Maximum PC

Hello, I'd like to start by saying I'm sorry for having to post this, but I'm currently panicking.

I'm currently a senior in high school, I've gotten straight A's, taken as many AP classes as possible, and scored a 34 on the ACT. Not knowing whether I wanted to go into the medical or computer field, I panicked during college research. Several unfortunate events in school and home lead to me giving up and just applying to an in-state public college, KU, that my parents attended. At the time I had no qualms, especially because of financial fears and a sense of safety.

Recently, though, I've been rethinking my choice. I'm pretty sure I want a career in the computer field, but I'm not sure which area. Currently, I've enrolled in Computer Science. The thing is, I've only seen KU listed once on Top CS school lists. in 84th or so place. Lately, I have also developed a longing for a bigger name school. By the time that these ideas festered however, it was too late to take the SATs and apply to some of the larger schools.

The thing that bugs me the most is that I know I could have gotten into a bigger name school.

Any advice?

There are two ways that the name of your school will help.

First, big name schools have lots of money. This means better services, smaller classes, better equipment, bigger names coming to lecture, etc. ... in other words, 'better' schools provide a better education.

Second, some schools are well known for producing excellent graduates. This helps, but is not necessary. What you want to avoid is a school that is completely unknown or, worse yet, known to produce lousy graduates.

Honestly, if you aren't planning on going into the academic field, you will be satisfied with any decent school. Given your grades and apparent work ethic, though, I wonder why you'd settle for being 'satisfied.' Get the best education that you can .. period.

In re. college, it really depends on what you are majoring in. For the most part, any non-negative college (ie. not one of the mailorder mills) should be fine. Most businesses don't really care. Just that you completed your degree. For Law and Technical type majors, you might want a more prestigous name college though (Harvard, RIT, etc).

For college, you aren't stuck where you are. You can always try moving to another college after the first year (look around and see what credits you can transfer over). Just because you start at a college doesn't mean you are stuck there forever. Look at Sarah Palin for example (what, 5 or 6 different colleges? ). Finances may be an issue in these troubled economic times though, and the bigger name colleges might have too high of a set of requirements for you now.