<p>Fair enough, rjkofnovi. Michigan’s endowment is impressive. The whole place is impressive. It’s a great school. Spend 15 minutes on the campus, and you can see the endowment writ large. But for the purposes of someone entering college for school year 2013-2014, there is every reason to believe Penn State and Maryland will still be in operation. Mostly I was agreeing with tk that if one were to consider that there are 3000-plus colleges and universities in the United States, then the differences in quality among programs ranked 7, 10 and 23 (or whatever) are probably small in relative terms. The rank difference in the CS programs at these schools is, IMO, probably not going to make a huge difference for any given individual. There are lots of variables, some of them predictable and some of them not. </p>
<p>Even if there were a difference, I would be surprised if someone could make a case that the difference is worth whatever $XX,XXX per year differential there would be between in-state tuition at Penn State and out-of-state tuition at Michigan, assuming Penn State is the in-state option (which is an assumption; perhaps not the case?). But forget money: If you thought you’d be HAPPIER closer to home at a GOOD school with people you like, and that’s important to you, is the GREAT school really going to be better for you? Lots of smart, capable kids choose these other schools and live to talk about it. </p>
<p>FWIW: If you look at Payscale data (I take this information and offer it with a grain of salt), the average mid-year career salaries of the three schools are quite close (Mich: $84,200; Maryland, 87,100; Penn State, 83,000). </p>
<p>So just to clarify: I’m not saying “stay home, young man [or young woman]!” I’m saying factor everything in and make a decision that works for you. The fact that Michigan has a well-deserved cachet does not mean it’s necessarily the right decision or a “no brainer” for the OP.</p>