I have been accepted to both UT Dean’s and Vanderbilt. I will try to transfer into UT Turing if I matriculate. I am trying to decide which is a better choice: UT Dean’s + Turing for CS and Molecular Bio, or Vanderbilt for Double BS in Molecular Bio + CS + MBA in Finance through their five year program with Owen School of Management.
No straight forward answer here…Vandy isn’t highly ranked in either CS or Business (Economics since they don’t offer undergraduate Business) like UT Austin is (Top 5 in both). Also, Vandy’s MBA program is not as highly ranked as UT’s McCombs. As a university, Vandy is higher ranked than UT Austin- not sure this matters to recruiters? Determine in your mind if the brand names are equal or not. You must also consider the cost differences. Look at the respective placement statistics and identify the employers most attractive to your career interests. Also keep in mind that you can do a Business certificate with the CS degree at UT Austin.
Any aid, merit or financial, from either? I will be choosing UT over Hopkins for CS + Bio for three reasons: UT CS is actively recruited at for CS (and is top 10), there’s no point in taking on an extra $180k debt if grad school is a serious consideration in your future, and I much prefer the culture/vibe at Austin than Hopkins/Baltimore.
Now… I can’t really tell what your future aspirations are from your major choices - the finance MBA is throwing me off. If you’re planning on going into pharma (i.e. computational biology) with a focus on becoming an executive, I still feel like UT is a better choice considering your debt will be much less and Vandy’s Bschool is ranked lower.
I would go to UT, save some money, and apply to McCombs and some higher ranked Bschools - prestige really does matter for this. Getting into Harvard, Stanford, Chicago, Penn, Columbia etc. is much better, even if you lose a year.
@Aristos It’s all about keeping my options open. I feel like a major in MolBio + Major in Computer Science would give me a stronger foundation than a degree in Computational Bio. And I’m also not quite sure whether I want to go into Academia or industry, but it will be one of the two. Financially the difference between the two programs isn’t significant; if it were significant, I would choose UT right away.
It seems right now that I’ll probably get an MD/PhD unless an exceptional opportunity presents itself.
@avisomani Exactly why I see a major in CS being the most useful degree in terms of flexibility, and why I’m doing the same. At the same time, your CS degree complicates your choice: for Bio I would choose Vandy, for CS I would choose UT. For both? Personally I would go UT as Bio seems like an easier subject overall and would be “easier” to learn or teach yourself, whereas CS looks like you need solid instruction and, if you’re at all interested, major companies recruit there. Obviously you’re getting a biased opinion from the UT forum, but I was considering Vandy but did not apply.
Apparently Turing doesn’t hold much weight in terms of job applications, but you are getting increased depth in all your courses and will likely have some connections through Dr. Lin. However, no one is denying that Vandy is more prestigious/selective and that the overall caliber of students is higher there; honors courses at UT should equalize the latter.
I would ask over at Vandy’s forum for some contrary opinions, because the overwhelming majority will recommend UT here