My son is applying for CS programs and his choices are UT Austin, Dallas, Rice and TAMU from home state and Purdue, UIUC, Georgia Tech, u Chicago, UC B & Stanford. Before yesterday UTD & TAMU were his safety options, however yesterday during UTD’s open house, he came to know that he will potentially get a free ride+honors college+ support for study abroad if he qualifies for the finals in February and we started thinking about UTD more seriously now😁. Just want the opinion on how much the additional cost of 4 years to other more prestigious colleges like UC B or UIUC compare with salary or other things from UTD? Is it worth letting the full ride go for higher ranked colleges? Thanks
Are you saying he’s already heard from UT Austin and Rice? …I would ask if your kiddo has plans for a graduate degree. If so, a good undergrad education is fine. It’s what you do for grad school that matters more. We have a friend who did CS at UTSA and got a full ride at MIT for his masters (recent grad). My husband owns a company, and is in the software business. He only cares about the masters degree. Food for thought.
Thanks. No. He haven’t heard from any college yet.. in fact… he is working on early action deadlines on all applications currently and is dreaming for UTA. Although after yesterday, we both started thinking about the cost difference if he gets admitted at UTA or Rice or his other options. We were always looking out for numbers but the “full ride” offer, if he gets it, changed our attitude completely.
It’s a personal question. Can you afford over $325K for UCB? That’s a lot to make up for - or $250K for UIUC?
Wil it impact your life?
My nephew works in NYC at one of the big big companies in CS with a degree in poli sci from Arizona…a CS degree from UCB assures nothing. My nephew had to pass test after test (self taught with help of a friend) and the grads do too.
So - here’s a few things:
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CS is down job wise - you don’t know where it will be in four years
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You can apply anywhere - doesn’t mean you’re getting in. Don’t forget, UC won’t see your test score.
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Here’s the outcomes for class of 2024, domestic students. Maybe they make a lot of money - but many don’t find jobs (at least at the date of the last snapshot):
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Yes, the UCB salary is great - but where is the job located?
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Other schools will have more campus life than UTD - sports, surrounding areas for pizza, if that matters.
I put the 2024 snapshot and salaries below.
It’s a lot to think about. I’m very conservative so I’d say heck no - especially UCB because you are $325K+ and that’s a lot of money to make up. I’m full pay but both my kids had a much smaller budget.
Others think differently and over the longer term, you can make it back and then some or the contacts at other schools will be better. I’d counter that with there’s no guarantee and near a quarter of UCB 24 grads were still looking - months after graduation - not sure when the last snapshot was.
You also have to know your student - would they be comfortable that far from home - and then it’s more trips coming home at holidays, etc.
Totally personal call.
I would ask UTD for their career outcomes. They show 1095 responses for Bachelor in 2024, and lot of job titles and jobs but no money. They will know but Dallas is much cheaper than SF.
In the end, it’s a very personal family call. But you can put in all the apps and see - where you even get into. And go from there.
Best of luck in what you decide.
Why not wait until you have real data to consider. So many things can change. No one knows what will be for CS majors in 4-5 years, so there’s that on the cost savings side, and a full ride, if offered, is hard to turn down, but if you are in a position to offer your child the choice to attend where they feel is the best fit for them, that is the gift of a lifetime. Many students change their majors. And IMO, since there are also so many twists and turns in short term and long term career routes, looking at “outcome data” with all its flaws, is not worth the time. And so many people get a degree in one field but then end up in another, those numbers can be of little utility.
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Sure seems to me they have lots of outcome data - and there’s always less salary data as many choose not to report salaries. So the % of who is doing what will be based on greater figures and salaries potentially overstated. OP - you can reach out to each school if you want to dig deeper on what’s behind the data. Their career centers will be glad to discuss.
OP - any data is directional but there is plenty there. I certainly wouldn’t dismiss and you asked a question which I answered with data directly from the school.
This is the typical - does the school name really matter question. Ask ten people, get ten different answers.
But you throw in a twist - hundreds of thousands in savings. Does that change the answer ?
The only opinion that counts is yours.
Good luck.
OP, there are no results to compare until there are results to compare. And beating the many issues with outcome reports to death is a waste of bandwidth. Its been explained a lot. It may not stop, but it is a waste of bandwidth. There is a great thread here all about its limitations.
Please report back when your kiddo has acceptances and offers. There could be other offers that put UTD on the back burner. When you say “finals” in February, are you telling us he is a NMSF? There are several great opportunities for NMFs. Certainly UTD is one. Both of my s’s were NMF’s. What scholarship are you referring to? There seem to be a few strong scholarships offered.
