Yale vs UT Austin Honors for CS

aquapt
Wed, 15 May 2019 10:03:16 +0000

1. OP decided and committed two weeks ago

2. Employers absolutely do and will know the UT Turing Scholars program. To suggest that they won’t is nonsense.

3. To “guess” that one will automatically learn more at Yale than in the Turing Scholars program is an uninformed generalization. What one learns will be different; the OP needed to decide whether to prioritize a tippy-top-tier specialty program or pay considerably more for a broader top-tier education that is not as highly regarded in the specific major. Either choice would be a legitimate one - depends on the educational and financial priorities of the student.

4. It’s always amusing to see new contributors here who feel as if the preeminence of Ivy League schools has not been adequately promoted/defended here on CC until they came along to champion the cause of “You can’t not go to Yale!”

Congrats to OP on a solid and well-thought-out decision. Research has shown that students who are admitted to Ivies and choose to go elsewhere have statistically indistinguishable outcomes from those who actually attend Ivies. It’s always a good sign when a student chooses on the basis of substance rather than “prestigiosity.” That’s not to say that Yale lacks substance; but it’s not the be-all and end-all for every student, especially for CS specifically. (Whereas UT Austin has a top-10 CS department, within which the Turing Scholars program is a small and extremely selective Honors program.) An elite honors program in one’s chosen field and a debt-free undergraduate degree are both enviable opportunities as well. Let’s not campaign for young people who have made excellent, well-reasoned decisions to wallow in buyer’s remorse.