Yup, and even though I not only choose the Honda every time (and drive them into the ground) I was happy to stretch for my kids education. Different strokes, different folks. I have neighbors who are always making snarky comments about our lifestyle (i.e. the thrifty folks) but somehow the money materialized when it came time for the kids education.
Jeep for a 17th birthday? Not interested. Ski vacation in some fabulous place? No, we visited grandma over break and made pancakes. Disney for the “milestone” of finishing 4th grade? No, more grandma. So some people are thrifty on some things and happy to pay “Tesla” prices for others!
In the 2019-20 (pre-COVID) GeorgiaTech recent grad survey, more than 200 undegrads from the computing college filled out the survey and reported. Approximately 3/4 of this group said they were living in Georgia. The number working in the state of California was <10, which was below their minimum reporting threshold for privacy, so they don’t list the exact number.
For the engineering college, the totals were as follows. The number of engineering grads working in Georgia outnumbered the number working CA by a margin of more than 20 to 1.
Georgia – 597 students
California – 27 students
I don’t find these results especially surprising. At public colleges, the vast majority of grads usually choose to work within the state. I don’t doubt that many quality SV companies recruit at GeorgiaTech, but most students do not seem to work for them, which I suspect is primarily by choice. Kids who have lived their whole life in Georgia, have family + friends in Geogria, and choose to attend GeorgiaTech over various quality out-of-state alternative colleges often prefer to work in Georgia over California.
For the sum of engineering + computing, the top 10 states with the largest number of 2019-20 grads were as follows. California was the only west coast state which had more than their minimum reporting threshold of 10. Most state colleges for a similar type of pattern with the vast majority of grads choosing to stay in state.
1 . Georgia - 776 students
2. Florida – 63 students
3. New Jersey – 50 students
4. New York - 39 students (tie)
4. Virginia - 39 students (tie)
6. Pennsylvania – 36 students
7. California – 32 students (tie)
7. Texas – 32 students (tie)
9. Maryland – 27 students (tie)
9. North Carolina – 27 students (tie)
Numbers for tech students with MS degree, rather than BS degree is below. Anecdotally this fits with my personal experiences while working in CA, with persons who did grad at GT appearing to be more common than undergrad.
That makes sense. California has representation at most competitive schools just by the sheer volume of graduates. The NJ number is likely driven by a large, very strong high school infrastructure with a lack of Engineering options in state (Princeton isn’t noted for Engineering, Rutgers is OK, Rowan is gaining momentum and Steven’s is a special environment…3/4’s men and looking at NYC).
Regardless of where you look, the majority of people prefer to stay near home. As remote work expands, it will be interesting to see if a GT or VT or other schools will have more people working with global brands.
GeorgiaTech has one of the most popular co-op programs in the United States, which is a 5-year program on paper. Most students do not graduate in 4 years, so 5 years may be more appropriate. This co-op program also may contribute to the location distribution, as I expect many students choose to continue at the company where they did their co-op, which I assume are primarily companies located within driving distance of the college.
Looking at 5-years earlier for all students (not just engineering and computing school), the most represented states were as follows. This explains why NJ ranks so high – NJ was the 3rd most common state among incoming freshman, so it is also the 3rd most common location among graduating seniors. CA has a different pattern. There appears to be a net loss for CA, with more students arriving as freshman from CA than moving to CA after graduating.
2014-15 Freshman
1 . Georgia – 1483
2. Florida – 166
3. New Jersey – 71
4. California – 70
5. Virginia – 66
6. Texas – 61
7. New York – 59
8. Illinois – 49 (tie)
8. North Carolina – 49 (tie)
8. Pennsylvania – 49 (tie)
Reporting 2019-20 – All Graduates
1 . Georgia – 1136
2. Florida – 73
3. New Jersey – 56
4. Virginia – 43
5. New York – 40
6. Pennsylvania – 37 (tie)
6. Texas – 37 (tie)
8. California – 35 (tie)
8. North Carolina – 35 (tie)
10. Maryland – 30
Reporting 2019-20 – Only Engineering + Computing
1 . Georgia - 776 students
2. Florida – 63 students
3. New Jersey – 50 students
4. New York - 39 students (tie)
4. Virginia - 39 students (tie)
6. Pennsylvania – 36 students
7. California – 32 students (tie)
7. Texas – 32 students (tie)
9. Maryland – 27 students (tie)
9. North Carolina – 27 students (tie)
I think that finance/banking is the only exception to this rule. In the vast majority of industries, yes, the payoff of a prestigious college can be quite marginal. But if you are targeting finance, for some reason they are the BIGGEST prestige snobs.
The comments have focused on CS. Purdue’s website lists 6 companies that have had CS co-ops of Purdue students in the past year. 4 of the 6 are in Indianapolis – Angie’s List, Copper Mountain Tech, Salesforce, and Woven Teams. It’s not every company, but there is clear overrepresentation.
I haven’t seen a similar list for GeorgiaTech, but comments make me believe that Atlanta area companies also have a severe overrperesentation. I don’t know whether the majority are in driving distance or not, but I know that many are. However, I also realize that it’s far from every student. Some students also do co-ops far out of driving distance… some even out of the country.
As a person who was involved in hiring for both Big Law and Banking, the driver was not the “prestige” of the schools whose graduates we hired, it was more about using colleges and grad schools as a sifting device. There are lots of students who want to make the big bucks, live in NYC (or some other major urban center) and it would be incredibly inefficient not to use some tools to reduce the number of applicants who we would take a serious look at to a more manageable number without much effort on our part. If the applicant were a Princeton grad with a GPA > X, more likely than not the applicant could handle the entry level work required of him/her. We used the selectivity of the colleges and grad schools and then the grading system of these schools to winnow the field for us before we took the time and effort for the more careful sifting.
Although, I think those two things are inextricably tied. At least in academics, I’m unaware of a school universally thought of as prestigious that was also known for its low admissions standards. The primary reason they’re prestigious is that people perceive that only the best and brightest get to attend. We all may know that’s not necessarily the case, but that’s the general impression.
In the law at least, I think both things are often going on. Law firms like to dress up their attorney profile with school names that clients recognize. People consuming professional services take comfort in seeing a big name on the CV. I’m speaking in generalities, but it’s there.
not OOS kids