I got accepted to UTSA neuroscience - Data science minor, with honors and appex research program, and roughly 5k-10k scholarship based tbd on Fafsa. I also got accepted in computing engineering at Texas a&m, no honors, no scholarships. Can someone help point out how good a research program for undergraduate in UTSA can be? With exposure to National science foundation and guided research , will I be better off studying AI/computing outside vs graduating with alumni/campus interview strength of Texas a&m. Appreciate any insight/guidance on this.
Although majors are different, and UTSA program has many benefits, all friends and families suggest texas am, not sure why?
Texas A&M ETAM secondary admission to computer science or computer engineering may be highly competitive if you do not earn the 3.75 college GPA for automatic admission.
If you really want to do computer science or engineering, check whether it is difficult to change into those majors at UTSA.
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Pretty sure TAMU Computing Major is direct admit, doesn’t go thru ETAM.
@FriscoDad is the Aggie Engineering guru, he can share his thoughts on Computing vs UTSA Neuroscience/data.
@vyara you do mean a BA in Computing, correct? Not to be confused with CompSci.
@vyara TAMU Computer Science is under engineering. Under Computer Science it has three majors. Computer Engineering BS, Computer Science and Engineering BS, and Computing BA.
Computing is a BA degree in TAMU with no access to 15 senior computer science classes and replaced with Liberal Arts classes. It is a major designed for students who love Arts while want to stay in a STEM field. BA Computing has no ETAM. But if you goal is computer science but you get Computing BA, then UTSA APPEX is a better choice.
If you get Computer Engineering BS at TAMU, then TAMU option is better but note that this one needs ETAM to get your major.
TAMU engineering tends to be more generous in grants after students with good GPA in freshmen year. Most with 3.5+ GPA can get $1K to $2K a year which is enough to offset the high fees (not enough for tuition and living expenses) But as other poster also mentioned, TAMU has ETAM, you will need to be open minded in your major. Each TAMU engineering major has a lot of coding classes. Each major also has its own data science classes. One doesn’t have to be in computer major to work in data fields.
Research is a long term goal. If you follow through the APPEX program through senior year, you most likely will stay in research environment as fundings at times have obligations. Not something you can walk away and join private firms with a two week notice. Understanding the commitment and whether it is matching your personality is very important.
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Yes I meant BA in computing.
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Thank you @52AG82 @FriscoDad @ucbalumnus for really useful points. @FriscoDad I like BA in computing for the reason it combines computing skills with non-computing skills of not just arts, but either/or on datascience, science etc, as per the definition on TAMU as well as per course syllabus. I like Neuroscience with Datascience because, it provides computational neuroscientist path, as well as option to go into med in case I change my mind.
I was not aware of Senior year research tying into obligation, thank you for pointing that, I will need to find more and weigh this. Also very good to know there are some grants for students with good GPA in freshman in TAMU, was not aware of it.
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