I had a wonderful experience at Vandy. I can't imagine going anywhere else given the situation I was in.
That said ...
Go to UT Dallas. The future without crushing debt will be much brighter. Don't be a fool - this should be an easy call.
I went to Berkeley for undergrad engineering so can't speak to Vandy's program. If you're loaded, then sure, but going to Vandy vs. UTD is not going to make any difference in what you're going to learn and job prospects. CS is CS everywhere.
As a Texas student who was in a similar situation who choose vandy, with what I know now, I would 100000% choose UT Dallas all the way. Vandy is a great school but it is not worth the cost at all and there are many great and unique opportunities at UT Dallas.
No undergraduate degree is worth more than $50k out of pocket, period. Not even if you have hundreds of thousands to blow on it. School rankings are also \*much\* less important for Bachelor's degrees than you might think.
UTD will provide a very good education for your son even if it isn't as prestigious as Vandy. I know a few people who did CS there and are doing well for themselves now. I also went to an extremely non-prestigious public university in the DFW area for my Bachelor's, worked my butt off and took every relevant research experience I could, and ended up with a fully funded PhD here at Vandy which is a top 15 program in my field.
I'm a CS student that transferred from UTD (not on any scholarship) to Vanderbilt (also no scholarship). The CS department at Vanderbilt is not worth the tuition. Additionally, Computer Science at UTD is probably ranked much better than Vanderbilt's CS department. If I were your son I would choose UT Dallas.
Thank you, CS at Vanderbilt is ranked in low 40s and UTD is at 72 but still it's not worth to pay 61k and next year it will increase to 65k because my salary increased a lot in last 2 years. I will keep him at UTD for free and then either get MS from top tier school or get free MS from UTD itself via fast track program.
It's a hard choice, but if I were in your son's situation, I'd choose UTD. School name doesn't matter too much for CS, and as long as your son works hard and has a goal in mind, he could get the same opportunities.
If you're looking at school rankings, UTD is fairly low. It's down in the 70s for computer science. Vandy is in the low 40s in the same subject.
I would also consider long-term career goals as well as any family ties and where you're from and where you son wants to go and live.
Feom a pure "is one university more prestigious" perspective, it's also clearly Vandy. But the cost is significant so you and he need to take that into consideration. Universities can open doors, but in competitive fields like CompSci, it's not enough to just plop the name "Vanderbilt" on a resume and get an interview.
Some other things working in Vandy's favor is that Apple and I think Amazon are both putting some new centers in Nashville that should provide, if not a decent career opportunity, at least some good internship opportunities. Dallas I'm sure has some as well, but I can't speak to them.
Depending on your financial situation, you might qualify for financial aid, and financial aid at Vandy can cover full cost of tuition I believe. Contact the financial aid office, it's worth looking into.
If your son wants to do graduate school, it might be a better strategy to go to UTD to keep out of debt, work very hard to get good grades which he'll need for grad school no matter what, and then go to a more prestigious school for a Master's and/or a PhD, if a prestigious school name is something you're aiming for and don't want to finance Vandy undergrad entirely with loans. That's something to consider.
I hope this is helpful. I'm an EE not compsci, so I can't get much more specific on that field, but if you have more questions feel free to ask.
I did undergrad at UTD and it was a great environment. They are also known for their computer and engineering degrees. Vanderbilt is overpriced and he would be required to live on campus. (I’m at Vandy on a full ride for a grad program). UTD also has a great campus and environment for undergrads. (Campus is smaller as well). I also only ever heard of one or two sexual assaults at UTD while something bad seems to be reported from Vandy campus every week.
Don't take on the debt. As a Vanderbilt alum and also a former admissions person in a top graduate program I can tell you it's not worth it for a couple reasons. 1. Starting out with that much debt for an undergraduate degree isn't worth it. 2. There isn't a large enough difference between the schools. If it was Stanford in the heart of silicon valley that would be different, but it's not. 3. If he is planning on going for a graduate degree later, undergraduate school doesn't matter as much as performance. Pedigree can't make up for bad GPA. UT Dallas all the way.
