<p>Hi,
I am applying to colleges this fall and just wanted to ask what schools listed below have best computer engineering/IT programs? I am going to apply to UConn, RPI, WPI, Cornell, NYU Poly, and probably BU. Is there a website I could look it up and compare myself? If not, please, help me to find out.</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon, rice, Georgia tech should also be on your list</p>
<p>well, I know, but my parents don’t want me to go anywhere beyond New England and New York.
This is another thing that I wanted to ask you (parents). Should I persist and make my parents allow me to apply to UT/Georgia Tech, etc, or just leave it like that. I have a friend in Texas and he’s going to apply to UT. He wants to major in the tech field, so I guess in case we are both admitted to UT we could end up in the same college. What should I do?</p>
<p>Talk to your parents and let them know why you want to apply that school.
They are right, NE has many good colleges, you don’t need to go far away but you have your own reasons, just let them know, talk to them, they will understand.</p>
<p>Syracuse in NY, Virginia Tech (hope it’s not too far for you) and NJIT.</p>
<p>thank you so much! I’ll try to talk to them if there’s a good chance that I’d be admitted at UT or Virginia Tech. </p>
<p>this is off-top but while I’m here, what major should I choose to be a computer and information systems manager?</p>
<p>according to this [Computer</a> and Information Systems Managers](<a href=“http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos258.htm]Computer”>http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos258.htm)
A bachelor’s degree in a computer-related field generally takes 4 years to complete, and includes courses in computer science, computer programming, computer engineering, mathematics, and statistics.</p>
<p>But what specific major(s)?</p>
<p>Looks like you read my mind^^^^</p>
<p>Personally, I imagine computer science would be a good bet for that job but you could probably get that position with any of the majors I list below here. Computer engineering may include a lot of hardware related stuff you don’t need. But different schools define these programs differently. I don’t work in that specific area and there are several parents on here who do so hopefully they will help you out. Good luck.</p>
<p>I’m sure every school mentioned here is excellent for computer and engineering type studies. However you may need to narrow down a little better what you are interested in studying, and then check the websites of these schools…</p>
<p>Computer engineering is often different from computer science which is different from information systems (usually a business course). Sometimes they will group computer science with computer engineering, sometimes with electrical engineering. I’m sure there are all types of permutations. You need to look at the websites and actually look at the courses.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if information technology is likely to be a separate department, but could be a specialty or an area of study in almost any of the above departments.</p>
<p>^^^
Although there will always be some overlap, the reason I thnk CS might be best is because you will learn a lot about operating systems, data structures, programming and software development. You will get some courses in hardware and electronics, but that will probably not be the focus (you won’t spend weeks designing, wirewrapping, and testing some robotic controller board or something - unless you really want to). Plus you will learn software development from a project perspective, which I don’t believe you would learn as well in CE. And all of these majors will have the math and science pre-reqs, probably including some numerical methods.</p>
<p>And like I said, there’s often a good deal of overlap in these programs and I am sure there are people on here who know a lot more about this than I do.</p>
<p>I’m working on a dual degree in CS and math at Penn, with enough courses at Wharton to get a third major in econ if I spend an extra semester. I had a choice of several good schools on the east coast and chose Penn. While it’s not on the hot list for CS, Penn engineering is plenty rigorous. And with the availability of courses at Wharton, there is a lot of flexibility if you want to broaden your degree plan to include business/management. But in the end you need to pick the school that seems right. I still like the school I chose.</p>
<p>Check out the scholarships at the schools of greatest interest to you. Perhaps your parents will reconsider schools further away from home if you get a great scholarship.
USC has a combined CS/Computer Engineering major and gives scholarships to top applicants.</p>
<p>Also look at RIT and Drexel for IT.</p>
<p>RIT has a good IT program.</p>
<p>Drexel has rolling admission, if you can get your application complete by the end of September, you might hear back as early as late October (with a scholarship). It would take some of the pressure off, if you have a school in your back pocket that early.</p>
<p>WPI does not have IT, just CS.</p>
<p>RPI has a good IT department.</p>
<p>I will give slightly different advice, as I have had a career in IT management. I would suggest a business major with a computer science minor. Here is my logic:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>The IT courses I took in school were very much down in the details. Learn a specific language, write a specific kind of sort or report, learn about these components of networking, etc. By the time you get out of school, often the market has moved on to new tools. It is hard for any college to afford to stay on top of all the technology changes, AND the field is so broad that it is hard to educate you for whatever you might need when you go to work. I do think you should take IT courses, as they familiarize you will the basics of how computers work, and having some hands on experience helps your “sniff test” as a manager later on.</p></li>
<li><p>Almost all IT jobs involve interacting with the business areas at your company. After all, IT is almost always FOR solving business problems. If you understand business basics, you are way ahead of your IT peers in making sure that your solutions really meet their needs. And kudos from the business are a big boost to your career!</p></li>
</ul>
<p>You still probably want your first job a programmer or in an IT infrastructure area. My first job was programming, even though I was a business major (who took lots of computer science courses because I was interested in it). But if you want to advance, I would suggest that those who understand the business side have an advantage. IT management isn’t all about getting the technical solution right (although you have to do that, but you can hire that skill… and you will have to eventually, as managers just can’t keep up with the details of technology changes in huge depth). It is about meeting the needs of the business. Just my 2 cents :)</p>
<p>intparent - well, you just made my day.</p>
<p>My S is at RPI majoring in IT and his concentration is in Management Information Systems.</p>
<p>Besides the IT stuff, he’s taking accounting, marketing, management, finance, organizational behavior, etc. for exactly the reasons you stated. It’s nice to hear someone in the field support his logic.</p>
<p>[RPI</a> Information Technology: IT Concentration: Management Information Systems](<a href=“http://www.rpi.edu/IT/undergraduate/concentrations/fall09/mgt_info_systems.html]RPI”>http://www.rpi.edu/IT/undergraduate/concentrations/fall09/mgt_info_systems.html)</p>
