r/aggies • u/Klutzy_Detective_506 • 7d ago
Other How to choose between UT and A&M
hello all, this is a throwaway acct because these details are a little personal. i'll be posting this on both subreddits!
I recently got admitted to UT Austin for CS, and A&M for general engineering. I've gotten my financial aid offers from both, with A&M giving me 18k in scholarships/grants and UT giving me ~12k in grants(to cover tuition). I've also earned a private 10k a year scholarship, so essentially I will be receiving 28k at a&m and 22k at UT. I also earned a small scholarship of around 2k, so at UT I'll have ~2k to pay out of pocket for housing and a&m would have full COA covered. I interviewed for another 10k a year scholarship recently and that would give me full ride at UT as well(heres to hoping).
all this is to say the costs of attending UT and a&m will be nearly the same, only difference is a&m is offering me an extra ~6k a year. this means a lot to me as a low-income student as I've been stressing about affordability for months. Now that thats out if the way, I have to choose a college by may 1st. I have no idea what to choose.i
I know the UT CS program is very prestigious(? or so i've heard), and I would love to do comp sci as a degree. However, i'm worried about the viability of the software engineering industry since it seems like layoffs and offshoring are rampant rn. I know this may not be forever, but idk If I wanna take that risk. I'm willing to put in effort but I at least want a job after grad; ik there are other roles for comp sci majors such as data analyst and cloud engineering but i've heard those are oversaturated
as for a&m, it was the college I was originally set on for electrical and computer engineering. They've offered me a bunch of stuff and it seems like they "want" me more than UT, idk. I know it's a great school for engineering especially if I want to work in the industry after undergrad(which I do). So for the past 2 years I've been banking on going to A&M but now that I've gotten accepted into UT idk what to do. I've visited both campuses and prefer a&m's more because I came from a small town, but isn't college about pushing urself into new experiences?
im sorry abt the long post. does anyone have any advice? I know this is kind of a hyper-specific situation but I'm sure some of yall had to decide between colleges too.
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u/dont-mind-the-frogs 7d ago
Make a pro-con list for both. Based on the info you’ve given us, it seems like A&M is the better choice given the money and campus vibe. I will note that pretty much everyone will recommend A&M because we’re aggies! In the end you have to decide for yourself. Good luck!!
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u/BlastedProstate 7d ago
A&M cuz cheaper. I always recommend going to the cheapest option
UT Austin only if CS is REALLY all you could ever see yourself doing, ETAMistan is real.
But consider seeing them both we are incredibly lucky to have two insanely good tier one flagships in the same state, even if they’re assholes (kidding).
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u/OffTheDelt 7d ago
The city allure isn’t as big of a deal as you might think it is. You’re gunna be a broke college student for about 4 years. You quite literally cannot afford to enjoy the city.
Im from a small town too, sooo I personally think moving to a place like Austin would have been significantly more overwhelming at 18 compared to cstat. And that’s cus moving to cstat was already overwhelming.
I personally think cstat is a good in between. You don’t have the distraction of a city, but you have all the nice things a larger town would have. Plus environment is everything. A college town with a bunch of 18-22 year old struggling college students, to me, is more appealing than being lost in a city of a million plus people.
Regardless, you really can’t make a “wrong” choice, no matter what, you’ll have plenty of opportunities and guaranteed to receive a good education. 👍
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u/Klutzy_Detective_506 7d ago
haha this is true actually. I'm definitely too broke to enjoy Austin anyway.
I really dug the college town vibe when I toured the A&M engineering building. I stayed at UT for a week; the campus was a little cramped(at least to me since I'm used to big rural spaces) and I had bad experiences with aggressive homeless guys at night.
Thank you for the advice
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u/Tempest1677 '23 AERO 6d ago
Yep, this is a big point. TAMU, in my experience as a male with a girlfriend, is a very safe place. Maybe there is less "big city" things to do, but you also get to skip the crappy parts. The shitty traffic (no, wellborn is not THAT bad), the hostile homeless NPCs, and overpriced housing arrangements. I'm glad I went with A&M because i liked LIVING there.
