Here are some tips for selecting schools, based on an analysis comparing each school to all others across dozens of factors:
Schools Concentrating On Software Engineers For Systems
- Focus: For schools with a focus on this career area, look at LSCS, Richland College, San Antonio College, and TCC.
Fastest Response From Schools
- Request Info: For the fastest information for prospective students, look at the Spotlight schools on this page.
Student Body
- Part-Time: For schools emphasizing part-time studies, consider Texas A&M Kingsville, Texas Wesleyan University, UTEP, and Texas A&M.
- Female: For schools particularly welcoming to female students, consider Texas Woman's University.
- Diverse: For a diverse student body, consider Texas Southern, TAMIU, South Texas College, and UT Brownsville.
- Adult Learners: For lots of adult learners, consider University of Houston-Victoria, Northwood University, Texas Woman's University, and University of Houston-Clear Lake.
School Setting
- Out of State: For geographic diversity, take note of Central Texas College, University of Dallas, SMU, and Rice University.
- Dorms: For a residential campus environment, take note of Southwest Collegiate Institute for the Deaf, Jarvis Christian, East Texas Baptist University, and Southwestern University.
Excellence
- SAT: For students with high SAT scores, look at Rice University, Trinity University, Southwestern University, and SMU.
- % Accepted: For selective institutions, look at Rice University, Hardin - Simmons, Prairie View A & M University, and Houston Baptist.
- Class Size: For small class sizes, look at Rice University, Southwestern University, Texas Wesleyan University, and Trinity University.
Working as a Computer Systems Software Engineer in Texas
Computer systems software engineers, popularly referred to as systems software engineers, are in charge of planning and overseeing the construction, expansion, and maintenance of an organization's computer infrastructure. They work in tandem with all the different departments like internal communication, inventory, ordering, billing, as well as recordkeeping. Systems software engineers might also be required to design and implement the security system of the organization. Read a detailed Computer Systems Software Engineer job description and schools overview.
Computer systems software engineer may contact Dallas-Fort Worth Association for Software Engineering Excellence for resources regarding career advancement. Another local organization that may be of use is the Association for Computing Machinery's Austin ACM SIGGRAPH Professional Chapter.
State Requirements
The State of Texas does not regulate the practices of computer systems software engineers.
Student/Alumnus Reviews of Schools for This Career and State
Sort Reviews By:Austin College • Sherman, TX
Studying English (completion in 1994)
• 7/20/2011
"The tuition was very high, but the quality of the education was also fairly high in most cases. I knew many students that felt they did not get fair treatment from professors. The grading was very subjective, and some professors gave up easily when faced with a student that needed a bit more help than the rest."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | maybe | It depends on the person, because a liberal arts education is a big challenge for many people, especially very technical people. I would probably recommend other colleges first in many cases. |
| Program Reputation | 8 | I really don't know their reputation these days for computer science, because I have not spoken with the professors there in a long time, nor do I know anyone who has graduated recently. Overall the school has an excellent reputation, especially for the pre-med program. |
| Program Quality | 8 | The computer science program was taught by experienced professors, and the course work was very challenging. I had hard time initially but did better towards the end. |
| Instruction | 8 | The instruction quality improved during my time there as Computer Science was starting to be taken more seriously by the college. I was fortunate to be exposed to a variety of topics, including Artificial Intelligence (the field I am now pursuing), and other advanced topics, including software methodologies. |
| How Difficult | 8 | The workload was high, and the expectations were very high in some cases. It was common for other students to remark that they did not think the professors did a good job of assigning a reasonable amount of coursework considering the total number of courses most students were taking. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | Class sizes were small so there was more direct contact with the professors. There were some classes with labs where it made sense, and for the most part there was a good balance. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 5 | The college is a liberal arts college where almost all students live on campus or very nearby. There are 2 to 3 professors per area of study, and they teach a limited set of courses each. On the positive side, they do offer a very small class size, so each student gets a lot of attention. |
| Academic Facilities | 5 | The computer science program when I attended had limited funding, but was able to get some hardware through grants. There was significant overcrowding most of the time at the labs. |
| Social Life | 4 | There was excessive drinking and few school-sponsored events. It was very difficult to adjust during freshmen year. |
| Placement Services | 3 | This is one area that the college provided little to no support for most students. Many were expected to move on to advanced degree programs. My computer science professor did arrange an interview for me at a local company after I graduated, which I accepted. Other students I know had a hard time finding jobs post-graduation. |
| Alumni Network | 8 | The college sends out a newsletter that is well done. I have only used the alumni network very rarely. |
Texas A&M University • College Station, TX
Studying Computer Science (completion in 2011)
• 7/17/2011
"Extremely satisfied with all the services provided at the university, which includes student services, the library, and computing services. The good academic coursework helped me land a good job."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | Highly affordable university. Good student culture. Great Professors. Good student services. |
| Program Reputation | 8 | Ranked in 40s among all universities as per USNEWS. One of the most affordable programs. |
| Program Quality | 9 | Good Variety of Courses and Research. Highly Affordable. |
| Instruction | 9 | High Quality Professors. Quality Course Material. |
| How Difficult | 5 | Good Balance of Coursework. Proper mixture of exams and projects. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | The courses are almost a perfect mix with emphasis on book reading and hands on projects. But there are courses where a professor's custom made material is provided and emphasis is on the practical project. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 5 | The classes are all on the weekdays. Summer classes are available for core courses. |
