I have been accepted into UCLA and UT Austin for CS. UT will cost roughly $30k a year (which is feasible for my family) while UCLA will be $60k. I have talked with my parents and they are willing to pay the additional cost (this will involve dipping into other savings account) if I feel that UCLA is truly worth it. In terms of employment and graduate school admissions, will a UCLA degree really be seen as that more prestigious than a UT one?
To answer your specific question, the only way that UCLA could justify the additional 120K is if you were to complete the CS degree at UCLA but drop out at UT Austin. The outcomes from both schools will be similar on average. The 120K would be spent to live in Los Angeles, not for a ābetter CS degreeā.
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The simple answer is no. The differences you might see in salaries are based on regional employment. A Texas grad in CA will have the same opportunities and make the same money as a UCLA grad.
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How would you justify paying more for UCLA?
I am not sure rankings matter in CS. That said, in US News, neither is top 10. In College Factual, neither is in the top 50.
If you go to a global ranking, US News has UCLA at 46 and Texas at 54.
Frankly, Iād have thought UT was rated higher.
All that said - where you go for CS - short of a Ga Tech/MIT type likely matters little.
If your question was, is it worth paying $120K more for UCLA than - say Oregon State or Arizona - the answer would be the same - especially in CS.
No
Vs. UT - HECK NO!!
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Iām as big a Prestige Simp as they come, and even I say definitely choose the cheaper option, UT Austin.
If you were asking about MIT CS or maybe even Cornell CS versus UT Austin ā¦ I would say go for it with MIT or Cornell if it was financially feasible.
But UCLA versus UT? Definitely UT.
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UT is just as well-regarded for CS as UCLA. The greater popularity of UCLA is about location, not about any meaningful difference in academic reputation. Paying double for UCLA over UT really doesnāt make sense; you will be every bit as much in demand with a UT CS degree. (Also, the OOS cost of UCLA is well over 60K by now, unless you have some sort of merit scholarship that explains the difference. The total COA is over 71K/year for non-residents living on campus.)
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As UCLA out-of-stater who chose UCLA over an equally strong in-state CS school, it is certainly not worth it if it puts financial strain on your family. With regards to prestige of the CS degree, you can go down a rabbit hole splitting hairs between Texas and UCLA.
The reason I chose to come to UCLA was quality of life. For me, the cost difference of $75k over my 3 years, roughly half of one year of salary I can expect as a UCLA CS grad, is worth it a thousand times over for a brand-new university experience that isnāt walking distance from my high school.
I know absolutely nothing about Texas, but Iām sure the quality of life is excellent there too.
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Both CS programs are awesome. Indeed UT Austin is ranked slightly higher than UCLA. You should not even think about spending the extra money. UT places on the west coast very well.
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When I read the title of the thread, I thought āgood questionā.
Then I read more and discovered that the affordable alternative is UT Austin. Given that the alternative is this good, I agree very much with the other answers. UT Austin is a very good university for CS.
Prestige does not matter much in high tech (thus all the t-shirts and blue jeans). UT Austin is very much on the same level as UCLA for computer science. Without looking at ratings, I would not be able to tell you which was ranked higher for CS, and whichever way around it is could change several times over the next 4 years.
You are comparing excellent with excellent. Save the $$.
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