<p>I'm entering my senior year, and am debating which major to go into in college: computer science, computer engineering, or electrical engineering. From what I can tell, CS is about information systems and algorithms. EE looks like it's about electrical systems (duh) and some computer hardware. CE looks like it's about computer hardware and programming, like a specialized subset of EE.</p>
<p>I'm not particularly interested in information systems and algorithms (so CS is probably out, right?). I've been dabbling in programming for the last several years (mostly Java in a class, but I've dealt with Python, C#, and C++ a tiny bit - not much though), and although I'm OK at it, I'm not sure that I'd want to pursue it too much.</p>
<p>I am, however, interested in things like the power grid, programming involving electronics and firmware, and electric systems though, and maybe coding involving those. (and yes, I know my username has an EVSE protocol name in it - that was the first thing that came to my head, if that says anything) For that matter, I was trying to figure out how 3-phase 208V works across a J1772 plug with 2 main voltage lines the other day. I was also flashing cyanogenmod onto a tablet earlier, and I post on computer forums all the time. Hopefully that gives you some ideas as to what I'm interested in.</p>
<p>Anyway, what do you guys think about these majors?</p>
<p>Thanks for your help!</p>
<p>One last thing - I'm in the San Francisco bay area, but am looking at some out of state colleges on the west coast as well. If anyone wants to suggest any colleges on the west coast that are worth looking at there and are realistic for a B student, I'd be happy to hear them.</p>
<p>“I am, however, interested in things like the power grid, programming involving electronics and firmware, and electric systems though, and maybe coding involving those. (and yes, I know my username has an EVSE protocol name in it - that was the first thing that came to my head, if that says anything) For that matter, I was trying to figure out how 3-phase 208V works across a J1772 plug with 2 main voltage lines the other day. I was also flashing cyanogenmod onto a tablet earlier, and I post on computer forums all the time. Hopefully that gives you some ideas as to what I’m interested in.”</p>
<p>More specific information on your profile is needed to suggest schools, GPA, class rank, SAT/ACT score and general course rigger should be enough of a glimpse.</p>
<p>I’d rather not post too much information on a public forum about myself. That said, I go to Campolindo HS, have a 3.0 or something unweighted (I think, though it’s a bit higher without freshmen year included), and a 31 ACT score - yes, I realize that’s a slightly odd GPA/test score combination. As far as classes go, I’ve taken Geometry, Alg 2 Trig, Pre-Calc, and next Calc AB in HS, instrumental music, and otherwise mostly the usual classes apart from AP Physics, APCS (I passed the APs for both with 4s), and this year, AP Comp Gov/Econ, Calc AB, and APES. My school doesn’t rank people.</p>
<p>As I was saying, what’s the difference between comp eng and EE (and CS, while I’m at it) in regards to classes taken and career paths? I’m interested in software a bit as well, but am not the best at coding, so I’m not sure that I want to go directly down that path.</p>
<p>For classes taken, consult any large ABET-accredited (in all 3) university’s curricula. Your best bet will be state flagships that aren’t at or near the top of the rankings.</p>
<p>For career paths, you may consult the BLS OOH for some good information.</p>
<p>Based on what you’ve said, I’d agree that EE sounds like a good choice.</p>
<p>The 10,000 ft view is thatEE deals with the physics of electricity and magnetism (power, communications, circuits, etc.); CmpE deals with the architecture of computing systems (logic gates, memory, cache, interconnect, etc.); and computer science deals with problems and logic (computability, complexity, languages and paradigms). There is significant overlap between these areas.</p>
<p>What I’ve heard is that CmpE is a more specific subset of EE, sometimes with only a few courses difference. (in fact, FWIW, Oregon State combines them, while CS is still separate) That said, thanks for the description. EE is a pretty broad major though, right, and presumably you specialize later? That’s what some engineers I’ve talked to encouraged me to do. I know I want to do something in that direction (some computer related things, others with EVs & EVSEs, etc), but haven’t entirely decided what. On the other hand, I just happened to talk to someone who has no clue whatsoever on what she wants to major in…</p>
<p>The thing is that I’m interested in computers, but don’t think that pure coding would be the thing for me - those missing brackets that result in a barrage of unhelpful errors are a pain, for example, and I tend to like things that aren’t entirely virtual. BLS seems to look more at careers, not majors.</p>
<p>If your major does not end with “engineering”. It may not be as marketable. Choose wisely and do not be discouraged by the major’s difficulties.</p>
<p>I thought I have built enough patience to last me another 3 decades of coding until I started coding in PHP. A syntax error results in NO feedback and usually a blank page (the cheapskates at work would not pay for the good server, LOLZ). But not all coding is like that, chasing brackets. Hardware and circuitry has its own list of unofficial excuses for why things don’t work as planned. </p>
<p>I don’t feel the traditional gaming industry (Big Game) is going anywhere. Consoles are getting more expensive and titles also, while mobile gaming is getting better. I’d put my money into mobile gaming on cellphones and tablets, cheaper, simpler games that the masses can play for a dollar or two. I play games on my iPhone all the time and I haven’t yet found time to finish Halo 4 since last November…</p>
<p>You know, the marketable part is why I’m shying away from computer engineering a little.</p>
<p>I’m actually not interested in gaming or game consoles that much, but do have some interest in mobile devices. If my phone had upgradable RAM, I would’ve put more in by now, considering how much Android 4.3 and my background tasks eat up. Imagine how small those DIMMs would be…</p>
<p>I’m not saying that other things don’t have their annoyances, but I just think that pure programming (like your’e talking about) isn’t too interesting. For instance, one of my friends is very interested in very theoretical USACO problems (though I found those problems to be quite difficult to understand), and went into CS at UC Berkeley. I tend to think in a completely different way, preferring to look at the more practical, real-world side of things. Considering I tend to think about the wattages of random things I see on a daily basis…</p>
<p>If you don’t want a job writing software, you’d be doing yourself a disservice by majoring in CS, and CmpE isn’t as good a bet as EE. If you want a job where the fact that actual physical computers rely on actual physical electricity to function, EE is the major and career path for you. The physics of E&M isn’t really fundamental to what CmpE or CS majors, or professional software developers, do.</p>
<p>That’s what I’d figured CS was about - looks like that’s not my thing then. I’m OK with some coding, and will probably have to do some of it in any of these majors, but don’t want to purely be doing that or algorithms.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that I post on other forums about more general computer things all the time, and wonder if EE strays a little too far from that. On the other hand, there are a lot of other things (EVs, for example) that it fall in it’s scope that I find interesting as well. For instance, I found the hidden dev menus on a Model S with all the data from sensors to be particularly interesting to look at, and I’ve been trying to find a way to get the battery Whr numbers out of my phone.</p>
<p>I realize I haven’t responded to this thread in a while, but what kinds of things do you think I could end up doing with EE compared to CmpE? (I think I’ve written off CS at this point.) I realize EE is a rather broad field.</p>
<p>EE is an EXTREMELY broad field. If it involves electrons, magnets, or electromagnetic waves, EE’s do it. CompE’s work specifically with computers and their subsystems and (somewhat) with their networks, which is a subset of EE with a healthy chunk of CS. This does incidentally mean that EE’s can (theoretically) do any job that a CompE can do… but CompE’s have an edge that can be hard to overcome in their speciality.</p>
<p>One thing you might do is look at the EE department of your school(s) of interest and see what the professors are researching. That is generally the best indication of the technologies you can best pursue from that department.</p>