I am a senior in high school and college selection day is just over a week away. I aim to develop games for a living, and I am between two choices: Northeastern University, where I would major in Computer Science/Game Development, and University of Michigan, where I would simply major in Computer Science. Northeastern has a lot of game specific courses that would tech skills specific to games and also develop my portfolio more. I think I would enjoy this more as well. Michigan, on the other hand, has a higher ranked Comp Sci program as well as being a higher ranked school overall, and it has a huge alumni base. Which of these two choices do you think would gear me better for a future in the games industry?

+1

That's sound advice right there.

The bare truth is: Names and rankings matter. If you got accepted into Michigan, go there and don't think twice about it, unless you also got into  a higher-ranked school than Michigan :-D One thing that was not mentioned was: if you should find, while you're at school, that want to change focus/major/whatever.. you'd probably rather be at Michigan, because just about anything you could want to study there is in the top-ranked programs in the country.

There are other things to think about: distance from home, your tolerance for a larger school, etc.. but Ann Arbor is a pleasant place, and UMich is a name you probably want on your transcript/resume. And it's not JUST the name - it's the network of people you'll meet, resources available at the school, quality of professors (on average... There are bad professors everywhere, but higher ranked schools tend to attract better professors, and especially better research professors who are into some really cool stuff), etc.

Thank you both very much for the advice!

I'm curious how much of a difference you think it will make to have the name of Michigan on my resume instead of Northeastern, both immediately and many years down the line. Because I really am starting to think I will enjoy Northeastern's courses a lot more, and I think I will enjoy those 4 years much more. So do you think the credibility/prestige will make a small/medium/large impact, in other words do you think its worth going somewhere I don't think I would enjoy as much? How much exactly do you think that would affect my future 15-20+ years from now? 

By the way, as far as rankings go, for overall colleges, Michigan is generally in the low 20s while Northeastern is usually in the high 40s.

As far as computer science rankings, Michigan is usually around 8-12, while Northeastern is usually in the high 20s or so.