<p>Wow that title was depressing, sorry. Happy Sunday! lol</p>
<p>At the beginning of my college search I was very happy with the colleges I applied to. They had all the things I wanted: proximity to a city, computer science program with courses I liked, had more than 10,000 students, etc. I applied to Drexel, UMASS Amherst, Northeastern, George Washington, Georgia Tech, and Pitt. I applied to my schools, was happy, and then while I was waiting for acceptance letters I started thoroughly reading college confidential threads. This is when my confidence took a nose dive. </p>
<p>It seems like everyone here talks about Ivy League colleges and top computer science colleges like if you don't go your life is over. I started to doubt my choices and started beating myself up by not applying to more selective schools that I decided I didn't like in the research process. I looked at top computer science programs when I was researching but didn't apply because of their proximity from home (Stanford and USC were on the west coast I'm on the east), their ivy league association (I didn't really want to go to an Ivy league school), acceptance of AP credits, and the fact that I probably wouldn't get in anyways (1840 combined SAT). I applied to Georgia Tech as a reach and got waitlisted (but I got into the rest of my schools) which now I've seen as a good thing because the male/female ratio ratio was so lopsided (sweet lemon rationalization?haha) </p>
<p>I feel if I never looked at Collegeconfidential I feel I'd be happy with my original college choices. I was watching a presentation the guy who founded mint.com (he went to Duke and PhD at Princeton) was giving to Princeton students and it made me feel hopeless because I feel like I can never become successful because I won't be going to those schools.</p>
<p>I'm just wondering if I'm overreacting and that I can become successful if I decide to go to schools like Pitt (US News says it's 53 in the nation for CS) or that now since I didn't apply to those schools I'll never be hired by top companies or be able to start a start-up company like I want to. I like the schools I applied to but now I'm regretting not trying for other schools :(</p>
<p>The school itself ceases to matter the moment you actually start freshman year. Don’t worry about it because unless your dream job is prestige-locked (investment banking), it doesn’t make a bit of difference what school you go to.</p>
<p>Do you realize how much BS is said on this forum. Do you really believe everything you read here? Go to the Parents section and read some of the stuff. Everybody’s kid is a whiz, 4.0 student, MIT bound, come on! If you want to be an engineer, you need to have something called critical skills.</p>
<p>Depressed over not going to MIT? Did you know that out of every person in the world that has a college degree, 99 do not. So, you should be happy that you have this opportunity that most people only dream of.</p>
<p>And what is with this whole “startup” talk? I have noticed more and more kids have this idea that they are going to college to start a company. Do you even understand what is involved in starting a company? My God, have you all lost touch with reality?</p>
<p>College Confidential is a brilliant business. It’s the perfect outlet for people neurotic over the subjective ranking systems that were begun by US News. Before you get too worried, there are a few truths you should know.</p>
<p>First, most students are happy with their choice no matter where they go. Second, high school GPA is the top correlate to college success. Third, where you go to college has little correlation to future success. In fact, it is well established that students who have the stats to go to an Ivy, do just as well on average as those who attend an Ivy, no matter where they go. It’s not about where they went. It’s about what they did while they were there.</p>
<p>These are incontrovertible. </p>
<p>Need further proof? Bill Gates, Harvard dropout. Mark Zuckerberg, Harvard dropout. Steve Jobs, Reed dropout. The world is filled with extremely successful people who went to no name schools.</p>
<p>My uncle did his undergrad at Wyoming and his PhD at Stanford. Anybody here would have told him he was wasting his time at Wyo.</p>
<p>Don’t pay any attention to recommendations from CCers on where to go. they don’t have any objective information to base that on. Go with your gut, work hard, you will succeed and be happy. Promise. ;-)</p>
<p>I mean…have you read enough of my postings about “it doesn’t matter where your CS degree is from”.??..How I tell folks that the Ivy league grads and CMU/GaTech/Purdue grads are SITTING NEXT TO the <strong>fill in the state</strong> State University grad?</p>
<p>Check my number of posts?
