UT Austin VS UT Dallas for Electrical Engineering

xcloudy
Tue, 13 Mar 2012 19:40:50 +0000

My main consideration is financial. I have fairly decent stats (2240 SAT (1500 M+CR), top 2%, okay extracurricular, female) and I will most likely get a scholarship to UT Dallas that covers tuition and gives me a 6k stipend for the year. Assuming a modest 3k grant from financial aid, my parents will probably only have to pay 5k a year. I also wouldn’t need to work since my parents would happily pay off that amount.

UT Austin, on the other hand, will probably put me down 15k for the first year and that includes financial aid and work over the summer and winter. Assuming I get additional scholarships for the subsequent years (as there are more scholarship opportunities for upperclassmen), I’d still have to pay around ~10k for the other 3 years.

This is speculation, but I think it’ll end up fairly accurate. My parents are willing to contribute 25k to my education, so Dallas would be free and Austin would cost ME about 20k. Would I be accorded more opportunities by attending Austin? UT Austin is better to me in every other way - the school itself, location, community, etc. Will it be worth it to put down that additional money?