<p>I know nothing about CS but I can’t help adding my .02… if he loves this job, the people he’s working with, and what he’s working on…then I’d do a lot to help him stay with it, including taking a year off from school. There’s always a job, but there may not be a job with this excitement and investment attached. And that, as an experience in a young life, is worth its weight in gold.</p>
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<p>Very well said.</p>
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<p>$120,000 for a new graduate with a bachelor’s degree in CS seems very optimistic. New graduates of UC Berkeley with bachelor’s degrees in CS or EECS are in the $73,000 to $76,000 range for pay, even though a lot of the employers are “Silicon Valley” type companies (UC Berkeley is local and has a high reputation among employers).</p>
<p><a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/CompSci.stm[/url]”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/CompSci.stm</a>
<a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/EECS.stm[/url]”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/EECS.stm</a></p>
<p>A well known school for CS in Pennsylvania has a career survey indicating that the highest pay for a 2010 graduate in CS was $100,000. This includes the significant number who go to work at “Silicon Valley” companies:</p>
<p>[School</a> of Computer Science-Career and Professional Development Center - Carnegie Mellon University](<a href=“http://www.studentaffairs.cmu.edu/career/Students/gps1/explore/survey/scs.html]School”>http://www.studentaffairs.cmu.edu/career/Students/gps1/explore/survey/scs.html)</p>
<p>If the school in question is CMU, then the following may be of interest:</p>
<p>[Student</a> Leaves of Absence](<a href=“http://www.cmu.edu/policies/documents/StLeave.html]Student”>http://www.cmu.edu/policies/documents/StLeave.html)
[Student</a> Returns from Leave](<a href=“http://www.cmu.edu/policies/documents/StReturns.html]Student”>http://www.cmu.edu/policies/documents/StReturns.html)</p>
<p>If the OP’s son does this, he won’t be alone. The son of a good friend did this last year (and the school he didn’t return to is one of those single-initial ones). Eventually, he may go back somewhere (he has been talking about applying to transfer to Stanford).</p>
<p>And lots of people wind up getting involved in something and stopping out of college awhile to pursue it. One of my college classmates is a well-known pollster who got his start working on the Carter campaign in 1976, and he never made it back to school that fall. A friend of my son’s did something similar with Obama, and wound up working at the White House for a while before returning to college.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry terribly about it.</p>
<p>I have friends who took 3 years to do the first three years of college and 25 years to do that last year of college…</p>
<p>^That would be my mother. 
Though I think it was closer to 20 years.</p>
<p>that would be ME ellemonope! Hoping to finish after son is done. If I survive this.</p>
<p>Somehow I doubt the OP is being comforted by hearing that the son can always go back long after his parents are dead and finally get that BA.</p>
<p>LOL JHS, you are probably right!</p>
<p>In this day and age, depending on the major and classes required to complete, it might be possible to do on line.</p>
<p>It meant a lot to D1 to be able to graduate with her class, even though it was a class of 3000. They did a lot of “last” events through out senior year. To get that diploma with friends she started out with freshman year was very special.</p>
<p>In my view (I know I have a lot), this is not exactly the opportunity of a lifetime, like a role at a Broadway show or be in a reality TV show :), to work on a political campaign (election which only happens every 4 years), not something OP´s son couldn´t do again without taking time off.</p>
<p>At the end of day, the way to look at it is what would he gain by taking the job vs getting his degree on time.</p>
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<p>For this to happen, you would need a good number of stars to align well. Spendthrift company under a deadline, amazing marketable skills by the yet-to-graduate student AND a void for such talent at his company, and perhaps a return to the go-go years of decades ago. </p>
<p>While I do believe that the student should seize this opportunity and take a one-year “sabbatical” I believe that a small dose of realism is necessary. There are PLENTY of CS superstars graduating in NoCal who would dream of starting at 120,000 plus stock. Except for the rarest of cases, 2011 is an employer’s market.</p>
<p>As far as the degree, it should not be too farfetched to transfer to Cal, especially if coming from a prestigious CS school in PA. Plenty of JUCO and community colleges get admitted to Cal as transfers. Who knows, after working one year in CA, he might even pay the IS fees only.</p>
<p>It can be hard to do one year at another college: most require that the last two years, or year and a half, be done at their school. Perhaps some special arrangement can be made, who knows.</p>
<p>My son worked at a well-known Silicon Valley company the summer after sophomore year, and another after his junior year. In both cases, he was offered a job and was tempted to take the job versus return to school.</p>
<p>He did finish, and I think he feels more in control of his choices. (His salary is nowhere near $130K and he was offered jobs from 6 or 7 companies, took the second highest salary offered after graduation; and yes, stock options were part of the package.)</p>
<p>It is always possible that the poster’s son will feel tied to this one small company without the credential, or at the very least will feel like a supplicant at times. when applying elsewhere. Chances are, he won’t work at this small start-up forever.</p>
<p>Taking a semester or a year off could work, if it works for lots of other reasons. But as many of us know from personal experience, it can sometimes be hard to go back to school. So it depends on how he feels and how much he can learn there, that can enrich the school and inspire more learning.</p>
<p>He has to decide of course. It is hard to watch sometimes!</p>
<p>My son started at Google this summer - I think he’s making a fabulous salary but it ain’t 120K.</p>
<p>Stock and stock options are two different things that seem to be used interchangeably in this discussion. If his compensation is a deciding factor, OP and son should be clear on the meanings.</p>
<p>My understanding is that graduate degrees are the norm to be an easy hire in the STEM fields. If it was my kid I would want him to finish his education.</p>
<p>Hell, this old dog would go back & get a CS degree if I could make $120k/yr afterwards!!</p>
<p>As mentioned before, $120,000 per year is much higher than typical new BA/BS in CS pay levels, even though BA/BS in CS graduates are currently among the highest paid new BA/BS graduates these days.</p>
<p>Just to update how this panned out. DS was able to take courses in the school’s Mountainview campus to be able to graduate in time this May with his comp sci/elec engg dual degree. </p>
<p>The startup he joined is still solvent, but hasn’t made it big like some of the others in the Palo Alto area. He still appears to be working unreal hours, but youth is on his side; his job has expanded out of just being locked in the basement to traveling with their sales guy about once a month, even to Toronto, meeting prospects/clients, attending trade shows and making presentations, and even attending a job fair back home to interview interns for next year.</p>
<p>Seems to have made a lot of contacts in the industry and learned a lot about the business side of tech companies, but social life hasn’t progressed much; Salary now is outstanding by our standards at home in Pittsburgh, but he still insists it’s lower than what he’s seen his contemporaries start in 20-30 person shops in Palo Alto. With the kind of townhouses he’s interested in going for about 800 grand he estimates he’s many years from saving enough for the deposit, and has to rent.</p>
<p>All in all, it seems to have worked out well - living comfortably, generally enjoying work, and his job is still providing him the opportunity to learn life’s skills and develop in areas not covered in school. Hope he budgets enough time and effort to get the personal side of his life complete …</p>
<p>It seems like your son is doing well. It is not unusual that he works long hours, most of the young people who are employed in decent jobs do.</p>