If OP is interested in a career as a programmer. Either of these two schools will be more than sufficient. I agree that prestige isn’t a factor and people without CS degree (or any degree) can become a successful programmer.
However, OP seems to be more interested in machine learning. Neither school is a powerhouse in that discipline but Rice offers very few such courses (at any level) while UPenn at least offers a few more ML-related courses (at the graduate level).