Hello CC,
I’m from NYC, and I’ve been accepted to both UT Austin CS and Waterloo’s 5 year Software Engineering Co-op program.
I know UT is top 10 for CS in the US, but Waterloo SE is probably the most elite program in Canada.
My top priorities are the quality of education, availability of advanced CS electives to undergrads/freedom of course scheduling, the level of respect each degree would get from tech employers in Silicon Valley/NYC, and the student life on each campus. In addition, Waterloo would be around 36k in total, and UT Austin out-of-state would be around 46k in total.
If anyone here has been in either of these programs and can speak to those ^^ aspects, I would greatly appreciate it.
- There's no wrong choice here so long as both are affordable. Congrats!
- I worked with students at both - Waterloo I think has one of the biggest names in the valley and I think doesn't get enough credit for that. Most big name tech companies take many co-ops from Waterloo during Fall/Spring, while most UT Austin students will be competing for internships with all of the other big names. Canadian schools will offer a bit less class flexibility outside of major but inside will offer a good deal. Given all that and being 10K cheaper a year, Waterloo has the edge for me.
I don’t know social life at each as well, but these schools are close enough where if one is really a much better fit, that would be more important to me. Keep digging there and good luck!
Waterloo will have colder weather, a dour town, less flexibility, excellent professional outcomes, great connections to great companies, opportunity to make good money through coop, lots of top-level peers.
Austin will have good weather ( except when you start school, but most of the year when youre in school will be nice), an awesome city, more diversity (not all techies 
- can be a plus or minus for you), more course flexibility, less recruiting, less specialized major, no co-op.
@MYOS1634 How much of a degree less recruiting would you say Austin has? I’d like to go to Austin for the social life/weather, but I don’t want to sacrifice the opportunity to land an elite internship.
Not that much. Still plenty usual to land a good internship at a top tech company from UT Austin. If the shoe fits well, go there.
if you prefer Austin and feel you’ll do well, it means it’s a good fit for you. I didn’t think the difference justifies a poor fit.
@PengsPhils @MYOS1634 Alright, thanks for the advice guys!