<p>CMU could help if you had a kid who was very interested in Google as they have a presence in Pittsburgh and CMU is a target school. Doesn’t mean kids from other schools can’t get hired but the process might be tougher. For other fields (like most engineering), it probably wouldn’t make as much of a difference in employment and pay. My engineer husband went to CMU but when it came time for my sons to look at schools for engineering, he felt our instate choices were fine. He did not feel we needed to pay a premium for CMU or other privates.</p>