More important to employers: prestige of the school or prestige of the program?

<p>I'm going to major in computer science in both undergraduate school and graduate school. In trying to decide which college to attend, I would like to know what is more important to employers: the prestige of the computer program of the school I attend, or the prestige of the school itself?</p>

<p>For companies that hire many CS grads, I would think that the HR people know the colleges and the programs. It’s not prestige as much as strength of program. For small companies, that may only hire one or two CS people, they may not be looking at prestige or program - they may just hire the people from their own college.</p>

<p>Employers recruiting CS graduates and interns typically target local schools and those which have the best reputations for CS.</p>

<p>For CS, the prestige of the program is probably more important. </p>

<p>However, many students change from their intended major. So, the strength of the school overall across a range of majors is still important.</p>

<p>I also agree with post #3 above - locality matters, employers recruit at the local schools which have the best CS programs.</p>

<p>My wife was hired as a programmer for a Fortune 50 company out of a trade school, she was an English major. In her class, about 12 ppl went to the same company in different IT divisions.</p>

<p>I’d say program is more important than school.</p>

<p>^@artloversplus: When was your wife hired? 20 years ago?</p>

<p>If so, that’s “history”. The hiring climate has changed too much since then.</p>

<p>^^ True. That maybe, but do you mean NO ONE can be hired out of a trade school now a days? How come I still see ads from the trade schools? They should all be closed by now.</p>

<p>I don’t know really, but I think it’s program. My son turned down Harvard for Carnegie Mellon graduated this spring and is now working at Google. One anecdote. He might well have done just as well at Harvard. </p>

<p>He made the choice because he wanted to be in a top-notch program surrounded by lots of kids like himself. In the end 200 professors looked better than 20. He wasn’t really going to take advantage of what Harvard had to offer, though he had a good time during accepted students weekend and saw that there was a critical mass of games playing geeks. He never regretted the decision.</p>

<p>Interesting, mathmom. I’m curious; how is your son liking his job at Google? How many hours is he working a week?</p>

<p>I know a grad from Cornell that is also working at Google. I understand that their interview process is quite rigorous.</p>

<p>D has a friend working at google; he’s a MIT grad & lives & works with several other MIT grads.</p>

<p>We know several young google employees. They say the company is outstanding as an employer. They work a regular 40 hour work week.</p>

<p>None of them went to “prestige” schools but all went to schools with strong CS programs.</p>

<p>If you know your career goal now, choose the program. That is certainly what you will be doing when you apply to grad school!</p>

<p>If you are waffling about your major, choose the school.</p>

<p>I agree with much of what has been posted about CS majors, but I note that one of my virtual nieces is currently a CS major at a fairly prestigious LAC (but not top 5 in anyone’s book), with no particular great reputation in CS, and she has had little or no trouble getting research opportunities, including at other, better known universities, and a dream internship.</p>

<p>She turned down one of the top CS programs in the country because she wanted the small LAC experience.</p>

<p>I talked to my son over Christmas break about his hours at Google. He seems to work 10 to 6ish, and rarely works much more than 40 hours. Certainly not IB hours.</p>

<p>The stronger programs are better recruited. But kids that aren’t going to heavily recruited schools just have to do the legwork themselves. That said we had trouble a few years ago getting CS graduates to come to the midwest or stay in the midwest so recruiting had to dig deeper and would talk to all kinds of kids from all kinds of schools. Haven’t asked lately if the tides have turned.</p>