@3scoutsmom Thanks, I did not know NMSF is auto admit to UTD honors. DS17 has perfect SAT, high GPA, but so-so EC and leadership, I think UT CS have a good chance to get in without scholarship, with tuition waiver for low income. Also applied some outstate top colleges, just want to see the outcome, but likely will not going at all due to financial difficulty, as divorced parents made college financing very bad, especially for OOS with CSS profile. No debt for education is my dream!
@RayTX you mean DS20 (dear son high school graduation class of 2020) right? If not are you talking about transfer student?
If you are low income based on FSASA and in state you’ll get very good need based schoolships at any TX schools.
@3coutsmom, Yes, DS20 as he graduates in 2020. (I thought 20 means age earlier). UT Austin is not going to get anything more than free tuition, as I have learned recently, so UTD is my favorite, as parent. Hilariously, UTD sent us two letters 10 days agon, one to my son talking about good school, and another addressed to parents talking about good scholarships, and both are very convincing.
Thanks for your help and good night!
@RayTX , if your son has such great stats, I would recommend UT Austin. I think you meant that your son is computer science is that right? Graduating in CS from UT Austin and UTD is such a huge difference when you are applying for internships. Let me tell you one year internship money difference is huge between an ok company and a top tech company. Generally CS students from UT get such great internships with the three month internship money they make up all of their full year living expenses and even save some if you are not paying tuition. I am saying this from my experience as my son is currently in CS in UT in senior year. I am not saying with UTD you would not get internships but getting CS internship with an ok company and top tech tech company is very big difference in pay. I feel you will miss so many opportunities not going with UT Austin. With A&M and UTD there may not be very big difference but there is definitely a big difference with opportunities between UT Austin and UTD. Send me private message if you have more questions.
@PP2024 sorry I have to disagree, CS students from UTD get great internternships at the same great companies as students from UT Austin and at the same pay. My DH works with interns in one of those ‘world known tech companies’ so he has first hand experience. My older son is also a CS major at UTD, his long time GF is also a CS major but she’s at Standford and they are both applying for the same internships with the same pay.
@PP2024, @3scoutsmom, Thanks for both of you, bringing up the internship factor I have never thought about. I guess it depends on the actual result for obtaining internship. I think my son will likely get into UT CS without being in honors program, but he is in UTD CS honors program. So similarly, the top internships at UT or UTD may go to the honors student, if similar companies go to both schools, but with UT CS ranking 10th, they may have a bit more opportunities. So both of you are right, as it eventually depends on student performance, and I will check more stats about internships (companies names, # of accepted internships, etc), and report back. Please also share any info here if you have the actual results.
By the way, when will students start to get internship? the first, second, or the third summer?
One thing I also like to mention is about job opportunities, which may be 2017-2018 data, Austin area hs some 940 jobs posted, Houston has about 600+, but DFW area has about 3000. My son is born in McKinney, and we are now in Houston, but he is likely to work in DFW later if still in state.
https://www.businessstudent.com/education/texas-computer-science-degree/
My son is looking for an internship this summer, after his second summer at UTD. Last summer he did summer abroad, a CS program in Koran with the $6K UTD gives as part of their National Merit scholarship… It was enough to cover the program cost, transportatation, food and lodging.
@RayTX , yes please look into all factors. Don’t get me wrong, this is just my opinion based on the data my son shared and seeing how many of the his class mates are the top tech companies. My son also have friends in UTD honors who are senior like him. Yes there are students from every university that can get into top tech companies. I think the difference is how many of the kids from that university get into the top tech companies, is it few or many. My son is not in honors at UT Austin, but many of the non honors at UT Austin got into top companies. Also most of them got the interview calls not when applying through campus but actually when applying directly. I think that is where the difference is, when students apply online many are filtered based on college. To even show our talent first the student need the opportunity to be called in for a interview which is the first step. So it makes it lot more easy to get the first step if it is higher ranked school.
CS Students do get internship easily starting first summer. If you are looking for good companies in DFW, then yes I think UTD is best. But if you are looking at silicon valley or Seattle companies (like Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon) starting first summer then applying online is the best choice. These companies pay 8k-10k which includes stipends. The interesting part which my son also missed during his first year internship is these companies though they come to campus don’t take freshman and sophomore application and they directly state that they only take junior and senior applications. But then when you apply online they have an opportunity to be called in and from then on it depends on the students performance. Several of his class mates did internships at these companies starting freshman summer. My son did not first summer at these companies but did at a different company. But he knew this info end of freshman year and applied online for sophomore summer.
