Does your school really matter? (CSU vs CSU or UC vs CSU)

mikemac
Fri, 08 Nov 2019 21:24:48 +0000

Cloudy2314;d-2162869:

I’m a comp sci major and I’ve heard that for this degree in general it doesn’t matter where to go since it is fairly easy to get a job with this degree. I feel like I can get a job, but I want a GOOD job.

Does everyone from Cal and UCLA get a GOOD job? No, some may not do well in interviews or just not be very good at CS. Some have poor gpa’s. Some have done little to demonstrate their interest in the field and increase their marketability.

Reading your post it occured to me that a lot depends on whether you are a glass-half-empty person. Do you want to look for problems or opportunities? Sure a degree from a top school is a plus. But it is easily matched if not easily exceeded in importance to hiring companies by a student who takes part in student SW activities, and especially one who builds from perhaps on-campus involvment to internships at a chain of increasingly prestigious companies.

Just waving a degree around is not enough; employers can find lots of people with a CS degree, they want to see you’ve got exposure to the actual career. Often companies make offers to those that have interned with them. And a clever way to get experience with top companies is to do a semester-long coop. These are less popular since it stretches your time in college, but employers like them since in a 6-mos assignment they can give you a more significant assignment; and their unpopularity with college students means the competition for them is relatively light.

You should also be part of CS clubs on campus. Some students are going to be doing quite well; talk with them, find out what they’ve been doing, do the same things.

edit: I see from an earlier post you’ve been dwelling on this for at least 6 months http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/california-state-university-general/2145504-rejected-from-all-ucs-only-accepted-into-csuci.html And in another thread you wrote about feeling like you’re missing out on some college experiences. You can either keep feeling bad about how things worked out or do everything you can to make the best of them. Talking with a counselor might help you move the needle and learn how to get the energy and willingness to try again. I suggest you make an appointment at https://www.csuci.edu/caps/