<p>What's the difference between the two majors? I've talked to my advisors and they say that they're nearly identical. I asked them for the areas of focus of the two and their reply was long the lines of "The computer field is always changing there's no real difference." Is that true? If I wanted to go into Systems or Network Administration or Security , is there one degree that would be better than the other?</p>
<p>Thank you in advance!</p>
<p>They are similar, however Computer Science is more based on the software end while computer engineering is more based on hardware design. However, they will both teach you programming and the essentials.</p>
<p>The simple answer is that Computer Engineering is the more difficult major because of the added requirements. Computer Science is Software Engineering and Computer Programming. Computer Engineering is Computer Science plus Electrical Engineering which encompasses the hardware component.</p>
<p>Both are excellent majors if you want to get into the computer industry.</p>
<p>Anyone know if there are schools that are particularly strong at one aspect vs. the other?</p>
<p>It's probably worth noting that the programs are arranged differently at different schools. Most universities house Computer Science department in the Engineering school, in many cases considering it an extension of the electrical engineering department, but at the University of Texas, it is part of the school of natural science, and at Carnegie Mellon, it is its own school. At MIT, only Electrical Engineering and Computer Science is offered, so there is no way to study only the software aspect. I think the arrangement of the schools can contribute to whether or not there is a real difference in the subjects. </p>
<p>At USC, for example, they are both in the Engineering school and I was told that the main difference is that computer science majors have a foreign language requirement, but electrical and computing engineers don't. As a result, many students change majors from CS to EE/CE.</p>
<p>At Carnegie Mellon, since Computer Science and Electrical Engineering are separate programs, there is a big difference. Computer Science majors are required to take a larger number of discrete math courses and more upper level programming based courses, such as Operating Systems. Students are also required to complete a minor in any area of their choice. The electrical engineering students take courses on topics such as circuits and signal processing.</p>
<p>The bottom line is that it depends on the particular university, so, Jeebs, if your advisor says they're pretty much the same, you should probably double check your course catalog, but he's probably telling the truth.</p>
<p>There are a lot of strong programs in both. Take a look at Stanford, Carnegie Mellon and Illinois (UIUC). They all have strong programs. I think you will find that for the most part, schools that have top notch CS programs also have top CE programs. They are pretty tightly related.
Picking one over the other kind of goes back to being a hardware or software person. CS tends to focus more on the software end and CE on the hardware (before I get beat up; I know that is a gross simplification, but it helps make it a little clearer).</p>
<p>I agree; both are good areas.</p>