I think it will depend on what your kid wants to do. I guess there are certain majors that it won’t matter,and I guess there are certain majors that will.
If he plans to major in something like underwater basket weaving, then by all means, send him to a JC.
If he plans to major in medicine/law/investment banking and has dreams of being in the 1% category, JC is probably not the way to go….
Engineering is gray area imho… I went to an Ivy league school, I don’t think there is really that much of difference between going there or any reputable good state engineering school, unless you really want go the PHD route. And over time, practical hands-on experience ends up being more relevant for a good portion (not all) engineering jobs. Most engineering jobs are not PHD required jobs.
My motivation was I just wanted to get the fvck out of southern california and that’s how I endd up on the east coast. Engineering recruiting was probably about the same as for other reputable UC schools from students that were good.
From day to day recruiting of interns and college grads, we see qualified candidates from UCLA/UCSD/Berkeley, private schools, and schools from Canada (eh?) etc…. We do see a lot of “masters” candidates from SDSU….However, my specific group hasn’t hired any intern or full time person from there yet…We just haven’t found anyone who has basic fundamentals down fresh from school….