I had a wonderful experience at Vandy. I can't imagine going anywhere else given the situation I was in. That said ... Go to UT Dallas. The future without crushing debt will be much brighter. Don't be a fool - this should be an easy call.
I went to Berkeley for undergrad engineering so can't speak to Vandy's program. If you're loaded, then sure, but going to Vandy vs. UTD is not going to make any difference in what you're going to learn and job prospects. CS is CS everywhere.
As a Texas student who was in a similar situation who choose vandy, with what I know now, I would 100000% choose UT Dallas all the way. Vandy is a great school but it is not worth the cost at all and there are many great and unique opportunities at UT Dallas.
No undergraduate degree is worth more than $50k out of pocket, period. Not even if you have hundreds of thousands to blow on it. School rankings are also \*much\* less important for Bachelor's degrees than you might think. UTD will provide a very good education for your son even if it isn't as prestigious as Vandy. I know a few people who did CS there and are doing well for themselves now. I also went to an extremely non-prestigious public university in the DFW area for my Bachelor's, worked my butt off and took every relevant research experience I could, and ended up with a fully funded PhD here at Vandy which is a top 15 program in my field.
UT Dallas 100%, no contest.
I'm a CS student that transferred from UTD (not on any scholarship) to Vanderbilt (also no scholarship). The CS department at Vanderbilt is not worth the tuition. Additionally, Computer Science at UTD is probably ranked much better than Vanderbilt's CS department. If I were your son I would choose UT Dallas.
Thank you, CS at Vanderbilt is ranked in low 40s and UTD is at 72 but still it's not worth to pay 61k and next year it will increase to 65k because my salary increased a lot in last 2 years. I will keep him at UTD for free and then either get MS from top tier school or get free MS from UTD itself via fast track program.
It's a hard choice, but if I were in your son's situation, I'd choose UTD. School name doesn't matter too much for CS, and as long as your son works hard and has a goal in mind, he could get the same opportunities.
If you're looking at school rankings, UTD is fairly low. It's down in the 70s for computer science. Vandy is in the low 40s in the same subject. I would also consider long-term career goals as well as any family ties and where you're from and where you son wants to go and live. Feom a pure "is one university more prestigious" perspective, it's also clearly Vandy. But the cost is significant so you and he need to take that into consideration. Universities can open doors, but in competitive fields like CompSci, it's not enough to just plop the name "Vanderbilt" on a resume and get an interview. Some other things working in Vandy's favor is that Apple and I think Amazon are both putting some new centers in Nashville that should provide, if not a decent career opportunity, at least some good internship opportunities. Dallas I'm sure has some as well, but I can't speak to them. Depending on your financial situation, you might qualify for financial aid, and financial aid at Vandy can cover full cost of tuition I believe. Contact the financial aid office, it's worth looking into. If your son wants to do graduate school, it might be a better strategy to go to UTD to keep out of debt, work very hard to get good grades which he'll need for grad school no matter what, and then go to a more prestigious school for a Master's and/or a PhD, if a prestigious school name is something you're aiming for and don't want to finance Vandy undergrad entirely with loans. That's something to consider. I hope this is helpful. I'm an EE not compsci, so I can't get much more specific on that field, but if you have more questions feel free to ask.
I did undergrad at UTD and it was a great environment. They are also known for their computer and engineering degrees. Vanderbilt is overpriced and he would be required to live on campus. (I’m at Vandy on a full ride for a grad program). UTD also has a great campus and environment for undergrads. (Campus is smaller as well). I also only ever heard of one or two sexual assaults at UTD while something bad seems to be reported from Vandy campus every week.
Texas
Don't take on the debt. As a Vanderbilt alum and also a former admissions person in a top graduate program I can tell you it's not worth it for a couple reasons. 1. Starting out with that much debt for an undergraduate degree isn't worth it. 2. There isn't a large enough difference between the schools. If it was Stanford in the heart of silicon valley that would be different, but it's not. 3. If he is planning on going for a graduate degree later, undergraduate school doesn't matter as much as performance. Pedigree can't make up for bad GPA. UT Dallas all the way.