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I've written a pretty extensive list of what worked for me in treating and preventing carpal tunnel, perhaps you should give it a read, you can get beyond 70%.

http://thespoke.net/blogs/travisowens/archive/2006/05/09/956654.aspx

ACM Student Research Competition is sponsored by Microsoft Research:
http://www.acm.org/src/

These other Microsoft-sponsored student competitions are more pointedly international, but US students can enter:
http://thespoke.net/Imagine/ (6 different CS and applied CS themes)
http://www.windowschallenge.com/ (Embedded Systems)

So why doesn't he have such a program in the United States? ... How are we supposed to motivate college students to enter computer science when the (sadly) premier computer software maker stages competitions to find the very same programmers who may well replace American workers.

It's called ImagineCup.

And this year it is being held in India, as well, actually. But it's a world-wide competition for college students in CS. I met one of the world finalists -- he was thrilled by it. But the point is, there are plenty of competitions. And there are plenty of ways for American students to get ahead. The fact that Bill's sponsoring an additional competition in India is hardly a slap in the face of American students. There are literally hundreds of engineering competitions for American students to enter in. Just because you're not aware of all of Microsoft's efforts doesn't mean you're allowed to criticise them out of ignorance.

College isn't about partying 24/7 or even shagging the nearest female. It's about experience. Personal and professional experience. The point is to get a good internship or co-op job (even if it pays beans) WHILE you're in college. Be REALLY productive (co-op, internships, start your own business, develop a new 3-d game engine) in college. It will all pay off when you get your diploma and see that you receive many more offers than your colleagues. And just because some survey says that the average CS major makes about $65k per year, don't expect that right out of college. Be reasonable. You can still live decently on $35k per year in a suburb and still like a lifestyle much better than the one you did in school. The experience will all pay off in the end.

Many people are now beginning to see that the IT labor market is cyclical just like every other labor market. You have ups and downs. Supply and demand takes over. Right now we're on the cusp of demand outstretching supply, especially as more of the baby boomers retire. I never truly believed there was an IT unemployment problem. You can read my blog entry on this. Those in a CS-related field that stuck with the field during the bust times will enjoy a much higher salary (due to tons more experience). So basically, stick with it mate. Your star is going to shine.

There is INETA, which has over 300,000 members worldwide and is promoted a lot by Microsoft.

There are many, many community websites put out or suppported in some way by Microsoft, like GotDotNet, MSDNAA (for students), Free ASP.NET starter kits, etc.

There are the helpful Shows and Webcasts highlighting and explaining new Microsoft products, which are especially helpful for .NET developers here.

There is the Student Ambassador (to Microsoft) program where a student serves as the liason between Microsoft and students and provides software, information, and community for students. This is run by Microsoft, and I play a small part as one SA among ~146 on college campuses in the US alone.

There is the Imagine Cup contest, which is geared for students which provides a programming competition for anyone interested. The website for that is here...

There's more, but you get the point.

As far as previous stuff (MFC, COM, etc.) I have not been involved at that stage, and a specific business may have had a different experience.

OMFG CAN YUO BELIEVE THIS?!?:;

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Perhaps... here?

I submitted this as a story (wasn't accepted) a few months ago; Microsoft seems to be targeting young developers and Xbox users over at Thespoke. I forgot the details and such but there were a couple of postings at google news. None of the usual razzle dazzle that MS makes when they launch something. Not yet at least.