UT Austin or UCI for Data Science

Looking for some recommendations/feedback between the final two choices for my son. His intended major is Data Science (he is not a hard core programming person but have done some programming in high school and good at Math). Loves sports. Would like to play tennis or basketball on club team.

UC Irvine - Data Science (this major is in the computer Science Department)
UT Austin - Statistics and Data Science (This is a new major opened last year in College of Natural Science )
We are residents of California. The COA is 20 K higher in UT Austin though It’s not a deal breaker for us. UCI seems better in terms of internships and opportunities as well as the major is 5-6 years old.
My son visited UT and liked the overall big campus vibe, sports culture and is leaning towards it. one factor could be school reputation as well. We are visiting Irvine next week but as of now he is very inclined towards UT Austin.

Both are fine. You should check curriculums. That one is in CS and one isn’t…the curriculum may not match.

Which fits him better ?

If he likes the vibe of Austin…it’s a lot more than Irvine - let him choose.

The major is new most places. Or rebranded.

I wouldn’t worry about that.

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There will be no shortage of either with UT Austin.

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Regarding costs, with a bit of work, you can gain residency at UT Austin to lower the price inline with UCI across four years.
https://admissions.utexas.edu/residency
It does require either buying a residential property in Texas or Starting a business there.

I highly recommend you review the course requirements for the two degrees.
https://catalogue.uci.edu/donaldbrenschoolofinformationandcomputersciences/departmentofstatistics/datascience_bs/#requirementstext

Spend the time to review many of the classes. At a first glance, the UT degree looks more like a statistics degree with a minor in CS, while the UCI degree looks like more of a blend. To be sure, you would need to read the course descriptions to see how they compare.

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With respect to your son’s intended major, a very strong case could be made for UCI.

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Thank you everyone for the feedback.
@parentkeith Yes we checked that residency option as well. And you seem to be correct about course requirements. UT degree is focused more on Statistics while UCI is focused more on computer science. Also noticed that UCI is teaching java and other deep comp science courses while UT is touching CS at a surface with only few mandatory courses in that area.
@merc81 agree it seems that a very hands on programming based approach is present in UCI curriculum. But thinking at the same time, son may not like to go deep down in programming.
@tsbna44 we are also thinking the same way. After our visit to UCI if he still feels inclined to UT, then we will go with his decision.
@Zrt42 yes we are reminding ourselves that UT Austin should also have decent internships/opportunities because of college reputation if he decides to go there.

The reputation doesn’t matter. He’ll have great opprtunities any where if he hustles.

My kid is a Mech E at Alabama. Hot but not CS hot. He interviewed with more than 20 companies in the Fall and had 5 offers b4 he stopped.

If the job market stays good, I think you are giving pedigree / reputation too big a credit.

Kids that hustle do fine. Kids that don’t - don’t. Forget the school name.

Best of luck.

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@tsbna44 agreed, kids will have to work hard and find opportunities for themselves anywhere they go, my point is that there can be some place offer better opportunities than others.

I don’t think that’s an issue in this case.

Both will have exposure to plenty of opportunities.

If you look at Data Science for UCI, you’ll see few grads - but all employed.

Many from linkedin btw.

I don’t see the major at UT Austin - but call/email and ask for outcomes. There will be no shortage of jobs. Not in Austin.

I think you are splitting hairs here, looking for a strength or weakness that is not going to be impactful to your decision.

Both are going to lead to good outcomes - whether it comes via the school or the student searching on their own. Having gone through this with my son, I can tell you that even companies that target certain schools are still listing their jobs on indeed and linkedin - and hiring from those sources as well.

Find the right school for the student- and that will be the right choice…not the one which you think has the better career center.

Good luck.

University of California Irvine FDS Career Outcomes 2021 | Tableau Public

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