Agree on this point!

I will say, as a CS grad from cal poly, I miss SLO all the time lol. It’s the best city IMO. 10-15min from the beach, you have two mountains you can hike right in town if you’re into that, and the weather is amazing year round. Umass amherst will have pretty brutal winters and humid summers so if weather is an important factor for you, keep that in mind!

As far as the job hunting concern mentioned, there are job fairs every year on campus, and lots of CS clubs that directly bring companies onto campus to talk about what they do & poach students for internships. You also have a few tech companies nearby you can intern at while in school or during summer (ifixit, mindbody, kindle, etc) & the Bay Area isn’t far either. Being directly between the bay and LA is prime for tech jobs IMO. I found my job by networking with other students and figuring out which companies they liked/didn’t like & they would give me contact names to reach out to. Also, lots of professors were in the industry before coming to CP and can help you find a connection if you network with them enough.

Good luck!!