CS through CAS or Engineering?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
1

Hello, fellow Cornell enthusiasts!

I’m interested in applying to Cornell next year (maybe ED) and was planning on majoring in CS. However, I’m not sure what the difference is between CAS and Engineering when it comes to CS. Could someone give a comparison/explanation?

Thanks!

2

No personal experience (my daughter is planning a Chem E major) but from what I’ve heard and read, there isn’t a difference in career outcomes. The differences are more in the distribution type requirements.
One of the YouTube bloggers, Anna from Indiana IIRC, discussed it briefly before. I think the CAS one has more liberal arts required classes and the COE one has more science class requirements.

3

Here’s what Cornell says: https://www.cs.cornell.edu/undergrad/csmajor

4

Also note that for the Fall of 2020 the Liberal Arts requirements are changing. The CS requirements are the same no matter which school you’re in, but A&S are changing their overall degree requirements.

5

I did look at the two options for Cornell CS with my S when he was applying to colleges, even though he never applied because he had success in the EA round. As I recall, there were a few differences: BA vs BS (not a big deal, as most employers don’t care); general core vs engineering core (engineering school has more science and engineering requirements and A&S has more general requirements such as languages); limitation on second majors (A&S offers more options); demographics and personalities of applicants (which may affect the probability of acceptance, as each school may slightly favor/disfavor different types of applicants to achieve more diversity).

6

AS #4 indicates, the difference is mostly distribution and course requirements of the engineering college, vs. those of the arts & sciences college.

There is also the issue of, if you find CS is not your cup of tea, the pool of alternative majors available to a CAS student is different than that of a COE student.

7

If the OP is set on majoring in CS, COE might be the better option to get the BS degree. However, if the OP is more set on exploring other majors as well, CAS might be the better option as CAS has a wide range of majors to change/explore. Once you’re in COE, you’re pretty much confined to majoring in a STEM major.

8

You can google the two “checklists” for the two cs majors to see the difference in the course requirements. Would you rather take more chemistry and physics or history/social science type courses?