Don't post at PP anymore, but read sometimes. There's a "What college for my kid" thread there

One post was pretty spot-on, IMO: He said your college gets you your first job. After that, it's what you've done.

Not always true, but I suspect that it's mostly true.

As far as the actual education....if you get a STEM degree from NC State, you're not going to be less-educated in that area than any other school.

My daughter is a rising senior, wanting to do bio chem. She's looked at State, Duke, Wake, Johns Hopkins, MIT, Harvard, you name it. Can probably get into all of them. Is above the top % for GPA, SAT, ACT, etc. for all of them, anyway.

She's likely going to go to whoever offers the most money....we already know she can basically go for free to Johns Hopkins. MIT is free, you just have to get in. Harvard would probably be free or close to it.
Duke estimates 4800 per year before any academic scholarships, so probably free. Same with Wake.

State says up near 10k per year. Also before academic scholarships, but state schools seem to be behind the curve in this area....UNC says about the same.

So I'm not sure that a bio chem degree from NC State would leave you any less-educated than one from MIT....but I'm reasonably sure that if you show up for a job with an MIT degree, THAT might be a little more eye-opening to the employer than one from NC State. It's not always about the quality...optics matter, too.

Your post shows the importance of endowments. We could do better, but that's another discussion for a different thread I guess.

Why biochem? I probably haven't had the right discussions with my daughter about majors. She wants to do biology, because she likes it and may use it as a stepping stone to vet school.

I do think optics matter, but are likely very dependent upon the whos whens and wheres.

I do wonder if Stanford and mit and Harvard get better professors such that learning chemistry, physics and math leaves kids better prepared than those from NC State. It happens at the high school level I think, but it's a difficult thing to measure.

Pacfanweb said:

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One post was pretty spot-on, IMO: He said your college gets you your first job. After that, it's what you've done.

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This is one that I certainly agree with. When I graduated from State in 09, there werent any job due to the market crash. I eventually got a crappy job running an IT department for an Orthopedic group. Now where State helped me tremendously is that I learned and observed how they handled the business side of their practice and realized they were horrific at actually running a business. Granted, they didnt give any thought to it because the business side wasnt where their money was coming from, but it helped me realize where I could carve out something that could help my career. I was also exposed to their vendors (drug reps, EHR systems, etc.) which was a great networking experience. As much as I hated that job, it certainly helped my career. And I am 100% certain that if I didnt have my degree from State, I may still be stuck at that type of crappy work.

Mormad said:

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Your post shows the importance of endowments. We could do better, but that's another discussion for a different thread I guess.

Why biochem? I probably haven't had the right discussions with my daughter about majors. She wants to do biology, because she likes it and may use it as a stepping stone to vet school.

I do think optics matter, but are likely very dependent upon the whos whens and wheres.

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Genomics. Conservation biology, genetics. Those are her interests. So an actual biochem degree isn't set in stone, but definitely in that area.

While each degree is very program-specific in determining how it's viewed from folks unaffiliated with NC State, I'd suggest that State is generally regarded as a higher mid-tier to lower high-tier STEM school, with certain programs that are considered exceptional. For Liberal Arts and Non-STEM degrees, my assumption would be that the perception would be lower.

Ultimately, it doesn't really matter, in my opinion. My experience has been that the perception is driven by alumni networks, and many southeastern schools don't have the sheer numbers in alumni networks of some of our neighbors in the Big Ten or Ivy League. Midwestern schools have been cranking out dozens of thousands of graduates annually for 75-100 years while the growth of southern schools has really been more since the early 90's. For instance, a quick search shows Ohio State claims roughly 500,000 living alumni while NC State is about 250,000. That's quite an opportunity for those alums to tout their degrees with voices that outnumber NC State 2:1. Some perception is warranted, but I think it can be easily manipulated.

To me it boils down to a few factors

1. How much did you pay for the education?
2. What are your job prospects when you graduate (ie, can your degree make you money)?

State does a phenomenal job with both of those so I'd definitely say we stack up really well against other major universities.

https://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report/best-schools-by-state/bachelors/north-carolina

This link is by no means an official analysis of salaries by school, but I think it is a good reference. There are many other sources that show similar information/rankings though.

State, by potential salary, is the best public school in the state and are ranked close to or ahead of a few schools that some would consider a "better school." To me salary potential is the value of your degree. Others look at it differently. I do think it's a solid starting point. I think this link shows that State is the best value in NC for college.

Pakbackr said:

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I work in Computer Science and interact with lots of companies. Recruiters covet NC State graduates, especially in STEM fields like CSC. The fact that our CSC program is in the College of Engineering is viewed as a key differentiator by recruiters as companies view our graduates as great 'problem solvers'. Our CSC grads almost always have multiple job offers by the time they graduate and their salaries are the tops at NC State. Our December BS grads in CSC reported average starting salaries of over $80,000. Most of our grads (over 75%) stay in NC, helping fuel our economy, but Silicon Valley is the #2 landing spot. A survey from a few years ago showed that Silicon Valley companies love NC State grads too, as we ranked #13 as the most popular school to recruit from nationwide, and #7 of schools not located in California.

All that to say, when you consider the cost and quality of most degrees at NC State, and the reward on the other end, we stack up pretty darn well!

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I just shake my head when someone tries to argue that a UNC CS degree is better than NC State. Look at the freaking numbers coming out of both programs.

IseWolf22 said:

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Pakbackr said:

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I work in Computer Science and interact with lots of companies. Recruiters covet NC State graduates, especially in STEM fields like CSC. The fact that our CSC program is in the College of Engineering is viewed as a key differentiator by recruiters as companies view our graduates as great 'problem solvers'. Our CSC grads almost always have multiple job offers by the time they graduate and their salaries are the tops at NC State. Our December BS grads in CSC reported average starting salaries of over $80,000. Most of our grads (over 75%) stay in NC, helping fuel our economy, but Silicon Valley is the #2 landing spot. A survey from a few years ago showed that Silicon Valley companies love NC State grads too, as we ranked #13 as the most popular school to recruit from nationwide, and #7 of schools not located in California.

All that to say, when you consider the cost and quality of most degrees at NC State, and the reward on the other end, we stack up pretty darn well!

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I just shake my head when someone tries to argue that a UNC CS degree is better than NC State. Look at the freaking numbers coming out of both programs.

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Yeah, I looked up that list, found the top 25 schools for Silicon Valley. UNC isn't on it.