UT Austin vs UW vs WM vs Purdue for CS

Student Lounge International Students
1

My son get accepted in those four colleges for CS, and he is international student. We are looking for advices which college that has more opportunity to get intern?

Thank you for your help… stay healthy

2

Hi @Winruss

I’m an international CS student myself, so may be able to offer some guidance.

By ‘intern’ I’m assuming you mean a coveted summer industry internship at a tech company like Google, etc. Both UT Austin and UW have well-known CS departments, and their students are quite successful with internships in general. Purdue has a strong program as well, though less well-known than the former. If an internship is the only concern, I would probably pick UW because of its proximity to Seattle and Silicon Valley (good opportunities at companies like Microsoft, Amazon, etc.). That being said, I think environment and fit are incredibly important factors that your son should really factor into his decision as well. It’s much better - for internships and everything else - to go to WM for example, and do well, than to go to UW and struggle / not do well.

3

Hi @SunSpotter thank you for your very informative reply. However, the only conern I have is in regard to UW’s ‘Direct Admission’ to Computer Science. You see, my son was accepted into UW (the university itself), but not admitted to the Computer Science major. As of 2019, the CS major in UW is mostly reserved for Washington students through their ‘Direct Admission’, while students who weren’t directly admitted to CS are in fact encouraged to pursue a CS major in another university. On the other hand, my son was already accepted to UT Austin’s Entry-Level Computer Science major, which would give him a higher guaranttee of actually majoring in Computer Science. And so, the question stands: is it better to go to UT Austin or UW with these conditions? Furthermore, does UT still pose as a good university that offers good internship opportunities? Thank you for your thought.

4

You have a choice:

  1. Go where you are actually guaranteed a CS major.
  2. Be OK with a non-CS major (UW-Seattle has various close-to-CS majors).

For instance, ACM: https://www.washington.edu/students/gencat/academic/acms.html

HCDE: https://www.washington.edu/students/gencat/academic/hcde.html

Informatics:
https://www.washington.edu/students/gencat/academic/school_information.html

5

I would encourage your student to contact the international student office at each of these schools and ask about the percentage of students successfully obtaining internships. It’s not the easiest for international students and I suspect with the virus, it’s going to be even more competitive going forward.

Purdue has a very well supported co-op program which may yield more opportunities.

Again, if ease of internships is the goal, I would ask for specific numbers directly from the schools.

6

Thank you very much for your response @PurpleTitan
In the end, I have decided to send my son to a school with a guarantteed CS position.

7

@momofsenior1 thank you for the response. Purdue does sound like a good idea. I will take it into consideration for my son.

8

Hi again @Winruss, that’s probably a good idea. I didn’t know he didn’t have a guaranteed position in the CS department. It’s definitely better to pick a program where your son is able to study CS, especially if he knows that’s what he wants to do.