out of state for both. not a business or STEM kid- likely poly sci, maybe psychology, maybe pre-law.
no merit award at UT, but a little purple and gold award from UW ($4200 per year).
any thoughts comparing and contrasting?
Is the student a high school junior or senior?
senior. accepted already to both with that small award from UWā¦
Confused by this. What major were you accepted to?
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pre social sciences
At UT Austin? Or were you Capped? As far as I know, āpre social studiesā isnāt a major.
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oh right.
pre social sciences at UW.
poly sci at UT (not Capped).
Donāt know anything about UW-Seattle, but if itās cheaper, Iād go there. UT Austin is an outstanding school, but what do you plan to do with a Political Science degree?
itās my daughter, not me, and I wish people would stop saying that about poly sci. sheās 17. she doesnāt know her future. she likes poly sci. sheās not pre-med and isnāt interested in computers or business.
UT aināt cheap, neither is UW. but both are cheaper than private schools.
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Factor in travel costs to both. Plus cost of living. Austin isnāt cheap.
Like it or not, Political Science is a degree that may not stand alone (like acct, engineering, education, general business and others) when searching for jobs. Always good to be thinking ahead.
Austin is a great city to be in, if looking for political involvement, interest in government.
If pre-law, would an in-state public be less expensive to allow more money for expensive law school?
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good for you - seems to be a bias against liberal arts majors on CC. As you can guess, liberal arts graduate here and I did just fine in life plus both my kids are LA majors and I remain impressed with their thinking, presentation and writing skills.
What state are you from ? very different social vibes, weather and surrounding neighborhoods. Seems like two very different flagships. Has your daughter visited ?
Also, congrats to your daughter on these two great acceptances !
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Of course.
We have cheaper options. I just wanted to hear thoughts comparing these two.
UT is in Austin.
UW is a few miles from āinā downtown Seattle - and the traffic away from campus is horrendous. And many/most will love this campus - but they have this IMHO really ugly Red Square - makes me think of Russiaā¦didnāt like it at all (bug again, thatās my opinion) and I wouldnāt want to have to look at it for four years. But each person sees things differently.
Very different environments. I prefer the city of Seattle to the city of Austin (and UT is in the city) - but thatās personal.
But when I was in Seattle last Summer the entire downtown was dead - restaurants, stores - even Starbucks wtih the only one open at Pikes Placeā¦no labor.
Itās not going to matter where she ends up at these two - or UF, UGA, Arizona and whichever others.
As you said, your kid doesnāt know what she wants to do - and all will be equally impactful for the kid with a social science major who doesnāt know what they want to do.
These are all big publics so they will have big bureacracy. So you might figure out - what does she wants - smaller classes? Does she have Honors? Nicer dorm? Some Honors dorms are nicer (Arizona is an unbelievable set up) - how are the others, etc.?
But I would say all these schools are equal - yes, not ranked the same by US News - but Iād say equal for a poli sci kid who doesnāt really know the future.
You might say - well FSU, UT and UW are in capitals and maybe that will bring opportunities - and thatās possible but all the schools will have state and local agencies nearby.
Or UT and UW are highly thought of nationwide or UF is higher ranked than FSU, etc.
But for this kid, none of that is relevant.
What is relevant are things like:
Costs, travel home, weather, quality of dorms/food, class size and more.
Is her interest domestic or international - if it was international, Iād put UGA at the top of your list, etc.
Sheās got great but different choices - and they are all different - including the two you just put here.
Your daughter needs to decide - she doesnāt have a bad choice in the lot - but she has different choices.
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I would let her decide, after visiting both schools and talking to students and professors. She will get a great education at either university. I love Austin but Iām prejudiced. I got my Bachelorās and Masterās degrees in engineering, so I was on campus for six awesome years. So much great music and things to do. If I could be a perpetual student there, I would be.
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Two great options. Iām originally from the Bay Area and went to grad school at UT two decades ago.
Hereās why Iād go to UT over UW: Austin is a very fun, sunny, warm energetic city. I think its food is at least a notch above Seattleās. And most people would probably prefer Austinās weather to Seattleās. UT has great school pride. And while Austin is predominantly liberal, I think youāre likely find more vibrant political discourse at UT because there is probably more political diversity. (I went to UCLA for undergrad, and while Iām liberal myself, I found it to be a bit of an echo chamber.) Last, UT is traditionally very good at sports, which is pretty fun. Even though Iām 100% a west coast person, I very much enjoyed my time in Austin.
Why Iād go to UW over Austin: I like mountains, skiing, climbing, and mountain biking, and UW is much, much better for these things. And while Austin itself is great, I found it to be something of an islandāI had little interest in spending weekends in Dallas, Houston, or San Antonio. YMMV, but I think the options for āgetting awayā are significantly better at UW. And Seattle has some very cool and fun neighborhoods. The sports scene is pretty good at UW, but I donāt think it has the cultural impact on the school like UTās. If I had to permanently live in one of the two cities, Iād pick Seattle mostly because of geography.
I havenāt commented on either schoolās academics because I donāt have any real insight into the differences in undergraduate education between the two. Without looking at any rankings, Iād assume that they are more or less equivalent quality-wise across the board.
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Two thoughts. To me, Texas is one of the few states where one has to be comfortable with the political environment, and personally for me, the gun laws would be an issue. Not looking to open debate, just noting that this was a consideration for us. It may or may not be relevant for your family.
Second, as an international relations major who went on to law school, I do not think you can disregard the likelihood of grad school when taking costs into account.
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Iāve lived in Los Angles, San Francisco, and San Jose, and Iād say that Austinās traffic is at least as bad as any of the three. The infrastructure was designed for a population magnitudes smaller than the metropolitan area currently holds. To be fair, Iāve heard that Seattle has terrible traffic too. But I wouldnāt go to Austin to avoid traffic.
It depends. If youāre worried about access to family planning, thatās fair. And if you want to protest the Stateās formal laws and policies by not sending a child there, thatās totally your prerogative.
But if your concern is cultural, I think it may be misplaced in this instance. UT and Austin are very liberal places. Indeed, UT is actually more racially diverse than UW. And Texas isnāt as conservative as people thinkāthere are only about 6% more Republicans than Democrats across the population, a percentage that has been steadily shrinking. This especially true in the major cities, nearly all of which have Democrat/liberal majors. So, if your concern is being overwhelmingly surrounding by a population of gun-wielding MAGA supporters at UT, thatās not going to be the case.
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What I meant to say was - UT is right there - itās in the heart of the city. Everything is there.
UW is not in the heart of Seattle - hence I mentioend the traffic.
Newer light rail in Seattle - 2 stations at UW with direct access to airport, cap hill, downtown seattle - and is very popular with students.
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