UT-Austin Announces New Degree - Bachelor's in Informatics at the iSchool
Overlooking Bob’s Cove, Queenstown, New Zealand
UT-Austin College of Informatics (UT iSchool)
UT-Austin has enrolled it’s first class of freshman and transfer students for Fall 2021 in their brand new major, the Bachelors in Informatics. Informatics is the first undergraduate degree offered in the School of Information, which may explain why this program wasn’t on most peoples’ radars for the previous admissions cycle.
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Although we don’t have concrete data yet, an advisor from their department suggested to a prospective client of mine that 50 to 60% of space will be for freshmen, 20 to 30% for external transfers, and 10-20% for current UT students internally transferring. They hope to enroll 100 students for Fall 2021 and at least 50. So we can expect that this program may admit 200-250 applicants in subsequent cycles until the program grows larger and more established.
There is no way to know how competitive this program will be or what the average SAT/class rank or what transfer GPA will make a student competitive.
Informatics may be a great fit for programming, computer science, and STEM-oriented students who hope to leverage technology and data to address social issues. However, if you want a hardcore CS degree, informatics may disappoint and underequip you with adequate programming skills. Pairing Informatics with a CS certificate might be a nice middle road option.
Informatics is the study, design, and application of computer and information technology from a user-centered perspective. In a world where information is one of our most important resources, Informatics students apply human-centered values while leveraging insights from data and information technology to solve problems. Learn to extract meaning from data, design effective information experiences, and evaluate the impacts of new technologies on individuals, organizations, and society
The new informatics degree seems to be a response to an increasingly interdisciplinary landscape that integrates traditionally STEM disciplines like computer science, quantitative analysis, data visualization with more arts- and society-oriented fields like social work, User Experience (UX) design, healthcare, and even historical preservation. Generally speaking, data and information are the cornerstones of the 21st-century global economy and public policy, so informatics provides students with needed skills for navigating a complex world.
CS and Engineering applicants often write about volunteering or utilizing technology to help their communities, so informatics may be a natural fit for a large number of students. Informatics may also be a great fit for a socially-minded student who hasn’t taken many or any programming classes yet wants to develop marketable skills.
There are two options, but it shouldn’t make any difference for admissions: Bachelors of Arts and a Bachelors of Science. The curricula are identical for now, except the BA requires six hours from selected Liberal Arts courses while the BS requires six hours from Natural Sciences. Check out their concentration options here. Current students can also minor by taking five informatics courses, and if your applicant, this option may be worth mentioning in your first-choice major short answer.
One interesting aspect of Informatics is that it is its own school rather than a major. When Liberal Arts established the International Relations and Global Studies (IRG) major in 2009, for the first few years, the degree plan was a mishmash from other departments like Government, History, Sociology, Geography, and so on. All of the informatics classes seem to be housed in their own departmental unit. That might offer enrolling students a smaller community within the larger university setting.
Enrolling in Informatics offers the unique opportunity to help build a program and leave your mark on campus. Well-established programs like Plan II, Business, or Computer Science already have program cultures and histories. Informatics could be a good fit for a student unafraid of uncertainties or not following in the footsteps of others.
Prospective students to competitive programs like computer science, business, and engineering might want to consider informatics as an option if it fits their interests and skillset. I look forward to seeing how this program grows and develops over the coming years.