I agree with your assessment. Having a brand-name degree does open doors - particularly if you're a graduating CS student in competition with thousands of other

I agree with your assessment. Having a brand-name degree does open doors - particularly if you're a graduating CS student in competition with thousands of other candidates for the small pool of 'interesting' software jobs. Right or wrong, landing that first job at Google (say) rather than Blubcorp has a significant influence on what positions are available to you down the road. It may not mean you'll make more money, but the work will be more intellectually rewarding.