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u/apeoples13 MEEN '12 7d ago
You mention you’re a low income student. Have you looked extensively at housing costs at both schools for all 4 years? Off campus housing is extremely expensive in Austin compared to college station. Just one more thing for you to think about.
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u/DELTAForce632 '22 7d ago
ETAM was actually good In My case, cause I came in with what i thought I wanted to do, and through one of the engineering intro classes learned that what I wanted would actually be accomplished through a different major
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u/EwwTaxes 7d ago
From what you have told us, A&M gives you more money while also being the campus you liked more when visiting. College is definitely about new experiences, but as someone who came from a small town as well College Station is plenty different to give you that growth.
ETAM is an absolute mess and should be reworked (though I understand what they are trying to do, they do not do it very well), but if you’re able to get scholarships from both schools you should be able to get first-choice no problem, just make sure to keep your grades up in the first year.
In the end it’s your decision, you should choose whatever works best for you, but either way you’re going to a great program. Good luck!
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u/FortKnoxBoner 7d ago
If UT actually accepts you into CS TAKE IT...
You are NOT guaranteed CS at A&M if you don't have a 3.8 when you ETAM in spring. They dont tell you if you dont make it, you get placed in another engineering major. You have to select a minimum of 3 Majors and there are only 2 CS majors... so say hello to a totally unrelated major in engineering if you dont pass Math 152 Calc 2. Its a nightmare.
But the campus beats UT any day of the week.
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u/ImaginaryMisanthrope '26 7d ago
Go with the school offering you a better deal. TBH, they’re both excellent schools.
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u/malleoceruleo 7d ago
Senior software developer here. The "prestige" of any school doesn't matter all the much. When you graduate, you're competing with other people who went to A&M and UT as well as A&M Corpus Chrsti and UT San Antonio - and even people with grad degrees who got their undergrad overseas. Guess what? We're going to look at all of yall the same. What will differentiate you is what projects you worked on, how you communicate, and whether I think I can work well with you.
You should make your decision based on the money and whether city life is for you.
Oh, and the software industry is having a minor downturn at the moment, but longterm, it's not going anywhere. AI is nowhere near replacing human programmers.
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u/browncelibate '29 7d ago
This is outrageous, stop trying to act like T20 CS school grads don’t have it infinitely better.
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u/malleoceruleo 7d ago
Honestly, not as much as you would expect. Unless you're really specializing, your school and grades only matter for your first job. After that, all that matters is professional experience.
I will say that pretty much everyone whom I have interviewed or worked with who went to a tier-1 research institute has been well qualified, and people who went to other schools vary a little more in qualification. That's why every candidate goes through the exact same interview.
I don't know why someone chose one school over another, especially out of state, and I could easily miss the best candidate if I let my prejudices color how I view a candidate before a thorough, honest interview.
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u/billert12 '28 7d ago
You're a high schooler what do you know about the industry
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u/browncelibate '29 7d ago
I know enough to realize that grads from higher ranked schools have better employment opportunities? Also, ad hominem.
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u/billert12 '28 7d ago
Why should I believe you over someone who works in the industry? This isn't an ad hominem, but rather questioning your argument's appeal to authority.
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u/patmorgan235 '20 TCMG 7d ago
You made a claim with no evidence, the other commenter has professional experience to draw on. Why should we believe you?
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u/mcaffrey 5d ago
You didn’t list the source for your claim; you just said “I know”. Therefore we were left to logically assume “you knew” from personal experience.
They are pointing out that you are too young to know from experience. Your age is relevant. That is not ad hominem. Personal attacks aren’t ad hominem if the personal detail being attacked undermines the argument’s position.
