<p>Can I get a bachelors degree in computer science at Uchicago, and then go to another school for graduate school and get a masters degree in computer engineering? I know Uchicago has no engineering programs, so I'm wondering if I can go into engineering in grad school without having taken any engineering courses in college. I don't have any plans for which grad school I want to attend, but I probably won't be going to Uchicago for it.</p>
<p>I'm asking because I stupidly spent a lot of time putting together a really good application for Uchicago without realizing they didn't have courses in my field of interest (I saw they had a good CS program and figured they had a good CE program too).</p>
<p>Yes. With the rare exception of civil engineering where there are licensing requirements tied to your degree, many people do math / cs / physics / chemistry as a stepping stones MS degrees in various engineering fields at other leading universities. Undergraduates also benefit from the fact that engineering admissions are more “rigor” than GPA driven, so students from Chicago do pretty well other things equal. I would certainty choose Chicago (or anther top 10 university) for a science over a lesser ranked school for a formal engineering degree in the vast majority of circumstances.</p>
<p>Uchicagoalum, does it become any harder to go to graduate school for engineering If i had no prior engineering courses in college? Also, what should I focus on other than CS If I want to get into computer engineering?</p>
<p>Programs called Computer Engineering vary considerably in their content. Some are very similar to a CS degree. Others are basically an EE degree focused on digital systems. And you can find everything in between. Necessary/desirable background will vary depending on the flavor of the program.</p>
<p>What are you interested in doing as a computer engineer?</p>
<p>^^ mkn, if I were you I’d work backwards… look at the kinds of grad admissions programs you’d be interested in and see what they want from students who are applying to their programs.</p>
<p>I’d also take motherbear’s suggestion in a slightly different direction: what interests you about computer engineering today may not interest you tomorrow. So I’d make an exhaustive list of all the things you might be interested in, and then figure you where and when you’ll start having to make some decisions that may temporarily or permanently narrow or focus your field.</p>
<p>mkn,
Integrated Circuits and VLSI design are on the EE side of things. If you did a CE degree offered by an EE or ECE department, you could probably take a few courses on the subject as and undergrad and do a capstone senior design project in the area. If you are really set on it, you’d probably be better off taking that route. (Of course, double check the offerings of each school–not all will offer it)</p>
<p>I’m curious what got you interested in VLSI design and what aspects of it appeal to you? Most high school students have never heard of it.</p>
<p>In the context of a traditional arts and sciences type CS major, you would want to take more math than is strictly required beyond calculus (i.e., roughly a full year of multivariable calculus, a course in linear algebra, both ordinary and partial differential equations as separate courses, calculus based statistics, and if possible numerical methods). You would also want calculus based college physics followed by a yearlong sequence focused on electricity and magnetism type topics. </p>
<p>On net, getting the math done with respectable grades is more important that taking undergraduate elective courses that are watered down versions of graduate courses in the same topic. Also bear in mind that summer internships in engineering are relatively easy to come by, so you can always take a summer course here and there to fill in gaps while working. That said, most top tier engineering schools process a lot of graduates with traditional science degrees from selective colleges so they normally have pathways in place such that any remediation courses can be taken efficiently alongside or before MS work.</p>
<p>“I’m curious what got you interested in VLSI design and what aspects of it appeal to you? Most high school students have never heard of it.”</p>
<p>To be completely honest, a game called Minecraft. They have a feature in it that is basically CMOS circuits and logic gates. I looked up how each of the logic gates worked, and then went on to build calculators and other machines in game. Obviously this got me interested in the real stuff too, so I did more research into how this is done in real life. I even wrote a paper on performing mathematical functions using circuits and entered in a contest.</p>
<p>“In the context of a traditional arts and sciences type CS major, you would want to take more math than is strictly required beyond calculus”</p>
<p>My plan would be this exactly. I would try to get take every prerequisite to a CE degree that UC offers. I do not expect to be able to take every prerequisite, but I hope whatever I don’t finish can be done within half a year.</p>
<p>That’s interesting about Minecraft. Another blow to the idea that games are just a waste of time. </p>
<p>I think UChicago is great, and its good that the option to go to grad school in engineering is there, but choosing a plan A that you know will require remedial work and summer courses to catch up doesn’t sound optimal to me. Not to mention delaying taking any courses at all in the area you really want to study until grad school. Perhaps you won’t even like it, and you’ve waited a long time to find that out.</p>
<p>But, if you are actually serious about UChicago + MS in Computer Engineering (and you’ve actually been accepted), I suggest you do some research by looking up the requirements for a few potential grad schools. For example, if you look up GaTech’s computer engineering program, you’ll find that they do accept students with a BS in CS. </p>
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<p>Then you can look at the courses you might want to take and see what the prereqs are. Just looking at one of the VLSI courses, there is a prereq of an undergrad VLSI course. So your MS has just gone from 30 to 33 credits. Most likely, some of the other 9 courses you need will also have prereqs. And check the course schedules. If you start in the fall, but a necessary prereq is only offered in the spring, it might add an extra semester to your MS.</p>