<p>Go to any school your heart desires. I have been IT professional for 30 years and what you will need at specific job, you will mostly learn at this job. I have been at 9 places of employment, they all are very different and all require to learn mostly on your own. School knowledge will be very basic, and job actually does not require any degree, except that some companies’ policies require BS, so it is good to have one. My MBA has helped me a lot to find a new job place every time I was looking, I live in very economically depressed region. As much as all of them were impressed with MBA, as littlle they care too much which school I went to. I have been on all possible platforms, several languages, probably most industries (manufacturing, insurance - the most complicated, retail, Medical Records - very very complicated…, do not remember them all), small companies with 2 people departments and huge responsibilities, very big international companies with very large IT departments… I believe I can cover all categories. I really love my job. The best wishes, whatever you decide.</p>
<p>Like MiamiDAP, I have had an incredibly varied career in terms of the types of companies and technologies over the years. (Ah, MiamiDAP, I have a soft spot for Medical Records applications… And a hatred for reinsurance in particular due to its complexity.) I also got my MBA in Management Information Systems, but looking back I really think I would have been okay without it (since my undergrad degree was from a very highly ranked undergraduate business program). I think with more IT jobs moving offshore, having business knowledge is even more critical than it used to be for a couple of reasons:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The offshore shops often DON’T have a good understanding of the business. The ability to act as a liason and coordinate offshore technical resources as a representative of the business is very valuable.</p></li>
<li><p>If the IT dept is ever outsourced at a company where your S works, he might be retained by the business in some other capacity. I have bounced over to the business side a couple of times in my career to run business process redesign projects that were related to IT, but not specifically IT projects. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>By the way, this combo of degrees can also position you well to be a Project Manager (vs. an IT department manager). I have done both jobs in my career.</p>
<p>Note that computer science and IT are two different things. Software development and IT are two different things and are generally completely different departments. </p>
<p>Think of IT as specifying IT software/hardware solutions based on what the business needs, acquiring those solutions from the companies providing them (Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, server companies, storage companies, etc.), and installing, integrating, and operating them. They generally don’t do real software development although they usually do some higher level scripting and configuration in order to integrate.</p>
<p>Think of a CS major who ends up as a software engineer as someone who actually designs and develops the applications that are used by IT, business, consumers, and almost everywhere else. </p>
<p>When it comes to management at either of these that requires yet a different set of skills of being able to run a business unit, interact heavily with all of the groups within the company (although many positions require this), etc. but a good solid background in the particular field (IT or CS for IT management, CS for software development management) is very helpful.</p>
<p>u<em>u</em>d, I don’t really agree with your definition (and I have experience with at least 25 different companies as an employee or consultant in the computer area). The lines are very gray for usage of those terms. I just don’t want the OP to think that he has this down if he just takes your post at face value, because he would be confused if he tried to apply that at many of the companies I have worked with…</p>
<p>I have never worked for a company that split those two into different departments, at least in the global sense. Generally a company has one technology department (reporting up to the CIO in most cases, but the CFO in some companies). It can be called a variety of things (Information Systems, Information Technology, Technology Group, etc. – if you can think of it, someone has called it that!). Within that group below the top level, then there is generally a split between application support and infrastructure (like network, information security, database management, etc.). The application support does tend to have more interaction with the business areas.</p>
<p>Programming positions exist in many types of companies; certainly those that develop and sell software, but there are still a lot of companies that “roll their own” and write (or maintain) their own code. Or they buy packages, and modify the heck out of 'em, which requires coders. And you are right that there are plenty of people on the infrastructure side that don’t create code, but do scripting and configuration.</p>
<p>You can still manage coders with a business background. But it helps a ton if you were a coder at some point in your career, you will be a much better manager even if the technology has changed. Some companies are willing to take a business major who has some kind of computer related minor on in a coding or technical position so you can get that experience.</p>
<p>intparent:</p>
<p>In my post the term ‘generally’ I used is a key word.</p>
<p>I don’t know what kinds of companies you worked for but I’m referring to the distinction between software development which very often is not a part of the IT group vs application support and infrastructure which is usually a part of the IT group. If you look at most software development companies application development and IT are segregated into separate groups which makes a lot of sense because they’re really two completely different functions.</p>
<p>I think we’re in agreement that there are many variations of the above. Mostly I just wanted to portray to the OP and many others who aren’t knowledgable in this area that the two are different and there can be different paths of entry into the two which means one should consider which particular degree to pursue. I’ve seen a lot of posts on CC where it’s clear that the person posting has no idea and considers CS/software development to be the same as IT. The OP needs to consider what type of work he/she pictures doing to decide which particular major to pursue. So far it looks to be IT.</p>
<p>“Software development and IT” - i never heard of Software Development department. It is changing name form time to time, used to be IS, now it si IT, and that means everything: communications, hardware, EDI, programming (sometimes on several different platforms located in several different countries), and many many other functions.</p>
<p>
Well, that’s really strange that you haven’t heard of it. Again, software development, application development, etc. are distinct from IT and don’t generally fall under that umbrella even if IT may have some developers in it to support the integration of applications (but not the actual development of those major applications). Do you think the Windows OS development, MS Office development, Oracle application development, software development at defense companies, etc. fall under the umbrella of IT? I don’t (but I don’t know for certain).</p>
<p>Regardless of the semantics hopefully the OP will understand the point of my post.</p>