This is definitely possible. Of all degrees, CS might be the least affected by university prestige. Tech companies DO pay 300-500K for TOP Phd talent right out of school. Sounds crazy, but they do. Plus options. It's just a different world.

But not every CS grad will get that. 125 is sort of expected TBH for a good student. That 125 could easily be located in Philly or Nova while Goggle 195 is in the valley and that is just COLA.

But the the crux of the issue, yes, GMU CS grads with excellent grades and solid skills can do as well or better than ivy leaguers. No question.

Anonymous wrote:Everybody on DCUM knows their nieces' and nephews' GPAs, test scores, and now starting salaries.

I was wondering if this is a new trend/fad.

Anonymous wrote:What OP is also missing is that many of use send out kids to college in part (if not in-large-part) for the experience.

My kids will be the 4th college-educated generation in our family. We are professional-class workers with good but not stratospheric incomes.

We very much view college as both an "end" in-and-of itself and a "means to an end".
Someone could hand my kid at FAANG job at age 18 and we'd 100% encourage him to pass and go to college instead.

FAANG jobs can be fun for young people who live at work. I remember an article in the NYT with a title like "Where overachievers go to feel bad about themselves", that was fairly accurate.

What OP is also missing is that many of use send out kids to college in part (if not in-large-part) for the experience.

My kids will be the 4th college-educated generation in our family. We are professional-class workers with good but not stratospheric incomes.

We very much view college as both an "end" in-and-of itself and a "means to an end".
Someone could hand my kid at FAANG job at age 18 and we'd 100% encourage him to pass and go to college instead.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who the hell even compares GMU with UPenn?

For education quality? No one.

For outcomes? Everyone.

It has been established that you can graduate from GMU And get hired by FAANG. That being said, not many enjoy that type of college experience and who has the long term promotability?

What everyone seems to be missing is that FAANG jobs out of GMU are an exception and not the rule. The fact that this kid got one means he has the smarts to have done well at Penn if he had applied/gotten in. Outcomes long-term will be the same for him compared to the Penn kid. Besides, after your first or second job, no one gives a rat's a** about where you went to college.

Anonymous wrote:Friend's kid didn't even go to college and landed a FAANG job. Moved up pretty quickly too.

A friend of mine was one of the first 100 employees at Google. He was hired while still in high school, he dropped out of HS to keep working at Google.

They hired him because he was a hardware prodigy who was running his own online gaming server farms. He designed and built out much of Google's server systems.

Retired from Google at like age 31 with 15 years of experience. Totally nuts.

Anonymous wrote:Friend's kid didn't even go to college and landed a FAANG job. Moved up pretty quickly too.

+1

Obviously OP should have sent her kid to a 12-wk SWE boot camp and saved the GMU tuition and 4 years of living at home for the same paycheck.

Anonymous wrote:Why compare apples and oranges, just enjoy your own fruit. Living at home and attending GMU vs living on campus at a selective elite school are two completely different learning and living experiences. It may not be worth it for you but could be for next person. Be happy both kids did well.

+100

Friend's kid didn't even go to college and landed a FAANG job. Moved up pretty quickly too.

I dont get the GMU hate on this forum. Ut is now an R1 school and really good at CS and Engineering. It will continue to rise up in rankings given the population and economic growth in NoVA. And if good CS companies recruit from here or if the kids are good enough to pass the CS recruiting interviews that is to be celebrated. Secondly, most top 50 to top 100 schools in the US (out of 3000 universities) can give you a pretty good education.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH and I went to the graduation party of my nephew who just graduated from University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Computer Science (3.7 GPA), and accepted an offer to work at AWS for 125k. DS just also graduated from GMU with a degree in Computer Science (3.9 GPA) and he got an offer from Google for 195k. My SIL paid almost 300k for her son to attend UPenn while I paid about 52k for GMU (DS lived at home while attending GMU).

You son will be known as a commuter school graduate for the rest of his life, and your nephew a Ivy League grad.

As shallow as it may sound, it’s a social reality.

Look, I went to Penn, this is silly. GMU had become a very respectable school where a kid can get a good education and it’s particularly strong in CS. The college experience is different than what you’ll have at Penn and I don’t think everything is about starting salary at all, but bottom line is both these kids are going to do well and the GMU kid can be proud of their degree. I don’t think OP should be denigrating the nephew for paying more for the Penn experience but that’s a different issue.

By Op's logic, she should have sent her kid to a Jr college for 2 years and then transferred to GMU. She could have saved even more money that way for the same pay check.

lololololololol....

lolololololololololololol

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH and I went to the graduation party of my nephew who just graduated from University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Computer Science (3.7 GPA), and accepted an offer to work at AWS for 125k. DS just also graduated from GMU with a degree in Computer Science (3.9 GPA) and he got an offer from Google for 195k. My SIL paid almost 300k for her son to attend UPenn while I paid about 52k for GMU (DS lived at home while attending GMU).

You son will be known as a commuter school graduate for the rest of his life, and your nephew a Ivy League grad.

As shallow as it may sound, it’s a social reality.

Look, I went to Penn, this is silly. GMU had become a very respectable school where a kid can get a good education and it’s particularly strong in CS. The college experience is different than what you’ll have at Penn and I don’t think everything is about starting salary at all, but bottom line is both these kids are going to do well and the GMU kid can be proud of their degree. I don’t think OP should be denigrating the nephew for paying more for the Penn experience but that’s a different issue.

Anonymous wrote:Asian families share GPAs, test scores and salaries.

It’s like saying Hitler and Stalin were whites so all whites are genocidal! You may know some Asians who shared GPA etc of their children and from that you jumped to “All Asians.”

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who the hell even compares GMU with UPenn?

For education quality? No one.

For outcomes? Everyone.

It has been established that you can graduate from GMU And get hired by FAANG. That being said, not many enjoy that type of college experience and who has the long term promotability?

Once you're in Faang it doesn't matter