I received UTD AES Honors (Full tuition + 3k stipend per semester) and received nothing so far from UT, but my parents are willing to pay for the full cost.
Which one should I attend?
If there is no financial burden to your parents, I would recommend UT. UT CE is much better than UTD CE program and it does provide many more internship/job opportunities than UTD. My son received AES Distinction award and UT CS is his first choice (still waiting on UT decision).
tell utd to forward that money + stipend to ut theyre both of the same school system whats the harm in asking
@AngelFoxtrot UTD and UT Austin are completely different schools, they have different tuition, different fees, different degree requirements and different endowments. Heck, UTD doesn’t even participate in the CAP program like other UT’s do. What you are suggesting will not work - was your comment meant to be a joke???
Of course.
I have a DD who is now a freshman at UTD in CS and I also have an older DD who is graduating from Pitt with a CE degree. Both actually turned down UT for these other schools. Part of the reason was the scholarships at the other schools but there were other reasons as well with flexibility being the big one. My DD who is majoring in CE has taken all of her technical electives in CS. I don’t know if that is possible at UT. My youngest DD who is majoring in CS at UTD is taking electives in business like web design. Again, I’m not sure that is possible at UT because of the demand for those classes.
As far as outcomes, my oldest DD had 3 internships - all over the country - and has accepted a great job here in Austin. My youngest just finished her first semester at UTD and had a good one. She was taught by professors, not TAs, who were very helpful. She lived at the mentoring center. She is trying to decide whether she wants to do an internship this summer (there is a fair in Feb. and opportunities are even posted on reddit) or study abroad which is possible because of her scholarships.
UT is a great school especially if you know exactly what you want to do and if it fits into their defined programs. My kids wanted the flexibility to take classes in different colleges and explore different areas.
Psst UTD is great if you’re claustrophobic. UT Austin is smack dab (almost) in the downtown area. UTD isn’t as horrific (traffic/noise-wise) as UT. Been there for a coding contest of some kind and I love the peace. I commuted to a college near UT Austin this semester for a class and it was amazing that I didn’t lose hair due to the traffic :-w . Wonderful class, terrible traffic.
You are right - UTD is a much quieter campus than UT but you are in the Dallas area. There are music venues, pro sports, every type of restaurant, bars, parks, lakes, hiking, everything - just not across the street. UTD also does not have the homeless problem and COL is more reasonable than UT. You do have to get away from campus to explore but they make it easy to bring a car and also have better public transportation, and when you are on campus you are focused on academics. Best of both worlds.
@GTAustin - I think your DD is in CV and Computer Honors programs and she is eligible for priority class registration. Do you know of any class registration issues for non honors CS students?
@ACT2017, yes, she is in the honors programs and has gotten priority registration. She has not mentioned other students having problems with registration and I have not read about it here or on reddit. I know the students complain that they don’t get the teacher they want or time but they do get the class. Another CS benefit for UTD is that you are not limited to the number of CS classes you can take a semester. I do believe UT has a 2 class/semester limit right now.
@GTAustin - thank you for quick response
I don’t know much about the TX schools other than what I’ve read here on CC, but I would be sorely tempted by the UTD opportunity.
that being said . . . it would be hard to give up UT Austin too. It is a really difficult decision imho.
There are a couple major factors that differentiated UTD from UT in my eyes:
- The sports teams. UTD does not have a good athletic program.
- The amount of commuters at UTD was unappealing to me. The main people who live on campus are those with scholarships that they use toward housing.
- UTD is not actually in Dallas, it's in Richardson, about 15-20 miles north of down town. The location of Austin is much more appealing to a lot of students, but it definitely offers a lot more distractions.
- There is definitely a prestige factor that comes along with UT, especially in the field of engineering and computer science.
The price of UTD the only real attractor to me and to my friends who attend there now. My friend’s feedback on UTD wasn’t great, so I ended up not applying, even though I most likely would’ve received substantial aid.
Barring any unforeseen mishaps, S18 will qualify for UT auto admit and should have no trouble getting into the CS program. He’s also got a great shot at NMF, again barring unforeseen issues. He’s visited both UT and UTD, and has friends in the UT CS program. Currently UTD is at the top of his list and he’s even considering taking UT off the application list entirely even though UT has a more prestigious CS program. He greatly prefers the UTD campus, honors program, and vibe, plus the scholarships are fantastic. He’s considering applying to the McDermott Scholars program although his odds of winning that are very small; however the NMF scholarship at UTD is amazing as well. At UT he’d probably get only a token scholarship. He likes UT and wouldn’t necessarily mind going there, but he LOVES UTD and thinks it’s a much better fit for him. Add in the money considerations and UT falls further behind.
One thing I haven’t seen mentioned in this post is the difference in difficulty/intensity of the UT and UTD CS programs. My son is in CS at UT. He had several high schools friends who started at CS at UTD, one of whom transferred to UT after 1 year. The transferor reported that UT’s CS classes are vastly more difficult and intense than those at UTD, and that observation seems to be borne out by other friends in one or both programs. I do not in any way mean this as a put-down of UTD’s CS program, which I believe is excellent. But the competition at UT CS is intense and there is definitely an expectation that a portion of the entering class will be weeded out. Something to think about if you’re admitted to both.
Just to clarify, I did not mean to scare anyone off with my earlier comment. It’s not easy to get into UT CS, and anyone who gets in is certainly able to handle it. My point was just that you will have to work harder, maybe a lot harder, than at UTD, so you should think about whether that’s what you want. There’s also the small pond v. big pond decison.
My DD started out in the sophomore CS classes at UTD because she had 2 years in HS. She found them to be challenging. I don’t know how they would compare to UT. I will say, the program is more interested in getting the kids to pass vs weeding out as long as you put the effort in. The professors were very helpful, the CS mentoring center was great - she spent many hours there. They also let you retake tests - not the same test but a test over similar material. If you do not like your first score, you can retake and increase your score by up to 10 points. There does not seem to be rounding based on class results. UTD does have a large CS freshman class, over 600, but the school made the commitment to increase the number of class sections to accommodate the class size.