Do I really have to go to a top-tier computer science university like Berkeley or Stanford for my bachelor's degree?

There are, of course, advantages.  The extent to which you care about them or can substitute for them depends on how much they're worth to you. For example, having high-end research on campus, where you can get to know the people involved and maybe get involved yourself, is certainly an advantage.  Where I went to school, the big researchers were on another campus and working on exotic ideas like...string matching. Where was I?  I zoned off for a second. Likewise, big name schools attract the attention of certain companies.  They recruit on campus, they know the professors, and there's a fair chance the curriculum has been influenced by their advice.  Again, from my own experience, my school had very close connections with local military contractors.  I probably knew at least a hundred people in the organization (between alumni, adjuncts, and people visiting campus to give talks) by the time I graduated.  In a lot of cases, if you wanted a job there and were any good, you had it. (You might think the Internet is a complete replacement for this, because they both use the word "networking," but nobody on Facebook is going to hunt down your resume without your knowledge and track down references before a position has even been publicly announced.  The guy you helped with his homework or delivered to an important family function, on the other hand, might do exactly that.) Along similar lines, there may be more opportunities for on-campus work, job research, tutoring, and so forth. And there's a branding issue.  A school that your future employer has heard of is giving you their stamp of approval.  It's not necessarily a huge benefit and it fades as you gather experience, but it's definitely an advantage. Lastly, don't forget competition.  It's not useful to everybody, but there are a lot of students who are going to push in hopes of being the best.  When you're in an entire class of people ike that, there's motivation to work even harder. Like I said, since everybody's in a different situation, everybody will place a different value on these things.  To some people, it's the entire point of going to college, the only real value they can deliver that can't be gotten elsewhere for free.  To others, they already have their plans in place, so it would only hold them back.

The rule of thumb I've heard is to go to the undergrad school that feels like the best fit for you (socially/financially/whatever), and then if you want to do grad school, try top tier for that. You certainly can learn to be a good coder (or theoretical computer scientist, if algorithms and computational theory are your thing) at a mid-tier school. A top-tier school might make companies spend a few extra seconds looking at your resume, but if you have a meaty resume (i.e. full of demonstrated skills) then that'll be more meaningful. There are some top-tier schools that seem to have stronger focus on applied skills than many schools (as I understand it, Stanford has a huge culture to "learn things well enough to go make a startup"). Of course, how much of that you pick up depends on you. For undergrad, I would (and did) choose based on school culture. Do you want a school that will push you to be the best in your field? To really focus on your subject and master all the possible material (e.g. MIT or CalTech)? Or do you want a school that will surround you with many different kinds of people who are interested in many different kinds of things? One that will expose you to a broader swath of life (like a small liberal arts school, of which there are also very good schools, like Pepperdine)? Those two options are not mutually exclusive, but it might be one way to think about the choice. You'll likely have more access to research opportunities at a prestigious school (important for grad school apps). If that's important to you and you choose a smaller name school, you'll have to do some extra work to find those opportunities. Either way, I strongly recommend getting relevant jobs/internships during the summers - things that let you write skills on your resume with projects that clearly used them.

I am not really qualified to answer the question because I didn't study in the US so I can not judge the quality of the education. But if you are asking to compare your chances in the market to a graduate from such universities, I might have a good answer to that :)

No. Two differences that matter at the undergraduate level, if you go to a top-tier school: Student-teacher ratio will likely be a bit lower, potentially allowing for more personalized instruction. The name of the school will carry some prestige on a resume, that might (might not...) get you some extra interviews.

The difference is not the courses. It is expectations of your classmates, faculty, and potential participation in research projects. Whether you take advantage of that is up to you and your energy level.

It depends a bit on what your other options are. No, you don't have to go to a top tier institution and you will probably get a reasonable education in the process; however, there are factors other than the material covered that influence your education and learning. 1: A top tier university has top tier faculty.  Unfortunately, it's not clear that this translates directly into better instruction, and in some cases I would guess it's actually detrimental because faculty are expected to do research and write grants. 1.1: A top tier university has top tier graduate students.  Once again, it's not clear this is necessarily a good thing.  However, you might hope that some of the graduate students are also resources, have been through undergrad more recently and can offer a wide variety of advice. 2. A top tier university has top tier undergraduate students.  This is more than just about networking and meeting new people; more motivated students tend to allow professors to assign harder projects and cover more material.  In addition, your peers often provide motivation for yourself and your own work. This isn't to say that there aren't motivated students at cheaper colleges and the like, but I would guess that the ranking of universities has at least some selection bias. 3. A top tier university has a wide range of faculty who have expertise is more different diverse fields.  This helps expands your breadth of education as you're more likely to find someone who has spent a lot of time thinking about and working in a particular field of computer science. --- That being said, it is not clear that you'll only find this at top tier universities and moreover the emphasis on teaching versus research is usually skewed.  As a result, I wouldn't say that your education is best served by attending a top tier university, but bear in mind that the reputations do exist for a reason. --- Edit: The reason I would guess there is such high demand for expensive universities is reputation and exposure. These universities are globally recognized as high quality and people associate their names with high quality and intelligent individuals.  To graduate from such an institution, you must pass all of the courses and material.  Even if the courses aren't so different, you are still competing with other similarly motivated students.  There is an inherent feedback loop that to maintain the appearance of quality, they must actually achieve some degree of quality and as a result allows all of their graduates the similar reputation of quality.  These students can claim something that others cannot, that they went to and graduated from the school.  That may not mean anything to you, but it probably means something to other people who went to the same school. In addition, there is likely better exposure to other bright students, networking opportunities, and jobs.  For top tier engineering schools, there are multi-day careers fairs with hundreds of companies in attendance.  Companies will make a point of recruiting from certain schools because of  the quality and quantity of students to choose from.

So I got A2A'd here and though I didn't major in CS I do have many friends in CS/EECS at Berkeley. For one, you can probably learn most of the theory on your own, but the point of college is the environment and additional opportunities you're presented. Berkeley's CS/EECS program is definitely top notch and the reason being the rigor / depth that's expected of you. / can give a better answer in this regard. You'll likely meet more like-minded people whom have been programming for years, be exposed to cutting edge research in AI, algorithms etc. and be exposed to a lot more opportunities because of your proximity to the Valley. The bottom line for your decision ultimately depends on what you want to get out of college. If it's just the face value of learning computer science sure you could to any other college or learn on your own via open courseware. Computer science is one of those industries where there's less of a "pay to play" barrier to entry (unlike in finance). If you're good, people will recognise you for it regardless of where you went to school.

No, it's not necessary as many have pointed out. Now for getting the required environment 1. You can join various forums. 2. There are lots of mooc with people around the world. You can really get awesome environment (through course forum pages). 3. There are lots of excellent lecture videos from top tier colleges on YouTube. 4. Websites like quora, stackoverflow, github, Will help you in long way. (Using mobile to answer, so couldn't provider links).

Depending in your goal. Going to a top tier school has it's advantages - the quality of the curriculum bein one, but worldwide research, excellent highly paid professors, network of students, the school brand name, alum etc.. That's why people pay the big bucks. There's the option to so community college and then ivy top tier on fellowship.