This is looking back in history when hiring was an in-person interview. Not sure if being local (like from SJSU) is an advantage today. At my work, a tech company we have not had an in-person interview in years.
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That’s the current landscape in most cases. Even at colleges, on campus recruiting - companies are doing remotely.
Is this a new thing? (The non-compete unenforceability in CA) I had to sign one in Pasadena in 1996.
Yes, people interview from all over - but those not local to the Bay Area miss out on a lot of opportunities. Everyone, in every CS program across the country knows about Google, Amazon and Meta and can interview with them. But how many non-locals know about the early stage startups? How many know which of those are “hot and promising”?
There’s a definite advantage to being at Cal or Stanford.
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Agree. Berkeley/Stanford and the start up/venture connections are a special case and in this case being local might help.
Questionable if SJSU and Santa Clara might help with Tech like they did before. Santa Clara might still be an advantage for business as they traditionally have strong connections to the companies mentioned above.
How many Cal students know about the opportunities in Austin? Y Combinator funds 99 startups headquartered in the bay. They fund 38 in Austin. The SF Bay Area is eight times bigger than Austin.
There’s no doubt that my son would not have landed his start up job had he not been in California, but there are many opportunities he missed out on because he wasn’t in Austin, or New York, or Boston.
The opportunities in the bay will be different, but there will be more competition too. There will be good opportunities for a strong Texas grad no doubt.
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The University of Texas, Austin is a very good university with a very good CS program.
This is not an easy decision. However, it does seem to me that in this case a bachelor’s degree from UT Austin plus a master’s degree from either UC Berkeley or Stanford is likely to cost less than just a bachelor’s degree from UCB, NWU, or Duke. Of course getting accepted to a top ranked master’s program is not assured and is long way in the future. However, there was a reason that you got accepted to such a long list of excellent universities, and I am guessing that whatever the reason is will continue into the future.
Any of these schools will be academically challenging, and will offer a lot of excellent opportunities. You will meet strong students and very good professors (and probably a tiny handful of bad professors) at any of these schools. I expect that you are likely to do well regardless of which of these excellent universities you choose to attend.
If you do eventually end up in a master’s program at a top school, you will most likely find that the majority of the students in the same program got their bachelors degree at a school ranked (slightly) lower than any of these four excellent universities (or at least that is what I found when I was studying for a master’s degree, which was admittedly a few decades ago).
Assuming that your family can cover the $400,000 cost of some of these schools with no debt and no hardship, and assuming that you are ready to work hard for four years and look for opportunities, I do not think that you can go wrong at any of these schools.
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Please discuss the finances for college with your family. They are the only ones who can determine what is affordable and what might not be.
Maybe they are able to fund any of these colleges which would be a great gift to you. BUT only your parents can answer this question.
Reminder to please stay on topic. Posts hidden. Thanks for your cooperation.
UT-Austin is a great option !
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Austin or Berkeley. I would personally choose Berkeley EECS, but its up to you! Also can you decline Duke/Northwestern if they’re not your top 2/ur sure ur not going because I’m waitlisted for both!
Programmer here. I second UT-Austin. It’s one of the top CS programs in the country and it’s far less expensive than the other schools on the list. For a degree as ridiculously employable as CS, there’s no benefit to spending half a million dollars on a bachelors degree.
Regarding employment prospects, let me tell you about large companies, having worked for a few myself. They’re overrated. you’re never more expendable working at a company everyone else wants to work for. UT-Austin is a heavily recruited school and Texas has one of the largest tech economies anywhere. Plus you can actually buy a nice house on your salary in Texas. California, nope.
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As I’ve said elsewhere on this thread UT Austin would make sense for most people in this situation but for those with the drive and ambition Berkeley will pay in spades and open doors that won’t be accessible otherwise. Only OP knows where he stands.
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But UT will open doors not available to Cal grads. We’re not talking North Texas State here. Y Combinator doesn’t have 40 projects in Austin for no reason.
Will open or will potentially open?
Not everyone is a go getter.
My son loves CA. So Cal is the nicest place in the country to live. No Cal - ehhhh. 
He was there til Jan now has 6 mos in Florida b4 a long term assignment in OC.
Wishes he could stay in FL. He LOVES So Cal. Even with the crazy COL. But the income tax is NUTS. And you pay disability too where you don’t in other states. He realizes that it’s out of control.
Going to UCB or UT doesn’t assure a geographic destination. I mean my kid is in CA from the South.
But one will need to make a boatload more to live in CA. And at a boatload more it won’t be as nice.
As you say it’s up to OP. But there are no guarantees.
I suspect but don’t know - given slowing profits and government cutbacks, we might see less venture spending as companies look to protect the balance sheet. Or perhaps maybe some will look for that home run to rescue them.
The good news is a great outcome is possible from all these universities.
You are certainly consistent in believing it’s rarely (never?) worthwhile to pay more, despite hearing from multiple people over the years about their firsthand experience in paying more, and reaping the rewards when their children achieve those right tail outcomes (which are fairly common in certain colleges).
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And you’re certainly consistent in always suggesting that the most expensive option is the best. Just because your kid had a good experience at a high price school doesn’t mean there aren’t also examples of extremely high achievers from Podunk U. Maybe Jensen Huang faked his way to success.
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Not at all.
I have said that they present more opportunities, that a subset of students can take advantage of, at an additional cost. Parents have to evaluate if those additional opportunities are worth it for them, given their financial situation.
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