<p>CMU sems to have two programs
1. Carneige Institute of Tech- ECE
2. School of Computer Science - B.S. in CS</p>
<p>What is the differenc and which one is better?</p>
<p>It depends on your child's interests, whether more focussed on CS or engineering.</p>
<p>The CS school has terrific reputation, accepts about 76 students per year. The engineering school is a separate program, which includes many specialties. Students will have a minor, so there will be some overlay. The CS students have first priority for courses in their department.</p>
<p>Mathmom has a student in the CS program, so she can say more. Once again, it so depends on what interests your child more. Both programs are tough. A nice factor at CMU was that they accepted AP credits. My S applied to both programs, and went there for the accepted students weekend to make a decision.</p>
<p>It's very confusing isn't it? In a general way ECE is more hardware and CS is more software. When someone asked this question at an Open House they said there was a lot of overlap in courses. I do know that there is a pretty specific set of courses the SCS students have to take, not sure what the ECE students need to cover, but all the catalogs and requirements are on line if you dig around enough. Since the School of Computer Science requires a minor you may actually be able to have ECE as your minor. As bookworm says you can always apply to both schools and then make the final decision in April after talking to people in both departments. One's not necessarily better than the other, though the School of Computer Science is a little harder to get into to and starting salaries are slightly higher.</p>
<p>This page shows average salaries for engineering broken down by specialty and I has links to pdf to see where kids got jobs: College</a> of Engineering - Post-Graduation Survey Results - Information for Students and Alumni - Career Center - Student Affairs and <a href="http://www.studentaffairs.cmu.edu/career/employ/salary/ECE.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.studentaffairs.cmu.edu/career/employ/salary/ECE.pdf</a></p>
<p>Similar info for School of Computer Science: Welcome</a> to SCS Career Services Center at Carnegie Mellon University</p>
<p>I think my son will easily be able to graduate a year early if he likes with his AP credits. So far he's not been overworked.</p>
<p>Oh and the school of computer science has about 140-150 freshmen from 430 accepted. Admission</a> Statistics</p>
<p>Both have fantastic, worldwide reputations. I would say that the CS program is better-known, but at that point you're comparing superlatives.</p>
<p>The line between CS and CE is sketchy and varies from place to place. At CMU, the CS program focuses on AI, algorithms/theory, software engineering, and systems & programming languages (which is pretty normal). I know it has a particular strength in machine learning. The ECE program stresses computer systems (some overlap with CS there), embedded systems, biotech, communications engineering, signal processing, automation, computer architecture, and microelectronics.</p>
<p>Just want to point out one thing, because it's a bit buried on the CMU site. For CIT, your child needs to have an SAT II score in chemistry or physics. Biology won't do. A few engineering schools want that specific test, which had my DD scrambling this fall.</p>
<p>I'm a CS major at CMU in my junior year. Everything that I'm writing is specific to CMU, because the lines between programs fall in different places at different schools. The best way to figure out what the difference is is to talk to someone or look at graduation requirements. The basic difference between CS and ECE is the difference between software and hardware.</p>
<p>In CMU's CS program, there is a big focus on discrete math (which involves proof writing and mostly things that high school students don't typically see much of), such that it is impossible to graduate without taking at least 3 or 4 discrete math classes; at many schools this number is 1 or 2. However, there is very little focus on calculus - if you receive credit for AP BC calculus, it's not required that you take any more. This is different than schools where CS is a part of the engineering school (or CMU's ECE program), where courses like differential equations and multivariate calculus are likely required. Similarly, if you're a CS major, you just need to take 4 "science or engineering courses" (which can be ECE if you want). Unlike in an engineering program, you don't need to take two semesters of physics. This doesn't mean that CS is less rigorous, though; while many people think of physics and higher level calculus courses as being difficult, discrete math can be just as hard or harder because it involves thinking in different ways and many new ideas.</p>
<p>If you're a CS major, you will never have to take a course where you have to draw circuits and/or gates and reason about them. If you're an ECE major, you will never have to touch functional programming (ML/Scheme/Lisp). Either way, if these interest you, you can still take courses like this. While students do have priority for registering for classes in their own department, the CS program tries very hard to offer enough sections of every class to meet the demand - recently, one course had about twice the number of students trying to register for it as could be accommodated in the number of sections being offered, so more sections were added in the evening. Similarly, I don't know of anyone who has had trouble registering for ECE courses after freshman year.</p>
<p>A minor is required for CS majors but isn't for ECE majors. Many ECE majors double in CS; fewer CS majors double in ECE, but it's still completely doable. ECE is not technically offered as a minor, but "Engineering Studies" is offered, and can consist of 4 ECE classes and an intro course for another area of engineering.</p>
<p>My advice is to apply to both and decide later, unless there is a strong preference one way or another - that seems to be a very common option.</p>
<p>My child is in ECE and I want to know what minor usually or mostly an ECE student has. What minor would be best for child’s future career? Thanks!</p>
<p>My S graduated in May w/BS in ECE and minor in math. As I remember for CS you MUST have a minor or additional major. For all other colleges there is no requirement. Someone else may be able to give you more up to date information.</p>