<p>Hey CCers! So I was just accepted to two ECE departments: UC Berkeley (College of Engineering, EECS) and Carnegie Mellon (Carnegie Institute of Technology), but I have absolutely no idea where I should go.</p>
<p>-At the most basic level, I just want the best possible education (haha who doesn't?) and a chance at top grad schools for computer engineering (MIT/Caltech/Berkeley/Carnegie etc.)
-Distance isn't really an issue for me (i'm in PA) but it does have a direct impact on tuition - since i'm out of state for berkeley, it's essentially the same cost as Carnegie
-I'd like to do a combination of Electrical Engineering/Computer Engineering and Computer Science, which IIRC is essentially berkeley's curriculum. However at Carnegie, it appears that I would have to do a double major in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, but I was waitlisted at Carnegie SCS (so is it still possible to do such a double major?)
-My parents insist on looking at the rankings, so in that sense, Carnegie Mellon is ranked higher for Computer Engineering (CMU 2, Berkeley 3) but i've also heard that Berkeley's engineering department as a whole is on par with MIT/Caltech</p>
<p>-In terms of campuses, I ABSOLUTELY LOVED the Gates Center at Carnegie Mellon, but wasn't particularly impacted by anything else on campus and I have yet to visit Berkeley. </p>
<p>P.S. I'm not expecting it, but just in case I get into Stanford and Cornell, those would also be in consideration for electrical engineering/computer engineering + computer science.</p>
<p>Why would UIUC be out? They are ranked 4th for grad school EE. All the schools you mention are very highly ranked for engineering and it seems you can’t go wrong with any of them. CMU would probably give you smaller classes in the first years than the big publics.</p>
<p>It depends a bit on which side of EE/CS you see yourself focusing on. Carnegie Mellon is really good at the CS and CE side, but in straight up EE it lags behind both Berkeley and UIUC. That aside, I do not think that there is any particular reason to reject ANY of the programs you indicated - they are all excellent programs and will help you to get the job or grad school of your choice. Ultimately, I would leave it up to your impressions of the schools during your visit.</p>
<p>They are all fine schools (including UIUC), and being ranked 2 versus 3 makes little practical difference. You may want to consider the following:</p>
<p>a. How the requirements stack up in terms of allowing you to select EE and CS courses. Berkeley EECS may have an advantage here – there are no specified EE or CS courses at the junior and senior level – the [url=<a href=“http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Programs/Notes/Content/Chapter2.pdf]requirements[/url”>http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Programs/Notes/Content/Chapter2.pdf]requirements[/url</a>] say that you have to take 45 units in engineering courses including 20 units in junior and senior level EE or CS courses, but the choice of which of the 20 units of EE or CS courses to take is up to you (a total of 120 units of courses is needed to graduate).</p>
<p>First off, yes, you can still double major. The engineering college requires if you’re double majoring that you do it with your “primary” major being in CIT. I’m not sure why you’d want to make yourself take all of the extra classes to double major, though. You’d be fine just majoring in ECE and only taking the classes in CS that interest you. That way you don’t necessarily have to take all the killer classes CS students take, and you leave a lot more room open for electives within the ECE department.</p>
<p>I’d cut Illinois not because of the strength of its academic program but because its in the middle of nowhere and isn’t a very nice campus. </p>
<p>CMU vs. Cal: I’d say there really isn’t much of a difference in terms of academics especially at the undergrad level. Decide more on which school you want to live at for the next four years.</p>
<p>If you do (hopefully ) get into Cornell and Stanford, I’d discard Cornell unless you want to live in Ithaca. Stanford would probably be at the top of my hypothetical list for you.</p>
Actually it’s a really nice campus in the middle of nowhere. More importantly, it has gender balance/normal people/sports/drinking, but these may not matter to OP.</p>
<p>I’d say Stanford > Berkeley > Cornell > Illinois > CMU if cost didn’t matter. Rankings are immaterial at these levels. Also, a major in EECS vs EE is absolutely meaningless and does not look more impressive. It’s all about what practical things you can list on your resume (programming languages, projects, etc.). Single major + carefully picked classes from other majors wins. Less redundancy.</p>
<p>I’d pick Carnegie Mellon over Berkeley or Illinois for undergraduate ECE studies, mainly because of smaller classes, more individual attention and better job prospects. For graduate school, Berkeley would be my first choice.</p>
<p>First of all, take whatever I say in this post with a grain of salt – I am pretty biased because I really want to get into Berkeley EECS as a transfer student (I’m waiting for the April 29th decision) :D</p>
<p>Anyways, since you said you want to do a combo of EE and CE/CS, I’d suggest you choose Berkeley. Their curriculum is already EE & CS in one degree program, whereas with the other universities, you’d probably have to double major (I’m not entirely sure about this, they may have EECS programs too). Trying to double major in EE and CS when they are two separate programs will be difficult, but I doubt it’s impossible.</p>
<p>Here’s my final thought - make sure that Berkeley is strong in whatever specific areas excited you about EE in the first place. I looked at Berkeley for grad school, but they have almost no presence in remote sensing, my area of interest. This is not nearly as big a deal for undergrad as it is for grad, but if you are getting into EE to work on computers/radar/power systems then it would be silly to go to a school that doesn’t really offer those areas.</p>
) get into Cornell and Stanford, I’d discard Cornell unless you want to live in Ithaca. Stanford would probably be at the top of my hypothetical list for you.</p>