way decent CS program these days) would have multiple top software companies beating down doors trying to get them.</p>