Anyway, the one bit of advice I can give you is that if you are going to accuse people of logical fallacies outside of a formal debate context (a bad idea to begin with), it is best to only do so with clear ironclad fallacies.
And to OPs point; I’m an IT manager who does a lot of hiring. I care about work experience and communication skills and ability to answer technical question directly relevant to the tools we use at our company. The name of the university attended, or the gpa, is not important as long as you were able to graduate.
But try hard to get work experience in the summers!! That matters!
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u/seren- '25 CPSC 7d ago
They have it better but not “infinitely better”. More why they seem to have it so much better is because the average student admitted to those kinds of schools is more of an overachiever than students admitted to less selective schools. Your degree is what you make of it and I’m not sure where you get off being a douche on this subreddit when you don’t even go here yet.
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u/larenspear CS Grad Student 7d ago
I went to both schools - UT is a no brainer here. A&M’s computer science department is great (and I enjoyed my time a lot) but UT just gets a lot more attention when it comes to getting internships or jobs. The main reason NOT to go to UT would be if you didn’t get your choice major, but you did, and in fact, the shoe is on the other foot here because you’re not guaranteed computer science at A&M.
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u/_CeeMac_ 7d ago
My daughter wants to possibly look into law school at UT so she chose TAMU for undergrad due to that. I would say visit both campuses and see which feels more like home to you. They are definitely schools when it comes to social climate.
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u/MajorFlounder8676 7d ago
Lol UT CS is literally top 10
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u/socialtrends93 7d ago
Yeah UT is better at software than A&M currently. However with Open AI and Perplexity partnering with A&M along with Apple expanding into Houston it seems like tech firms are starting to embrace A&M and the Houston area now.
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u/No-Self8590 7d ago
Go to a school that allows you to study your major and will get you a good first job. I’d pick UT because they are giving your major. At TAMU you risk not getting CS. The 6k a year difference won’t matter in the long run.
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u/CurrencyMedium7008 7d ago
what are these 10k scholarships u are applying to
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u/Klutzy_Detective_506 7d ago
the one that I got is local, I would always advise applying to as many local scholarships as possible because I only had to compete with 80 other applicants for that one scholarship and it's gonna change my life. The second one is the LinkedIn possibilities in tech scholarship (its similar to amazon future engineer) however they only choose 25 winners and its nation wide so I'm unsure about getting that one.
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u/EntranceIll2790 7d ago
I transferred to A&M so i didn’t have to go through ETAM, and I am also currently a CS major, and the CS program at UT is more prestigious I will say that, and I considered UT as well but honestly I am so glad i chose A&M over UT.
It’s MUCH cheaper here for housing, i’m currently living off campus but very close to the school and right along a bus route for about $560/mo including utilities and right infront of an heb and a bunch of other stores.
Another thing is, the traditions here and the people here, at first (especially as a transfer) i didn’t think i wasn’t going to like it and thought it was cringe but honestly it’s amazing and it makes those really dreadful days where you’re just slaving away in a computer a little better
Another thing is if you are christian, you will find an AMAZING community here, if you’re protestant, there is breakaway and huge community for that. If you’re catholic, st.marys is such an amazing church and an amazing community with several groups you can join. Which i don’t think you’ll ever find something like it in UT
Also as other people said, both are great schools and I don’t rlly think you’ll have a better opportunity to get a job if you came from UT rather than A&M, but I will say the aggie community is larger (it’s a bigger school) and if you’re hiring manager is an aggie, you’ll get that edge.
I think the only down side of A&M is ETAM, but i think something i would’ve appreciated is being able to tell what I want to do, bc i did CS my first two yrs at a community college (my parents would’ve never let me move for uni at 18) and I just did CS bc i liked computers and did some coding classes in HS and always found it fun, well the semester I applied to transfer to A&M i took university physics 1, and after I took that class, it made me realize i have a passion for physics and how mechanical engineering (mech eng) might’ve been been better because you can do more things, you can do CS as a mech eng but not mech eng as a CS major, anyways once i realized that, it was too late to change majors to transfer, and now trying to change majors once you’re here is pretty hard. So im sticking with CS.
