[throwaway7819]

Transferring out is a good point; it'd be much harder to transfer in. People talk about people coming out of MIT having 'inflated salaries', but are there any sites that quantify the value of a MIT degree for the path I hope to pursue (CS)?

[Throwawayaerlei]

Transfers into MIT were nearly non-existent as of the 1980s. To do so, I'd think you'd first have to have done half of the core math and science curriculum because lots of classes beyond them start from one or more of them as common base as you can probably guess from studying SICP.

So AP BC calculus and calculus based classical mechanics and E&M. The biology and chemistry requirements can be satisfied with sufficiently disparate courses they can't be assumed as base knowledge, there are now five different options for Introductory Biology (http://catalog.mit.edu/mit/undergraduate-education/general-i...) and you can do wet or solid state chemistry.

[jmalicki]

https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/?166683-Massachusetts...

This is based on IRS earnings data, not surveys. The median salary of a CS grad 3 years after graduation is $163,496, I assume Z is also represented (though if Z is notably less selective than MIT, your place in the salary distribution might also be quite different)