Georgia Tech, UT Austin, or UIUC for BS in CS?

College Search & Selection
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<p>First post here! I've been lurking for a couple of weeks, but I'd like to jump right in and participate! I'll start by asking a question that I've been thinking about for the last couple of days.</p>

<p>I already know my chances of getting into any of these three schools is very good (I'm very lucky to go to an excellent high school, and these are probably safety schools for someone with about my stats coming from my high school), but I want to know which school I should apply to early action, as I'm trying to plan out what schools I should apply to next fall. I have seen the rankings for these schools (for CS) on US News (Rankings</a> - Computer Science - Graduate Schools - Education - US News and World Report), and I understand that UIUC is ranked the best out of the three. But, I'd much rather live in Atlanta or Austin over Urbana-Champagne. Is the difference in academics enough to overlook the location? I mainly like Atlanta and Austin for their weather and proximity to me (I live in the D.C. area, and Austin and Atlanta are only a single flight away). Also, which school has the best recruiting opportunities for someone entering the field of CS? </p>

<p>I'd like to hear from people at these schools as well, as I know little about the quality of the campus, girls, and life overall at these schools. Thanks!</p>

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Perhaps the first thing you should do is to find out if any of these schools offer early action, and if so, is it exclusive.</p>

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<p>GoBlue81:
Good idea… I knew about UIUC and GA Tech’s EA programs, but not UT Austin. GA Tech’s early program is particularly good, as notification comes by November 20th. For UIUC its December 11th, and UT Austin has no early program :frowning: Forget what I said about early action, as I’d still like to know about the schools themselves.</p>

<p>I’d still rather go to UT Austin or GA Tech for the weather and location, so my original question still stands. Is there a significant difference in the quality of education at these three universities? Also, what do you all recommend choosing for the best job opportunities, education, and overall college experience?</p>

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<p>:o where do you go to school?! i live in DC haha</p>

<p>Do you go to Georgetown prep or like Dematha, gonzaga ?! </p>

<p>ill assume its a private school haha</p>

<p>well there close, haha anyways yeah im curious~!</p>

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<p>I actually go to Thomas Jefferson HSST, down in Alexandria</p>

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<p>OP, can your parents pay for all those schools (I would guess so since you are in Fairfax Cty)? All three get their share of recruiting. UTA will be tough to get into because they have limited OOS slots. I do know that NCR just moved from Dayton to Georgia and they will be hiring CS grads.</p>

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<p>^yea, I won’t have to worry about fin. aid or anything like that, my parents have already told me that they’ll pay for any school, as long as I get myself in.</p>

<p>I didn’t know about UTA’s limit on OOS slots, but from my school 6 people got in, and nobody was denied, so I think I should be OK.</p>

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<p>No, these three are equally respectable schools. </p>

<p>Just so you know, the only schools that elicit a “WOW” response in the CS industry are MIT, Stanford, Berkeley and Carnegie Mellon.</p>

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<p>^ I know that, and I plan to apply to Stanford (reach, but I have legacy), Berkeley, and Carnegie Mellon. I’m pretty sure I can at least get into CMU, but I’m thinking about these schools as backups in case I don’t get into any of those three. I’m not applying to MIT because my stats aren’t at the level they need to be, and I’d rather not live in Boston anyways.</p>

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<p>City: Austin is one of the coolest cities in America. It’s defiantly better than ATL (crime rates are higher than average) and Urbana-Champagne. The location of the school is perfect, its VERY close to the state capital building and downtown Austin. It’s a big city, 15th largest population in America. The capital building is one of the nicest in America, it’s the biggest state capital. The Austin vibe is very unique. Austin is the “Live Music Capital of the World”, so if you love music you’ll love Austin. Austin’s theme is to “Keep Austin Weird” because it supports local businesses. This is a great video of what Austin & campus is like: [YouTube</a> - Lost UT Commercial](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCUkI0P6_20&feature=related]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCUkI0P6_20&feature=related)</p>

<p>Campus: The UT campus is beautiful because the architecture is nice and there’s a perfect balance of buildings & nature. I love the campus because there’s so much happening in & around it. There are many restaurants around + a state capital + downtown Austin. The Tower is awesome because its very noticeable and a really neat structure. The Tower looks really nice when we win football games, it lights up orange. Here’s the Tower during graduation (watch the fireworks): [YouTube</a> - University of Texas Commencement 2008](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kna8aP9DnEE]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kna8aP9DnEE)</p>

<p>Hotness: When you look up rankings for colleges with the hottest girls you’ll find UT in the top 5 almost every time. The girls here are really hot & since the school is very diverse there are all kinds of good looking ones.</p>

<p>Partying: Not sure if you like to party or not but UT is one of the biggest party schools in America, top 5. If you don’t like partying you can avoid it, no big deal. But if you do like to party, then this place is perfect for you.</p>

