My perspective comes from watching what my bf went through. He did CC and transferred to Berkeley, and got his tuition paid for because he was an adult student. He told me that even if he was charged full in state tuition and had to take out loans, it was worth it. Google and Apple emailed internships to his honor society and even to his professor asking her to recommend some good students. These were never posted publically. Recruiters from these companies candidly admitted they hire a quota of students specifically from certain campuses. They all had booths at the career fairs, some even had their own day on campus. My bf's online applications to these companies went nowhere, but when his teacher passed on his resume or he dropped it off at their booth, he got an interview.

None of that guarantees a job, and indeed many of his classmates tried and failed. But if you're obsessed with trying to get into these companies straight out the gate, it makes it a lot easier to get noticed.