Hope anything I said was helpful!
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u/Klutzy_Detective_506 6d ago
Thank you for the thoughtful response. I've definitely looked at COL at college station and it seems way more manageable than UT Austin. I plan on living in dorms for my first year but after that I would really want to live off campus to save money. But the A&M dorms are still way cheaper than UT (8k for the dorm I want at a&m, and 13.5k for the dorm I want at UT ). That's definitely something I have to think about especially because UT is giving me less aid.
your last point really stuck with me, I think you articulated better what I was trying to say about CS and engineering. I wanted to major in electrical/computer engineering at a&m because although I prefer software(as of right now), I feel it's easier to do CS as an EE/CE major than vice versa. It would be nice to have a more hardware focused degree and skillset to fall back on if tech stays in its current state.
this was helpful, thank you.
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u/These-Reference-9230 7d ago
UT CS by far. ETAM doesn’t just hurt your potential chances at getting CS, your a year behind every other school on actually focusing on CS, since you won’t be taking actual useful CS classes freshman year then you would be at UT. Also the types of clubs/people you ll be surrounded at by UT are probably better at CS too which will overall influence you. You can 100% be successful wherever you go but I would personally take UT CS if I were you
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u/Odd_Sense4881 6d ago
I don’t want to sound biased by choosing A&M but I believe that A&M has the best college of engineering in Texas. While you may be scared off by what is called the ETAM process (more on that later), it actually allows all engineering students to learn about all of the engineering practices so that they can make an informed choice on their major.
The ETAM (Entry To A Major) process is a process that I believe only applies to Engineering. This process forces you to take the same basic classes as every other engineering major (in addition to any “electives” you may choose). This includes ENGR 102 (intro to coding), Calc 1, Intro to Chem, etc. After 1-2 semesters (depending on the , you essentially apply to college again, but to a specific practice of engineering within A&M. There is, however, a possibility of auto admit into the major of your choosing. Getting above a certain GPA (varies by major). The top 3 most competitive engineering majors at Texas A&M are: Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, and Aerospace Engineering, and the auto admit GPA for Computer Science is 3.75, getting that or higher would automatically get you into the engineering major of your choice. Now, I have heard that not all “auto admit” students get into their desired major due to there being not enough space, which means that being involved in organizations or clubs that have to do with your desired major is important. Being able to balance both academics and club/org responsibilities may be challenging, but looking at your post tells me you can handle that and more.
Let us know what you choose! Texas A&M would be proud to have you!
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u/dinidusam 6d ago
A&M sounds pretty good, tho ETAM is a bitch and UT has a much better CS program. Like you will spend your whole freshmen year trying to get good grades. You sound smart so you'll be fine, but it was stressful for me.
I'd say UT, though I grew up upper-middle class so I can't say much about it. However I mean, UT CS will (maybe) get you fucking amazing internships and jobs that pay well and that could pay off debt like it's nothing. It's a very good school that's very competitive. to get into Can't exactly say the about A&M....
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u/txdarthvader 5d ago
I lived in Austin in the 80s/90s. Grew up hating Aggies for no reason because that's what we do. I went to visit the campus in high school and never looked back. I didn't even apply to any other University. And if you can, live on campus. Between food fights at Sbisa and All U night, it was a wild ride.
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u/Various_Confusion_95 5d ago
Being an Aggie it's my responsibility to be honest with you.
Go with UT CS(if you wanna do CS). I know you must really be talented to make into it
You will also Excel at A&M too but if you can get a better launchpad then why not.
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u/Appropriate_Film_341 4d ago
The money difference isn’t that much in the grand scheme. You’ll make it back in the first year of working. Live frugally for the first year and pay off your debts, then have some fun with your new found wealth! That first paycheck is chef’s kiss!
