My son has been accepted at UT Austin CS major (Turing Scholars program). We are OOS in Texas. There is a high possibility that he will get accepted in UCLA (in-state). Which one would you suggest be a better undergrad experience in terms of academics.
He likes UCLA, but also open to out-of-state schools. We are ok with tuition fees wise for both the schools.
Both will provide great college experiences. I’d have to give Austin the edge in being a college town. Austin is fantastic, and has really neat events like SXSW. UCLA has a great combination of academics and athletics and is a very racially and socioeconomically diverse school. Both schools are among the top schools in their state. What I will say is that internships for bigger companies might be easier to come by in California. Silicon Valley companies are expanding to southern California as well. I’m sure your son can get internships in Austin, but they probably won’t be from top tech companies. Both are excellent schools. Assuming your son gets into both, I’d check out both campuses and select for fit.
Wow congrats to you and your son! Turing Scholars is an awesome program. It will give him a sort of small intimate experience inside the large state school that is UT. Also great is priority class registration (although something like that would be more useful at UCLA 
ie. Regents ). I don’t have first hand experience in the program, but I have heard great things about it.
In terms of academics and CS specifically , I would say UCLA and UT are pretty much on the same level. Both are extremely well recruited from by Silicon Valley Tech firms (which I assume is the goal), although he will stand out just that little bit more from his peers at UT in the very small Turing program. Academics and research opportunities are top notch at both (again, probably slightly more opportunities with the Turing program).
Has he visited either? Both are very large, with great locations. How do you think your son will do in this kind of environment?
Personally, as a California resident myself, I would go with UCLA (especially if your son receives Regents and all its benefits) just based on money saved on tuition that can be put away for grad school/2nd child etc.
Is he also considering Cal or any privates? I would imagine he has a solid chance at LA/Berk considering he got into Turing.
I would definitely contact alumni/current students if you have any questions about Turing( you could just call CS department and ask for contact info for a student, they’ll be happy to oblige)
This seems like a choice where you can’t really go wrong. Congratulations. UT Turing would be outstanding for CS, and I’d prefer Austin as a location for undergrad. That said, UCLA in-state would also be a fantastic deal, with Westwood as a nice option, and also excellent CS. Maybe if there is a special program at UCLA (e.g., similar to Turing at UT), that could also sway you. I’d give a slight nod to the UT experience right now; again, you can’t make a bad choice here.
Um, @beyphy, the top tech companies know about CS at UT-Austin.
For Facebook (one of the more snobby SV giants), both UT-Austin and UCLA are one of about 15 target schools.
I’m sure many SV companies are familiar with Austin. My point was that the top tech companies are located in California, and not in Texas. And it’s much easier to go up to Norcal from Socal than it is to go from Norcal to Texas. Texas is known for the energy industry. They are not known for tech. If someone wanted to work in the energy industry, I’d recommend Texas over UCLA.
Sure, you might be able to make a similar comment for southern california (e.g. with the film industry) but many well established companies are establishing branches in southern California. One of the reasons that is is that the bay area is really expensive (although SoCal isn’t that much cheaper.) And there are a lot of people that like Socal weather better than Norcal weather.
FWIW, I only know one person that works at Facebook, and he went to Brown. So take from that what you will.
@yogi123. If your son is waiting for UCLA decision…isn’t he also waiting for the UCBerkeley results? (because I know most top Californians apply to both Berkeley and UCLA). I have no eggs in this basket…but, if your son had to choose between UCLA and Texas for CS…I would recommend UCLA since he is already in California…and connections are very important. Easier to make connections in soCal to NorCal than from Texas. If you were from Texas…then I would recommend Texas. Last, but not least…if by chance your son gets into Berkeley…I would recommend Berkeley for CS over the other two.
@beyphy, it doesn’t seem my point got through, which is that the bigger SV companies recruit at all the good CS schools. TX being known for oil isn’t going to disadvantage UT-Austin any more than Cornell being known for cold and isolation and Brown being known for hippies does.
And you seem unaware, but Austin also has a startup scene.
Thank you all for your responses. They are really helpful.
My son is a senior in the CS program at UT. He is in the 5 year integrated BS/MS program. I can tell you he has had tremendous internship opportunities all over the country. Last summer he worked for Amazon in Seattle, and this summer he turned down Apple and Amazon to work for Facebook in San Jose. Most of his peers have had similar experiences. The pay and benefits are out of this world. There are certainly no shortage of opportunities for CS majors at UT, and Turing scholars get the very best opportunities much prestige associated with the program.
Hi,
Although I dont have anything to offer to this post.
I was just admitted to UT into CS. but not for Turing scholars as they denied my application( late scores )
Is there any other way to get into the Turing Scholars program ?
Thanks a ton!
I don’t know if you can get into Turing Scholars after admission. But I read somewhere that you can still apply for the program in your Freshmen year or take honors classes on space available basis.