Computer Science at Texas State Round Rock vs. UT-Austin

InTheRye
Sun, 20 Mar 2016 23:56:24 +0000

Hey everyone,

I am currently going to Austin Community College. I will be transferring out of ACC soon, and was wondering if there are any real advantages of going to UT-Austin vs. Texas State at Round Rock in terms of post-graduation job prospects. I realize UT-Austin is looked upon favorably, especially locally, but I am curious as to HOW much better of a school it actually is.

I am an older student (27 years old, 28 this Summer), so when it comes down to it, I’m really just looking to graduate as soon as possible with a CS degree to get started on a career outside of retail (my only previous experience). According to my counselor, he believes I have a high chance of getting into UT-Austin due to my volunteer work and GPA (4.0). However, speaking with other people, I don’t really think I’ll get in because of screwing around when I was a kid, I have 6 withdrawals from other out-of-state schools. I retook 5 of those courses and got A’s in them. I didn’t withdraw because I was failing, I did so because I was a kid making poor life decisions.

Anyways, I’m not really sold on UT as a whole. Especially since my goal is to graduate as soon as possible. UT requires additional courses comparatively, and will set me back a full semester, primarily because they don’t take Spring transfer students.

The only reason I am looking at these schools and NOT A&M is because I live with my girlfriend who works at a local business. Her job isn’t transferable outside of Austin.

Anyways, I was curious, will graduating at UT-vs-Texas State REALLY give me that much of an edge? I’d just imagine with the market the way it is that the name of the school won’t matter by that much. The way I view it is maybe I’d start at 5-10K more a year, but that’s not necessarily worth it to me because delaying a semester will cost me about that much in expenses considering I don’t work, and tuition.

I’d say that a large part of me isn’t concerned with the name of the school because my uncle graduated from a state school in California and is currently a senior engineer at Google. I know his experience isn’t everyone, but it puts less faith in the name of school in my eyes.

Thanks.