I know that Yale is my top reach choice, my preference is a liberal arts college where I can study Computer Science and perhaps a humanities of some sort as a minor. However, in searching for my “match”/“goal” schools, I’m having a harder time making my list. I’d love to stick with that formula, but do I run the risk of making myself less employable in the future by majoring in computer science at a lesser-known liberal arts school? The idea of doing it at Yale or Brown is because they have a sense of prestige in their name, but if you were to say Clark University or Hendrix, would that put me at a disadvantage? Should I be looking into more technical universities and stuff to get an undergrad in cs?
You can do just fine in CS from a Clark or a Hendrix and many of their graduates go on to excellent CS careers.
That said, yes, going to a school like Clark or Hendrix will put you at a disadvantage compared to a more technical university if you are going into CS. Worcester Polytech, right down the road from Clark, would be an excellent choice.
Still, four years of your life is a long time and if you’d really enjoy a LAC and think you’d hate a more technically focused university then I’d strongly encourage you to choose the LAC.
Grad schools and employers for CS don’t care where you go for your undergrad (prestige wise). They care about the demonstrable skills you acquire while you’re there.