<------------------------</p>
<p>B.S. Mathematics - Michigan State University
M.S. Engineering - University of Wisconsin
23 years as software engineer</p>
<p>My M.S. degree was completed 10 years after I completed my B.S. degree. I was hired at Westinghouse in Pittsburgh (when it was huge) right out of college.</p>
<ul>
<li>Learned INGRES database at Westinghouse (Pittsburgh)</li>
<li>Because I knew INGRES, S.A.I.C. hired me in Washington DC for Sybase database work</li>
<li>Learned data modeling at S.A.I.C and also went into PowerBuilder (when PB was hot)</li>
<li>Company in Philadelphia threw money at me for PowerBuilder & database skills</li>
<li>Data Warehouse started getting big, so I slid into that technology and learned Oracle</li>
<li>Back to Washington DC because now data warehousing is big with the Feds
**** Finished M.S.***</li>
<li>Stayed doing data warehousing/DBA work until NSA contractors came calling…processed me for a Top Secret/SCI+Polygraph clearance (which comes with $30,000-$50,000 increase because of clearance)</li>
<li>Squeezed out all of the Oracle DBA work at NSA until Oracle p.i.s.s.ed off NSA.</li>
<li>Now making switch to Data Science/Big Data/Cloud/Hadoop</li>
</ul>
<p>The M.S. qualifies me for all of those “lead engineer”, “chief engineer” roles and a higher billable rate because the Feds allow higher billing for M.S. holders. NSA does not care about your school. It is merely a “check the box”. It’s pretty cut and dry in software engineering…learn the latest, get some credentials…cash in.</p>
<p>GLOBALTRAVELLER is absolutely right. I would assume he is about my age, but I really don’t understand why young kids nowadays are so obssessed with status and rankings. I see kids driving BMW’s, Audi’s around campus. </p>
<p>Unless, they are part-time dope dealers, it is obvious that Daddy is paying for it.</p>
<p>Back when I was younger, most college students drove beaters and there was a sense of pride in being broke but trying to be independent, doing the best with what you had, etc </p>
<p>What kind of values are these parents teaching their kids?</p>
<p>All your schools are very good. CC is nothing but a bunch of fishing stories. A lot of talk about whoppers, but nothing but minnows in the boat. Study hard. Enjoy college. Have a great career. GL</p>
<p>I cared about my status in the first few months. I got sucked in, but then I stepped back. I saw that it really doesn’t matter. Why would I boast about the rigor of my courses, how easy this class was, or how I’m applying to every Top 20 college when I’m never going to communicate or let alone meet these people!? </p>
<p>I frequently tell the youngins (freshman-juniors) to stop worrying about what other people do. It makes life a lot more enjoyable and easier when you stop looking over your shoulder. So when I tell people where I’m going. I try not to be ashamed of it. Sure, it’s not the brightest university, but it a good university; heck, it’s even GREAT. It fits me. I’ll succeed. I’ll get my degree. I’ll experience the experiences I want. I’ll graduate with no debt. And if you noticed, all those sentences involved me. Which is how they should be. No you, mom, random CC, teacher, etc are in those sentences. </p>
<p>Students should focus on what they want out of life and what they’re going to do to get there. </p>
<p>Since these folks that I know do not visit CollegeConfidential, I’ll post some of their “business” as examples.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Gotta buddy that just left my house about an hour ago. He had been doing configuration management and moved into cyber-security. He just recently got his CISSP certification which will now add on to his very good income. I am trying to get him to upgrade his Top Secret clearance to the full SCI+Polygraph, but he doesn’t want to ask for permission to travel to certain countries like I have to do. His education background: B.A. History from some school called North Carolina Central University.</p></li>
<li><p>Another buddy of mine…top-notch Java developer with about 18 years in the game. He has a clearance like me but he pulls in over $200K and he is regular employee of a contracting company with full bennys…no 1099…no LLC. His education background: B.S. in Electrical Engineering Technology from something called Norfolk State University and a M.S. in Information Systems from the University of Maryland-University College (not College Park).</p></li>
<li><p>My former director of Big-Data & Cloud Development (he took a higher position at another firm)…B.S. Physics from UCLA and a PhD in Physics from Howard University.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>It’s more about taking advantage of the technology trends.</p>
<p>Remember, much of what you read here is posted by people your age. They base their opinion on what other people here, their age, with no life experience to back it up say. It’s a self perpetuating, non-reality based, fear factory. </p>
<p>Pay attention to the vets like GLOBALTRAVELER and ucbalumnus. Even more importantly, go with the school that seems to fit best for your academic AND non-academic needs. You came to your decision based on sound rationale. There is very little of that floating around CC.</p>