Hi I am a high school senior student and my top school is cornell, and my interest is in computer science. When I was trying to select my college I found out that both College of Engineering and College of Art and Science offer computer science major. I just want to what difference it makes for me to choose the computer science in different colleges. Thanks
A Bachelors of Science for students in the College of Engineering.
A Bachelors of Arts for students in the College of Arts and Sciences.
There’s a huge different.
But not so huge a difference to employers of CS graduates, even to employers of the current top companies looking for talented New CS graduates. Such employers will typically focus on core CS courses, major class projects, grades, and intern jobs. It’s doubtful that whether the degree is from the College of Arts and Sciences or the College of Engineering will be a major part of the decision to hire. There will be some exceptions, as employers looking for engineers with strong computer hardware/EE savvy as well as CS. For these employers the College of Engineering will typically have more of the qualified candidates. In today’s marketplace the primary needs are however for “pure” CS knowledge.
but what exactly is the difference when they both offer cs as a major
sounds like cs from engineering college focuses more on practical uses while the other more on theories and stuffs
You need to look at the Cornell course catalog.
For the Arts and Sciences CS major:
https://www.cs.cornell.edu/undergrad/rulesandproceduresarts/artschecklist
For the Engineering CS major:
https://www.engineering.cornell.edu/academics/undergraduate/curriculum/handbook/2010/majors/cs.cfm
i see, looks like the graduation requirements are different
@NASA2014 actually the difference is not very huge since the core classes for the major are the same
@fufjvnvnf Cornell CS has always been theoretically oriented. This is not a distinction between CAS and SEAS
When you have questions like this dig closely into the reqs for the major and the grad reqs. And read the department pages for each college. FYI Cornell reports that CS students in each college report similar offers from jobs and grad schools. Cornell is one schools that give a lot of info on the pages so I’d read the all. They also give good info on where recent grads go.
Also you might like to visit the Cornell forum on CC as there are some people who attend or parents of current students posting.
Here’s what I posted on a thread with the same question:
At Cornell, the only difference between computer science in arts and sciences vs. engineering is the classes you take outside of your major. In engineering, you take mainly math and science courses, but in arts and sciences there are a bunch of distribution requirements in a variety of disciplines, such as language, literature, history, along with math and science. However, the actual computer science courses are the same. At Cornell, a CS degree from the engineering college will get you a B.S. whereas one from arts and sciences will get you a B.A.
If I were an employer, I would rather the person with the B.A. because I think that shows that he/she is very well-rounded and has skills aside from just computer science. I would know that I could count on that person to write a report, communicate with clients, etc. Do all employers think like that? No, and many people prefer getting the B.S. and focusing purely on math, science, and computers. It depends on you and your preferences.
The only difference I see is the language requirements in the School of Arts and Science for the SOCIAL SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES REQUIREMENTS (otherwise exactly the same as the School of Engineering). The School of Arts and Science has (IMO) easier Tech Electives than the School of Engineering, more free electives and the External Specialization. It appears that it would be easier to pick up a minor - definitely harder to do in School of Engineering.
One thing to consider is that I know that the COE allows, & even encourages undergrads to take grad classes. I know a recent CS grad who took 7 pure grad classes as an undergrad. It really gave him a boost when applying to Phd programs. No idea if CAS has the same options. .
There are many great programs out there for computer science. Why Cornell?
Cornell has a great CS program, why not Cornell?