There are so many potential confounding variables that these sort of comparisons are meaningless. A big one would be your confidence. Being able to walk up to a recruiters table, feel comfortable, and make an impression could get you your first internship and snowball your career from that brief moment. Or making friends with a professor who encourages you to make a collaboration with someone who one day hires you, or at the least inspires you.
The best thing a college applicant can do to better their odds is to make sure they are going to a school where these types of events happen regularly. It doesn't have to be berkeley; most state universities are just as excellent even if us news says otherwise.
Are professors publishing/going to conferences/collaborating with the field/spinning off companies? How many companies are present at career fairs? Would you be able to do internships nearby? Does the department have a seminar series with speakers from around the country? Do you have many opportunities to do independent projects or research? Would you have a chance to do outside research at another local institution? Are upper division classes covering fundamentals as well as new technology, or has the course been the same for 25 years? These are questions potential students should be asking if they are looking to maximize ROI, and that is ROI beyond just getting a healthcare related degree and collecting the same 80k with the same title from when you were hired to when you retire.
That's how it ought to be, but in practice at your average college the best-paying major is the nursing degree. That tells volumes about how far the deindustrialization of the country has gone.
The best thing a college applicant can do to better their odds is to make sure they are going to a school where these types of events happen regularly. It doesn't have to be berkeley; most state universities are just as excellent even if us news says otherwise.
Are professors publishing/going to conferences/collaborating with the field/spinning off companies? How many companies are present at career fairs? Would you be able to do internships nearby? Does the department have a seminar series with speakers from around the country? Do you have many opportunities to do independent projects or research? Would you have a chance to do outside research at another local institution? Are upper division classes covering fundamentals as well as new technology, or has the course been the same for 25 years? These are questions potential students should be asking if they are looking to maximize ROI, and that is ROI beyond just getting a healthcare related degree and collecting the same 80k with the same title from when you were hired to when you retire.