As a CS major with similar aspirations, my advice is to not try to do an epic game. Epic games take teams years to make, so as a solo or member of a small team it could possibly be biting off more than you could chew. Try coming up with some smaller, fun, arcade-type experiences. That way, you have a more straightforward objective when programming your engine or can restart/abandon as necessary with less investment.

XNA would be a solid choice to try out on, though if you prefer PC development/C++, using SDL in C++ is really straight forward and a good exercise in 2D graphics.

Best of luck