<p>momof95, at half the price, I think UT would be a better bargain. On the other hand, if cost is not an issue, and your husband and son both prefer Michigan, going to Michigan would be perfectly reasonable. </p>
<p>If I were to rate CS departments according to excellence (both for academic and professional placement), I would go with the following groupings:</p>
<p>GROUP 1
Carnegie Mellon University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Stanford University
University of California-Berkeley</p>
<p>significant gap</p>
<p>GROUP 2
Cornell University
Princeton University
University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign
University of Texas-Austin
University of Washington </p>
<p>small gap</p>
<p>GROUP 3
California Institute of Technology
Georgia Institute of Technology
University of California-Los Angeles
University of California-San Diego
University of Maryland-College Park
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
University if Wisconsin-Madison </p>
<p>small gap</p>
<p>GROUP 4
Brown University
Columbia University
Harvard University
Purdue University-West Lafayette
Rice University
University of Pennsylvania
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
University of Southern California
Yale University</p>
<p>small gap</p>
<p>GROUP 5
Duke University
Johns Hopkins University
New York University
Northwestern University
Pennsylvania State University-University Park
University of California-Santa Barbara
University of Chicago
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
University of Virginia</p>