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I also think that the answer here is likely to depend upon the family. There are not all that many families that can comfortably handle the cost of UC Berkeley out of state or the cost of Stanford if you are full pay, but there are some.
I also would be inclined to wait for results to come in, and see what choices are available at the time.
Four years of a full ride at UTD followed by a master’s degree at Stanford would most likely cost a lot less than just four years at full pay at Stanford or UCB. I did get a one-year master’s at Stanford and the students in the program came from a very, very wide range of undergraduate universities.
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Totally agree with this. All of the out of state options are “reach for everyone” type schools so no guarantees of admission at any of them.
Good advice to wait for all offers. It can be a roller coaster ride. Both sons had a curveball or two. Surprise great offers and a head scratching denial.
UTD would be a great offer to consider. There are several contributors with kids that attended. Search the threads and reach out.
A free ride opens up a lot of doors for grad school. 5 years from now a Master’s or PhD might be minimum requirements for CS jobs.
While I agree nothing is in, if there’s an assured full ride…it certainly doesn’t hurt to start with the “what if” scenarios.
It’s perfectly reasonable to go through that exercise now, in my opinion.
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I would not make a decision like this based on past years’ salary data or other past outcome measures. No one can tell you for sure what salaries or other outcomes will look like in 4 years!!
I would make the decision based on affordability for your family, plus the inherent value you see in the program.
A big cost difference might have a big impact for your family, or it might not; we don’t know your family finances.
If your family can afford all options without financial pain, then you can look into each program in depth and see what it offers for your student in terms of curriculum, faculty, research, etc., as well as other factors affecting your student’s experience at the school.
Prestige / ranking is not a reason in itself to choose a school. However, sometimes a school is high ranked because it actually offers something special.
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Just to give you idea what current graduates are facing with CS degrees.
Friend of ours kid can’t find a job. Graduated UMD with double major for BS(one is CS) + MS CS. All degrees from UMD. Strong CS school… Extremely smart kid. Market for CS is very bad now. What will be in 4 years only G-d knows.
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That’s for any major though - it’s hard to know the future - especially with the speed of change now.
That’s why I post the UCB data. If 23/24% depending on CS/ECE say they can’t find jobs, what is the true percentage? It may be even higher.
There are no safe havens/assurances school wise, regardless of what anyone thinks.
And yet other schools, not located in the hot button areas, put up better % employed stats - so there’s that too.
It’s a lot for families to calculate in making a decision.
Everyone thinks differently.
Some chase rank, money be damned.
Some analyze every single nugget, hoping to make the best decision for them.
Others have a budget and should let that budget drive their decision.
Just like many posters think differently, so do OPs.
In essence, if finding a job is the goal, there is risk to every college student going to college, regardless of the major.
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Both my son’s chose a Full ride from UTD and we’ve been very happy with their decision. They were both CS majors and both did UTD’s Fast Track program. That, with the AP and DE credits they had, allowed them to complete both their BS and MS in the 8 semesters covered by their scholarship. My younger son graduated in 2024 and had a great job in hand before he graduated. Older son graduated in 2022 but was awarded the McDermott graduate fellowship to pursue his PhD. He’ll finish his PhD program this May and also has a terrific job in hand (with a signing bonus too!) starting in June.
UTD provides some excellent experiences, my older son did the Clark Summer Research Program and they were also in the CS2 program (CS honor’s program). UTD treats their NM students great with perks like priority registration and priority on campus housing and free study abord program.
If you have any questions about UTD please let me know. My boys are very happy to have graduated with zero debt and money in the bank. Because they didn’t need any of the money we had saved for college, we were able to give them each a new car for a graduation gift.
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@tsbna44 made some really good points about location, cost of living and pay scale. My older son’s significant other graduated from the same TX high school but ended up going to Stanford. She graduated with a BS in CS and found work in the Bay Area. Their agreement was, after they were both finished school, the other would move to the location were the other got the best paying job.
I think she always thought because she got her degree from Standford that my son would be the one moving. Nope! My son will be making more than she makes so she’ll be moving to Houston. Even though she makes a decent salary, the cost of living there is very high and she can only afford a tiny apartment and still has student loans.
My younger son’s girl friend went to Smith and also got a CS degree and she makes significantly less than my son does. I really don’t think that CS employers care that much about the prestige of the school someone went to, they are more concerned with if the candidate can do the job and if they’ll be a good fit for their company.
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