camelCase

Yes their job placement is definitely good. At a glance it looks like most people end up in NC and surrounding east coast states like i thought. That is great that they expose students to some other technologies. I'd still argue that when you graduate from a program that is sponsored by SAS and pushes SAS certifications for its students, it's kind of the direction you are geared for. Not that it is a bad thing in any way shape or form.. Just also something to consider

check out my post in the nc state analytics waiting it out thread if you haven't seen it already. both are great choices!

Hehe, electives probably shouldn't be his only deterrent. NC State's MSA is primarily focused on SAS technologies and also sponsored by SAS... In turn there isn't much or any exposure to big data systems like Hadoop, R, and NoSql databases. While I'm not sure how Texas' program is structured, if you graduate with NC State's analytics degree you'd likely land a job working the SAS tech stack after graduation. Also take into account where you want to live and work after graduation. You will probably end up with a post-graduation job near where you go to school (short of a work-from-home gig). If you attend UT Texas you'll most likely end up in Austin (booming tech scene, lots of startups). With NC State you may find work in Raleigh (RTP) or Charlotte (big banks) and the surrounding areas. NC State is a more mature program and arguably the best MS analytics program in the nation. At the same time, analytics programs are popping up a dime a dozen. In general the brand name of universities is what catches an employer's eye. UT Austin will probably put you in a better position to end up at Google, Yahoo, MS, etc. If it was me I'd choose based on whichever program is cheaper, where you want to work upon grad, and if you value a SAS-based program over learning on SAS along with the open source big data tools. If it's a sweet scholarship at UT that might be hard to turn down. Hopefully that helps your decision some. You really can't go wrong either way! Congratulations and best luck!