@RayTX, All I am saying is if you are not considering UT Austin because of finances I am just saying that he will earn enough every year in the three month summer time to make up for all the 12 month living expenses. With great stats your son will do great no matter where he is. Good luck for you all!
@PP2024 Your points are well taken, internship can be source of income during college, and thank you so much for the thorough analysis. Never thought internship can play a big role in school consideration, and this does now. Not only for the earning for internship but also for a better company. My son read this too, and he would like to say thank you and @3scoutsmom, too. He too will dig deeper into this topic.
You guys made my weekend a happy one, and I hope you have a nice weekend too! Thank a lot!
I recently talked with a parent of a current UT Austin CS major (junior). This student passed up Mc Dermott at UT Dallas for Turing at UT Austin. The parent, looking at the rankings of both schools and the faculty, felt UT Austin was the better choice although the decision was ultimately the student’s. Finances were not a factor. I believe the parent felt that if the son wanted to work in the Dallas area after graduation, the connections made through Mc Dermott might have made UT Dallas the preferred choice.
@RayTX, may be it is understood from my earlier message but I did not state clearly that the 8k-10k salary for interns is per month and not all three months of summer. I wanted to do private message only to you to clarify this but I am new to CC and looks like I cant do private message until I have certain number of messages.
But if you make that much money won’t you loose the need based tuition waiver?
I have had 2 DD’s that passed on UT CS for Pitt and UTD because of scholarships. They have had friends that attended UT CS as well as other programs, one being Trinity in SA. My DD both had internships after the sophomore year at tech companies making $12,000 a summer but also had $4500 for housing on top of that. Neither were in California or Seattle, where the kids pay significant amounts of money for housing.
Both received high 5 figure salary offers here in Austin. These offers would have to be double in San Jose or 50% higher in Seattle or Boston to make up for the difference in the COL. None of their friends who have been hired into those areas are making that kind of money. The salaries in those areas look great but the COL is out of control.
Out of all of my daughters’ friends, the one who did the best by tech standards was the one who went to Trinity. She had 3 internships with Google all over the US and actually took a job with Microsoft in Seattle.
So, I guess what I am saying is that you can be successful from many different schools. You have to be good at what you do and if so, you will be successful.
@PP2024, @3scoutsmom, @GTAustin, Thanks a lot! I like what GTAustin said last, “you can be successful from many different schools. You have to be good at what you do and if so, you will be successful.” PP2024 give me a good point about intern, but as 3coutsmom mentioned, that income put the needed based money at risk as my income is a little bit below $60k now, if going to UT. TAMU or UTD is OK with NMF. I hope other people can read discussion here too, to help make their decisions, so posting here might be better than PM, and I am new too.
@3scoutsmom Just wanna ask a question here - May I know what do the need based scholarships cover for low-income students at UT Austin, Texas A&M, and UT Dallas? Are you talking about free tuition? How about boarding? Any difference in amounts among these three schools?
@TexasGuy2019 I don’t know much about need scholarship but I do know that UTD has the Terry Scholarship a competitive scholarship for low income students, that covers full COA I don’t know about UT Austin or A&M.
https://honors.utdallas.edu/terry
@3scoutsmom, thanks!
@TexasGuy2019, A&M has and UT will start offering free tuition for families who make less than $60 or $65,000/yr. This does not cover room and board or books. I’m not sure if it covers fees.
Also, something that is rarely discussed and I don’t know how it will effect UT’s offer is financial assets. UT’s Director of Finance did state that assets will be considered not just income. It was a answer to a question about the scenario that somebody retires to lower income but has significant assets, would they receive help. The answer was no. So UT and I assume A&M are looking at both income and assets to determine financial need.
Link to the Texas Advance Commitment financial aid program for UT Austin https://texasadvance.utexas.edu/
I am reminded of a friend in the 1990’s and passed up a full ride at Texas A & M to attend UT Austin. She was an engineering major and she said that after her freshman year she was able to work (internships) in the summers and was able to cover the rest of her college expenses. I think her parents (and loans?) had to cover the first year. She said she has no regrets passing up the full ride.
@parentof3kids, I bet your friend would have been just as successful with an engineering degree from A&M and would have been able to pocket all that internship money for other things - travel, buy a car, down payment on a house vs paying it to UT. I bet she enjoyed her experience and definitely different cultures between the 2. My kids would not even apply to A&M but was it the best financial decision for her or her family, probably not. Depending on the family, the importance of financial considerations will vary.