<p>Now I've brought the list down to two.
Both colleges are huge public universities.
How do these universities match up in their reputations of my program?</p>
<p>And equally important ... living in LA vs living in Austin.
Looking from so far away, living in LA sounds more "exotic" :P and Austin more "peaceful". What would u guys say?</p>
<p>if you are getting a graduate degree, then I assume you have an undergrad degree in this (or a closely related) area. So talk to your profs; they are experts at the reputation of various programs.</p>
<p>UT engineering > UCLA engineering</p>
<p>Yes I do have a bachelors from the same field. But I am an international student. Professors here are not that familiar with US universities.</p>
<p>For Civil,
In USNews UT is ranked 5th and UCLA as 18-20th
whereas on QS world wide, UT = 15th and UCLA = 14th.
So clearly, I cant rely on rankings either.</p>
<p>Civil has many subareas. Sometime if you look at the course offerings and research…etc, you can guess what areas they are more focused on and see if their foci/strengths align with your interest.</p>
<p>Also, within the US, USNews ranking is the proxy of reputation. We don’t care what QS says and most don’t even know it exists.</p>
<p>I hate LA but don’t mind Austin. Austin is also a lot cheaper. Also Texas has a much stronger job market than California so if you plan to try to get a position, it’d likely be easier in Texas.</p>
<p>Austin also cheaper to live and more fun for young folks.</p>
<p>Civil has many concentrations as others have alluded to. Texas is generally better for transportation and structures. UCLA is better for bio-structural, aerospace oriented analysis, and seismic research. MIT is top 4 for Civil (according to US News) but is actually considered top 20ish for Structural Engineering below Cornell, Illinois, Texas and a slew of other schools. It’s only well known for Fluid Mechanics within Civil. Make sure to do your research and speak to professors. Don’t take the US News aggregate rankings at face value.</p>