jrbdmb wrote: ↑Fri May 17, 2019 12:39 pm
But if you look at real data (US News Salary information for graduates) Computer Engineering majors average $80,600 at UM and $78,500 at Brown. (No info available for CIS at Brown, so I couldn't compare that.)
As someone who majored in Computer Science and is working as a software developer. Here's something to note.
Computer Engineering != Computer Science
Again, I will state loud and clear.
Computer Engineering != Computer Science
From the company recruiting, it is just different.
Computer Engineering would mean you will most likely (probably not because there really isn't much hardware openings from what I noticed) be wanting to work at HP, Dell, Apple, etc.
Computer Science would mean you will most likely be wanting to work at Slack, Stripe, Square, Google, Facebook, Jane Street, DE Shaw, etc.
It's almost a completely distinct set.
Let's look at the Applied Math - Computer Science at Brown:
https://www.brown.edu/campus-life/suppo ... ation/APMC
All I can see are Google, Bloomberg, Facebook, Pininterest, Amazon, Palantir
Let's look at Computer Science - Economics at Brown:
https://www.brown.edu/campus-life/suppo ... ation/CSEC
All I can see again are Google, Amazon, Goldman Sachs, Palantir
Let's look at Computer Science at Brown:
https://www.brown.edu/campus-life/suppo ... ation/COMP
All I can see are Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, etc.
The opportunities are just different. Your average peers will be working at top firms or hot startups in Silicon Valley.
Unlike in UMich, in which these would be the top of top peers.
I will re-iterate once more. CS is NOT Computer Engineering.
The companies students want to work upon graduating with a CS major is distinct from companies students generally want to work upon graduating with a CE major.
And ignore the salary of CE.
The average starting total compensation for an entry level Googler is around $170k. And you are expected to earn around $280k TC after 4 years in the company.
The total compensation for entry level Facebooker who had more than one internship at Facebook during college and did well in internships get an additional bonus of $100k signing.
It's just different. I don't care how prestigious working for Intel is. Intel's starting CS grads start at like $90~105k and pretty much get stuck there forever.
$20k is just noise. Think of the potential connections you can make at Brown. Plus, you get the privilege to bash on the Ivy League and have fun enjoying the Ivy League Meme pages in Facebook.
This is coming from a Columbia graduate (CS major, Applied Math minor).
Starting salaries in CS at top tech firms can be ridiculous. And getting interviews from those firms are pretty random. I know ridiculously bright peers who just never got the opportunity to be interviewed by these top firms.
$20k is truly noise. If you are fortunate and get to work in say Citadel or Jane Street or Two Sigma, you can easily earn 300~500k annually 4.5 years upon graduation. Try getting interviews with these firms from UMich. You most likely won't. And from what I hear from the one peer at Jane Street, the problems Jane Street solves are highly intriguing (and fun). Considering he also did internship at Google Brain, Jane Street must be really legit in terms of the opportunities out there.
And then there's also firms like DE Shaw, HRT. Similar idea.
Also, CS is not really merit based. It's mostly connection based like every other field. The only real argument for CS being a bit more merit based is the Leetcode portion. Other than that, it's pretty much all connections (you probably want referrals to get interviews at top firms. It's very difficult otherwise). I guess Amazon is a bit different though. Amazon kind of hires.. anyone. But it's still looked upon as prestigious due to the pay. Pay is what matters I guess at end of day.
If you want to work for Amazon upon graduation, UMich would be fine. If you want for top startups in Silicon Valley like Lyft/AirBnb or a large tech firm like Facebook or fintech like Two Sigma, you pretty much need a degree from top school.