<p>Hi all
This is my first post.
My son is interested in computers, not sure the comp sci. or engineering, He likes programming now. He received a 5 on comp sci A test. How is Bostons comp sci department as well as the engineering programs.
Thank you
David</p>
<p>The comp sci department is quite small but its a pretty good department, not world renowned like MIT but graduates do enter employment at companies such as Google and Microsoft. In addition, many of the professors receive grant money from the NSF and engage in very interesting research. Recently Professor Hongwei Xi received 450K for research in programming language. But I must tell you that many schools have their computer science department within their college of engineering. However, BU has the computer science within their College Of Art and Science and my computer engineering professor described it as a program that is more in tuned with the theoretical side of CS. </p>
<p>The college of engineering at BU is mostly renowned for its Biomedical engineering department which receives most of the funding from the college. However, this does not mean the other majors(mechanical, electrical, computer) are terrible. They are quite reputable and definitely have a good reputation in the Boston area and large companies. Research is also available to undergraduates who decide to follow that path.</p>
<p>If he wants to do some type of programming or software engineering he really has a choice between the CS department in the College of Arts and Science or Computer Engineering Department in the College of Engineering. I must stress that computer engineers do spend a significant amount of time working with hardware and lower level languages (Machine Code). But if your son wants to be a software engineering, he could really take either.</p>
<p>If he is more interested in programming and software architecture, shouldn’t CS be the clear choice? I was under the impression Computer Engineering was dealing more with hardware and is very closely related to Electrical Engineering. If I’m not mistaken, their departments are connected in some way, actually.</p>
<p>You may have him take a look at some of the course lists from both departments. Which sounds more interesting to him? That may help him decide.</p>
<p>I think research in the CS dept is pretty big… Not just Prof Xi, but four professors received similar grants just this summer, and a CS/ECE(Elec & Comp Eng)/MET(Metropolitan College) team got a pretty big project as well. He will get to do more programming in CS, though, and even if he gets to do a comparable amount in comp eng, then it’ll be more low level or more related to hardware. There’s also a Computer Science student group that does interesting projects and most of them involve a significant amount of programming: [url=<a href=“http://builds.cc/]BUILDS[/url”>http://builds.cc/]BUILDS[/url</a>]</p>
<p>Well It really depends on what classes you take as a computer engineer but all I am saying that it is possible to be a software engineer with either major. My faculty adviser (In the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department) is predominantly focused on software and works with the android platform along with other research software application. In addition Recent graduates from Comp E do a significant amount of work in software and choose to pursue comp sci for their masters.</p>
<p>Your son should just look at the curriculum for both majors. From there you can decide what your son would like. </p>
<p>I agree as cj02 said that CS is a clear choice, I am just saying there are different options to get to the same goal. One is not necessarily better but it really depends on your sons interest. Programming can incorporate many things and both a Comp.E major and Comp Sci both deal a lot with programming.</p>