<p>Sports: UT is the best sports school in America, no question. #1 baseball team, last year we went to the college baseball world series but lost. #2 football team, we went to the BCS national championship but lost because Colt McCoy got injured :(. #2 women’s volleyball team, we went to the national championship but lost to Penn State. #2 basketball team, hopefully we’ll win the national championship. #1 men’s swim team, #4 women’s swim team. #15 women’s basketball team. This is the best place for sports entertainment!</p>

<p>Atmosphere: Campus is really friendly, when walking around some people will actually talk to you and say hello. It’s a really comfortable place. Austin is also very political. People are mostly liberal, if you’re conservative that’s fine, doesn’t really make a difference. <a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4XkluT_hCc&feature=related[/url]”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4XkluT_hCc&feature=related&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Burnt orange is such a nice color, you’ll get used to it.
This school is so awesome and underrated in my opinion. I’d strongly recommend that you go to UT!</p>

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<p>^^^ I always appreciate an objective analysis…</p>

<p>For example:

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<p>*Burnt orange is such a nice color<br>
*</p>

<p>Until it gets run over by a Crimson Tide. jk</p>

<p>(BTW…both schools were hurt by QB injuries. Bama’s QB played the whole game with 2 broken ribs and in excruciating pain.)</p>

<p>Back to the OP…</p>

<p>All those schools are very good for CS.</p>

<p>You’re OOS for Berkeley, so that will be tough.</p>

<p>How about USC? Or did I miss that you’re applying there? (they have hot girls, too.)</p>

<p>What are your stats?</p>

<p>Hotness: When you look up rankings for colleges with the hottest girls you’ll find UT in the top 5 almost every time. The girls here are really hot & since the school is very diverse there are all kinds of good looking ones.</p>

<p>Don’t many of the schools along the southern border get A’s for hotness of girls? (except maybe GT)</p>

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<p>and Duke…</p>

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<p>For CS, USC is not nearly as good as the other schools mentioned in this thread.</p>

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<p>^^^</p>

<p>Maybe so, but tell that to my brother who has his masters in CS from USC and is making a ton of money. :)</p>

<p>And, the weather is better at USC :)</p>

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<p>But your brother likely didn’t get his bachelor’s in CS from USC… :)</p>

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<p>…if you don’t mind smog! :)</p>

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<p>Oh yeah and speaking of weather, UT Austin has very good weather. </p>

<p>Weather: During the winter, the weather is great compared to schools in the Northeast. It’s chilly but never unbearable. Spring and Fall have perfect weather, very comfortable temperatures. Summer is the only negative, it gets really hot. Personally, I like the heat but its not for everyone. </p>

<p>Austin, TX Rankings:

  • #3 best big city in “Best Places to Live” by Money magazine in 2009.
  • “The Greenest City in America” by MSN
  • #2 on the list of cities with the best people, referring to the personalities and attributes of the citizens. According to CNN Headline News and Travel & Leisure magazine.
  • America’s #1 College Town by the Travel Channel.
  • #5 safest city in part because there are fewer than five murders per 100,000 people annually.
  • Austin was determined to be the least stressful large metro area by Forbes magazine.
  • Austin was the third-fastest-growing large city in the nation from 2000 to 2006.</p>

<p>EVERYTHING about UT-Austin is amazing!</p>

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<p>Oh that’s awesome! I go to Washington international! Lol</p>

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<p>Thanks for the opinions guys! I actually hadn’t considered USC, but I’d probably be better off going to UTA, GATech, or UIUC for CS anyways. I am applying to Harvey Mudd and UCLA, so maybe I will get some of that LA sunshine :)</p>

<p>leeznon- That swayed me a lot. I went to a high school that’s very focused on academics (and where almost nobody parties) and I’m definitely looking forward to having some fun in college, so I definitely consider the campus partying a plus. Also, in a school like mine, sports thoroughly suffered, so I’d love to be at a school where everyone actually goes to the football games, and has GOOD teams to get behind. Also, I’m sort of a metal guy myself. Do all kinds of bands come to UT Austin? or do you just get the country ones…</p>

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<p>Amandarin- I’ve actually never heard of that school, but I’m pretty naive about private schools… I assume that’s close to me? I live in the McLean/Great Falls area, if you know where that is.</p>

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<p>I found this for US News…but it’s for Computer Eng’g. Would a school that is strong in Computer Engineering likely also be strong in Comp Sci? If so, I would choose USC over GT in a heartbeat! LOL</p>

<p>U.S. News: Computer Engineering

  1. MIT
  2. Stanford
  3. Berkeley
  4. CMU
  5. Illinois
  6. Michigan
  7. Texas
  8. Cornell
  9. Washington
  10. Princeton
  11. Purdue
  12. Wisconsin
  13. Cal Tech
    **14. Georgia Tech
  14. USC **
  15. UCLA
  16. Rice
  17. UC San Diego
  18. RPI
  19. Johns Hopkins</p>