Computer Science: UT non-Turing vs TAMU Honors

[COMom09]

Son was accepted to both OOS. I’m wondering how the culture/community compares since he probably hasn’t gotten into Turing and UT has no LLC for CS compared to the TAMU Engineering Village. Will it be harder to stand out and obtain opportunties at UT since companies have a preference for Turing students and professors are preferential to offering research opportunites to Turing students? They say you can petition to get into the honors sections and apply for Turing after first semester-how realistic is that? He is interested in AI, theoretical CS, and the computational side of CS. He will enter with 5 college classes in Calc 1, 2, 3 Discrete Math and 2 Java classes plus APs. He is hoping to do his BS and MA in four or five years. He has visited UT and loved it but isn’t sure it’s a good fit without Turing, and will visit TAMU next month. Any insight and personal experience on the differences in these programs is appreciated.