Accepted to both UT Austin Comp Sci and Alabama Comp Sci
I need held deciding between the two.
UT Pros
Uber prestigious when it comes to comp sci.
Great jobs in the city of Austin
The social scene of austin (6th street etc…)
4 hours from home
UT Cons
Extreme difficulty of switching between majors (on the edge between Comp Sci and MechE)
The social scene (6th street)
Feels impersonal
Price
4 hours from home
Alabama Pros
Honors college (priority registration)
I enjoy the feel of the campus more
The extreme ease of switching between majors
Price
Great football team (not a big sports fan, but I know having such a great team will make me one)
Alabama Cons
Lack of prestige
Lack of local job opportunities
The 4 year cost for me at UT would be 90k
The 4 year cost at Alabama would be 45k
I am not paying for my schooling, my dad is.
He will give me 10k cash when I graduate and let me keep the remainder of my college fund for grad school (25kish)
Will the prestige of UT benefit me more than Alabama just going into industry and eventually going back for an MBA?
Or should I save the money and keep that essentially 35k to start my life
FWIW, I would save the money and go to Alabama, especially if you intend to go to graduate school. CS graduates are in high demand so it won’t matter nearly as much where you went to college compared to if you were majoring in political science as an example. Then for graduate school, the prestige of your MBA college will matter much more than where you went to college. I am very interested in where my Doctor went to medical school and couldn’t care less where he or she went to college.
I now have three sons in college at the same time, all studying engineering. Among our 20 visits, we visited both Texas and Alabama. Our gut reactions were the same as yours. We loved Austin, but worried about the distractions. We did not care much for the Texas campus and did not feel particularly welcomed. We were very pleasantly surprised with our Alabama visit. It’s a beautiful campus and Tuscaloosa is a great college town. The Engineering complex was awesome. We also liked the Honors college.
@Jpgranier - Congratulations on UT CS admission, you must be well rounded applicant. Since cost is not an issue, I would recommend UT. Do you mind sharing your stats? My son is waiting on UT decision (non auto admit), which is his first choice!
My D hopefully will be admitted to UT. But the restrictions on changing majors gives us all something seriously to consider and think about. Let’s say she does one year and realizes her major is not for her? We have wasted $27,000! That’s a LOT of $$. And a waste of the $107,000 scholarship she could’ve had at Bama!
I’ve followed your posts now for a few months. You have really come a long way and grown in maturity and have learned to consider many things in making your decisions. You have a bit of time to decide, do you not? Have you sat down directly with an admissions counselor at UT and discussed your concern about lack of flexibility?
@ACT2017
Class Rank: 1/27
ACT: 32 (31E 35M 30R 30S)
35 Dual credit hours
350~ community service hours
Varsity Golf
Peer-to-Peer
Minor touch on computer science and STEM related programs and courses
Taken math up to Calc 1
@carachel2
I hope your daughter gets in as well. The flexibility in changing majors is a major plus for me. Along with the scholarship and the money I would receive from it.
I placed an enrollment deposit (non-binding, non-refundable) so that I can get into honors housing, which is a huge plus for me.
My visit today has really pushed me over the edge. The campus is beautiful. I am not the biggest fan of Austin, and I would enjoy less distractions. Alabama is doing a lot of the right things to slowly get to be known for more than just athletics.
As of now, it is probably a 60/40 split, Alabama and UT. Unless I find out something drastic, I’m following my gut telling me Alabama would be where I would be happiest.
If you like Bama more, go there. UT certainly more prestigious in CS but if you plan to go to grad school it won’t matter much anyway, plus in CS it’s the skills you actually have that are important, not the degree so much.
It sounds like you prefer Alabama more, so I think you should choose there. Prestige isn’t everything - Alabama is a great school with a great reputation. And unless you are planning to stay in Tuscaloosa, local job opportunities don’t matter. In CS (or any field, in case you change your mind) you can do a national internship search, spend your summers elsewhere networking and developing skills, and land a job somewhere else.
Really the only thing you seem to like about UT is its location in Austin and the prestige level, whereas it sounds like you actually like Alabama.
I don’t know anything about UT or CS, but I can share my ds’s experience at Bama. He is a very advanced student who had multiple great offers. He was accepted into Bama’s CBH program and that pretty much sealed the deal for him. If you haven’t applied to CBH, you might want to consider that option. CBH is an elite honors program that focuses on UG research. There are students across majors. They have posted this semesters LIVE presentation topics, so you can scroll through the titles and see what research topics some of the students are engaged in. https://live.cbhp.ua.edu/schedule.php
You like Alabama more and it’s cheaper. Throw in the fact that grad school is also an option makes this an easy decision in my opinion. ROLL TIDE! By the way I am from Texas and love UT.
For the price difference, your dad’s very generous offer, and your feelings about UA - I would go UA.
That being said, it would have been very hard for our family to walk away from UT-Austin for CS (our son is a CS major and loves CS) if we were Texas residents and he had an admission there (did not apply - we are in FL).
If it were my son and he was going UA, I would encourage him to stay very focused on his grades with the objective of getting as high a GPA as possible, and to focus on getting internships/co-ops/research projects.
I don’t think there is a right a wrong answer - it will all come down to what you make of it. Best wishes and congratulations!
@SouthFloridaMom9 Yeah, having a top 10 CS program at in state is a really hard offer to pass on. I even get the first year’s tuition for free from being valedictorian.
I’ve been accepted to both, so it’s definitely a tough decision. I’m definitely not going to accept any offers until April. Maybe some other schools will surprise me with scholarships.
I’m not sure if I made it clear, but both schools would cost myself 0$.
I’m just finding out that I would most likely have 30k~ of grad school money either way. My sister and I have two college funds combining to 120k~, and my sister has decided not to go to college. If I go to Bama, my dad will be able to take out the rest of the fund tax free due to an exemption from getting a scholarship from Alabama.
If I go to UT, it would be 90kish, so 30k will be left over. He won’t really be able to take any money out without paying a 10% fee to the 529 company and from my understanding, he would also have to pay 28% capital gains and 43% income tax on any gains.
Needless to say, he is not going to withdraw money just to pay 81% of the gains in taxes.
This definitely sways my decision a little bit. Basically, it would cost my $0.00 and I would have 30k~ for grad school either school I go to. Alabama would leave me 10k cash in my pocket, but I’m not sure if that outweighs the option of UT.
Definitely like the campus and feel of Alabama more, but I enjoy the prestige of UT.
From your posts it sounds like you like Alabama more. Also, your sister may change her mind in a year or 2 and want to go to college or some certificate or training program. You may not want to count on her “share” of the money just yet. But either way, it sounds like both are affordable. Best wishes and good luck!
^^believe me, I understand OP. I thought I was going to go crazy last spring waiting for my son to decide what to do. It was such a tough decision. But it seems that you have great analytical skills with a good blend of the emotional side of where you want to spend your time. Trust yourself. Truly I believe either decision will be fine.