| Academic Facilities | 10 | Great Library resources. 24 hour availability of computing resources. |
| Social Life | 6 | Weekend student gatherings are organized with theme events. A number of social activities are organized where industrial representatives are called. |
| Placement Services | 9 | A number of career fairs are organized. 1 on 1 counseling available for the students. A wide variety of career programs/workshop available. |
| Alumni Network | 9 | Highly acclaimed alumni in all the fields. The also provide help in career matters. |
Westwood College • Ft. Worth, TX
Studying Computer Networking Engineer (completion in 2005)
• 7/29/2011
"I received an education that I was able to put to use. I am employed in the field of study that I went to school for."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | I think it was very helpful in landing me a job in my field of choice. |
| Program Reputation | 6 | I did not hear of their reputation before attending the school. The program itself has a reputation for being a good one. |
| Program Quality | 8 | The hands on classroom labs were a great learning environment. The Cisco Academy steered me towards this school over others. |
| Instruction | 8 | The instructors were very knowledgeable. The curriculum included extremely helpful classroom labs. |
| How Difficult | 10 | Computer networking was the most difficult program at our school. I had had to study extremely hard to graduate from my program. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | I think my program had a very good mix of the two styles. Both were utilized perfectly. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 10 | The class schedules were very flexible. They offered morning, evening, and weekend classes. |
| Academic Facilities | 8 | I was very pleased by the study groups and tutors. The library and classroom labs were great as well. |
| Social Life | 2 | We did not have any athletics at our school. No parties or social events were held during my time at the school either. |
| Placement Services | 3 | Very few students have been placed by the school. You are pretty much on your own to find a job. |
| Alumni Network | 3 | I have not been contacted by any of our alumni members. Therefore, the support I received from alumni members has been non existent. |
LeTourneau University • Longview, TX
Studying Computer Science And Mathematics (completion in 2009)
• 10/27/2011
"It cost more than it should have. I ended up liking it more than I thought I would."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | It is as good as any other school would be, or better. The class sizes are small enough for you to meet all of your teachers. |
| Program Reputation | 8 | It won some contests for programming. I knew smart people who went there. |
| Program Quality | 9 | The teachers taught what I needed to know. It was helpful because it was from a theoretical and practical perspective. |
| Instruction | 7 | They could have done a better job of giving us hands on experience with different kinds of database systems and connecting systems together. I should have had to read technical papers. |
| How Difficult | 8 | There is nothing that can make computer science easy. The teachers helped lead us in the right directions, though. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | We programmed, but also drew state diagrams. I had to do tests and projects. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 5 | I'm not sure what to compare this to, but it worked for me. I finished in 4 years. |
| Academic Facilities | 10 | Buildings held people well. They had nice projectors. |
| Social Life | 7 | I never went to any sports games that were for the school teams. Intramurals were fun. |
| Placement Services | 1 | Totally non-existent for my major. It was up to me. |
| Alumni Network | I just don't care about the alumni. The alumni I know are my personal friends. |
University Of Texas At Arlington • Arlington, TX
Studying Industrial And Manufacturing Systems Engineering (completion in 1998)
• 11/25/2011
"I received significant training toward my current career. They need more resources to link students to jobs during college and after graduation, that do not require paying an internship fee in the form of one credit hour per semester worked."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | UTA has an excellent engineering program that provides excellent training in engineering software. From those courses and some self-study and several advanced PTC software courses on PDMLink Windchill, I was able to step into a software application support job at 65K per year. |
| Program Reputation | 8 | UTA is one of the major engineering schools in the state. Their nanotech program is cutting edge. They can remove some of the fluff courses in the core curriculum, but otherwise, it is great. |
| Program Quality | 6 | UTA offered a wide range of engineering courses. I've used many of my engineering courses, from simulation to scheduling software. As a junior, I was able to apply my drafting classes there to a part-time drafting job while in school. |
| Instruction | 6 | The software courses were among the most valuable in my career training. The overemphasis on math did not help, nor specifically hurt. |
| How Difficult | 7 | The industrial engineering core classes should automatically qualify someone for Six Sigma Green Belt. The senior project should be turned into a Six Sigma Black Belt Capstone Course. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | The classes are very flexible in accepting class projects performed at an internship position. This allows students to get hands-on experience without having to work extra, above and beyond their job. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 7 | UTA is designed to be a commuter school. There are engineering courses available in the afternoon and frequently in the evening. |
| Academic Facilities | 7 | My husband recently finished his master's degree in engineering at UTA. In his opinion, UTA has been updating its labs and software training programs. |
| Social Life | 4 | UTA is a commuter school. There is very little school spirit. There is a constant stream of lectures and shows, but they cost more than they should. The planetarium shows are a gem. |
| Placement Services | 3 | The alumni network is very helpful to those who are involved in it and assists them in finding jobs. However, the school's career services program is lousy. I found more part-time positions through the school paper's job postings than the career services department. |
| Alumni Network | 8 | I found my second position after graduation through the alumni network. It's helpful locally, but would not be good if I wanted to move out of state. The network is unusually international, given the school's international student network. |
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