On possibly being stuck in-state

I went to college in Georgia, 20 minutes from home. I went to grad school in New York and am moving to Seattle for my first full-time job in the tech industry. (I was not a CS major; my job is semi-technical.)

You aren’t stuck in South Carolina for the rest of your life just because you go to college there. Big technology companies recruit all over the country. I suspect that you “hate” all of the colleges in SC (some of which are very good!) primarily because you have preconceived notions about them and really want to leave the state. The colleges in your home state always look less shiny than the ones that are farther away, because you’ve already been exposed to them. Also, there’s nothing lousy about USC and Clemson; they’re excellent public universities. The College of Charleston is also a pretty good public liberal arts college.

Also, it’s not completely true that there are no tech opportunities in SC - Charleston is developing a little tech corridor in town now.