Which college to pick?

College Search & Selection
1

Hi everyone.
I have received some acceptances and now trying to decide where to go for college. I love cybersecurity. I like Engineering and Liberal arts equally but want to have ample job opportunities when I graduate.
If Tuition money and location was not an issue and purely from a jobs outlook standpoint, which college would you choose?

  1. Arizona State university for Cyber Security.
  2. UT Austin CAP (means need to go other local colleges for first year and get good grades and then transfer to UT Austin.
  3. TAMU Engineering at BLINN
  4. Perdue for liberal arts
    5 SMU Computer Science
    6 UT Dallas for computer engineering
    7 UT Arlington computer engineering
    8 Texas Tech computer engineering
    9 Uni of Arizona Engineering
    10 UT San Antonio Engineering
  5. Austin College Computer science
    12 Texas State Uni Engineering

Rejection
Rice

Pending decision
Stevens computer science
Georgia tech
New york Uni.

Thanks

2

Congratulations on your acceptances! I don’t think there’s any need to decide yet, as you still have pending decisions, and your decision isn’t due until May 1.

I am not a technology expert. But if cybersecurity is what you love, then that’s what I would study. (By the way, do you have any experience with cybersecurity?) But the degrees you’re listing are quite different. Computer science is not computer engineering which is not general engineering which is not liberal arts. Graduating with a liberal arts degree from Purdue is not going to get your technological opportunities, just because it’s from Purdue. I suspect that computer science is more aligned with cybersecurity than computer engineering is, but I will leave that to others to discuss.

But where do you like best? Have you visited any of the campuses? What kind of an experience are you hoping for outside of your major? This is a place where you will be living the next 4 years, and although you are going to college for academics, that will not be 100% of your life. Is there an area of the country where you would like to live post-graduation? Colleges tend to have the most recruitment from regional employers, in case that sways your thinking.

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Some of the schools on your list (UT Austin CAP, TAMU - Blinn, Purdue) will require a competitive secondary admission process to get into your major (presuming CS or something similar). This may be less desirable than other schools where you are already assured of your major.

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4

This student was admitted to Purdue for liberal arts. There is no viable pathway to CS from outside the CoS, and trying to change over to CoE is also highly unlikely.

OP, I would look at the schools where you have been admitted to your intended major, or have a clear pathway, and eliminate the others.

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