UT Austin (Statistics & Data Science) vs University of Wisconsin Madison (CS)

College Search & Selection
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My Son is expected to travel as an Internation student for Fall 2023 and looking forward to guidance in finalizing between below
UT Austin Statistics and Data Science (SDS) and the University of Wisconsin Madison - Computer science
Internships and Placements are a priority for us after the undergraduate program with this situation which option will be the best suited for my kid

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I’d be more concerned with weather - can they handle very cold ?

Both will be fine but if he’s international, he’s unlikely to be staying.

Best of luck.

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Thanks for sharing the inputs
With respective internships and Placements do we see any difference?
Is SDS program will minimize his opportunities after his UG program,Appreciate your inputs -thanks

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Although there can be some overlap between stats/data science and computer science, they can also go in very different directions. Does he have a preference?

I wouldn’t worry about the cold too much. The coldest part of the year is during winter break.

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Not specific, he is open to both the courses

By selecting SDS are we minimizing opportunities, is there a broader view of oportinities for CS program compared to SDS?

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CS has many subfields. What does your son want to do after graduation? If he wants a job in software development, like so many others currently, then he probably would be better off with a degree in CS (rather than DS) because DS has a different focus. However, jobs in software development are going to be among the most affected by AI. When he graduates in a few years, the job market for these types of jobs is likely to be very different.

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I would prefer CS. You can always minor in stats. The programming need will grow to accommodate the mainstreaming of chatgpt for writing code. Things currently not possible will become possible at that point. The engineering jobs will still remain – problem definition etc. You are not doing much serious coding anyway at most good places past the first 5 years. I asked my kid how much coding did someone 15 years into the business do at Amazon AWS. He told me that the person checked in 2000 lines of code the prior year. Net. A lot of code was deleted, and a lot of it refactored etc. A lot of code was rethought. The engineering part of the job is the main way you spend time even if you are using chatgpt (or they are currently using github code pilot at some of the major shops like Google I think).

What students should be concerned about is if Twitter emerges successfully after this massive people shedding, the industry may rethink its manpower needs holistically, going forward.

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Thanks for the detailed information it helps

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Thanks for the information

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