Worth going to MIT, Stanford or Harvard for undergrad?

midwesterner
Tue, 15 Feb 2011 21:02:16 +0000

Graduate school in CS is different from other fields. Don’t think of it like a liberal arts discipline. A Master’s is not that rewarding in terms of starting salary; in fact, it’s probably more profitable to get a good CS job after undergrad at a large firm, and let them pay for your grad school. This has the added advantage that you will have a much better idea of what area interests you and offers a better future.
PhD work in CS is a whole different animal. It’s an extremely long road aimed at a sort of academic superiority - I’ve read that when you get a PhD in a CS field, you could be considered one of the world’s experts in that area.
So, getting back to your question, in CS it makes a significant difference when you graduate one from of the top undergrad programs. That’s where the recruiters have set up shop!