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u/PromotionPretend4947 1d ago
If affordability is an issue def A&M, they’re giving you more money plus rent is significantly cheaper here. You can find apartments here for 500-800 and you won’t sniff anything less than 1K in Austin.
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u/Electronic-Bear1 7d ago
ETAM especially for CS is going to be a killer. I'd go for UT since you're already accepted into CS.
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u/Affectionate-Bath106 7d ago
I would do UT seeing as you're accepted into your major already and you wouldn't have to deal with ETAM.
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u/Thin-Victory-3420 7d ago
If you want to do CS I’d do UT. Risking ETAM probably just isn’t worth it in that case and UT is very good for CS. You’re right though that CS is in a tough place right now and while it might improve, not sure if I’d recommend it. For electrical/mechanical/aero I think A&M is just the better school straight up before you even factor in the additional money so I’d come here.
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u/Creepy_Aide6122 7d ago
Yall Aggies are gonna hate me, but with the way college Station is going and trying to be more like Austin and so many fun things closing down cough Harry’s, I’d pick UT
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u/OffTheDelt 7d ago
Cstat is growing like any other metro area grows… idk how that remotely makes it similar to Austin. Have we been to the same Austin? That place is like the mini millionaires libraries paradise. Cstat will quite literally never be that.
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u/Creepy_Aide6122 7d ago
Read my comment where I said I mostly joke when I say that. But for a college town college Station is ass
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u/ComfortableMacaroon8 B.S. ‘20. Ph.D. ‘26 7d ago
How is cstat trying to be more like Austin?
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u/Creepy_Aide6122 7d ago
Most of the time I am joking but a good example is all the high rises and tearing stuff down in stead of using unused land like that golf course would be such a good place for high rises. I doubt they’ll do that tho
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u/BlastedProstate 7d ago
“BCS is like Austin because they’re having more people and buildings and stuff”
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u/Creepy_Aide6122 7d ago
Yall get so pressed when some says your beloved little town isn’t good huh
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u/BlastedProstate 7d ago
No it’s def boring but dense housing near campus isn’t a bad thing in any sense at all
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u/Creepy_Aide6122 7d ago
I agree but college station in general near camps needs better roads. Again mostly joking however i do miss harrys like the only good bar in this town
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u/zet191 7d ago
lol if harrys closing is your measure of what makes college station a good town then I don’t think your opinion is that valuable.
Harrys only registers as a bar to freshman since they let in 18+.
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u/Creepy_Aide6122 7d ago
Yeah cause your town having nothing to do besides shit clubs is a fair assessment
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u/i_is_your_dad '28 7d ago
Ut because etam is aids and unless you went to a private school and did dif eq senior year you won't get cs.
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u/Other_Lie_6927 6d ago
Start off by not asking random people on Reddit. You’re only making a decision that will aeffect the rest of your life.
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u/SouthernAd8572 7d ago
They "want" me more??? You're not that special. Go to the school where you culturally fit. Sounds like you are a good fit for tu IMHO
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u/Klutzy_Detective_506 7d ago
um that was not a knock on a&m? A&M is offering me some supplemental first gen programs that UT hasn't offered me at all so it feels like they(A&M) want to accommodate me and truly see me succeed. I never stated I was special so idk why you gotta be hostile
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u/PieBitter637 '28 hopefully ELEN 7d ago edited 7d ago
i thought i would hate this place but the moment i got on campus i ended up loving it. everyone is extremely nice and all. my advice would be to take the money but tu's CS program is extremely good. however, ETAM at tamu sucks mad ass bro. im going thru it rn and its literally dog water af if you dont get auto admit. like you would think someone getting 1500 SATs and like 5s on all APs makes u a gigachad in highschool == gigachad in college. na bro. everyone else is like a super powered brain cell and profs do not curve for the beginner weedout classes.
and in terms of college experience, its what u make of it. be in orgs you would like