<p>What's the difference between these majors?
EE: Electrical Engineering
CS: Computer Science
CE: Computer Engineering
ESE: Electrical Sciences and Engineering (only saw this in MIT)
ECE: Electrical and Computer Engineering
EECS: Electrical Engineering Computer Science</p>
<p>Suppose I go to a school that has ECE/EECS, then I go to a graduate school that separates those two majors. What will be the difference?
If I majored in EECS in undergrad, and go to Stanford for graduate school, does that mean I could get a double degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science?
Is electrical engineering just more on hardware than Computer science?</p>
<p>Electrical engineering deals with anything that utilizes electricity, from circuits in CPUs to electrical wirings in an aircraft to large-scale power grids. </p>
<p>Computer engineering deals with electrical components in computer hardware, although sometimes a computer engineer need to do some programming (although not as hardcore as real programmers).</p>
<p>As for computer science, it's not correct to say that it's purely programming, but a lot of it is done by CS majors.</p>
<p>then when a school offers EECS and another separates them, </p>
<p>is it possible to take EECS as undergrad and double major in EE and CS since the grad school separates them? How hard will that be?
Same with ECE=> EE and CE.</p>
<p>MIT offers ESC (Electrical Sciences and Engineering) and EECS (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)
Both has the "EE" part, what's the difference?</p>
<ul>
<li>EE (traditionally) primarily deals with electrical hardware of all kinds</li>
<li>CE deals with electrical hardware pertaining to computers and devices that may be embedded. CE also deals with the low level software needed to interface/control the hardware</li>
<li>ECE is a single major, you cannot seperate it. ECE has components from both more traditional EE programs and newer CE programs. </li>
<li>CS uses mathematical constructs to solve real world problems, most CS majors deal extensively with software side of things</li>
<li>EECS: not familiar. But for MIT's programs, go here: <a href="http://www.eecs.mit.edu/ug/brief-guide.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.eecs.mit.edu/ug/brief-guide.html</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Again, this is a grossly simplified view. These majors overlap in numerous areas. </p>
<p>But first, what interests you? That has the biggest impact on what major you choose.</p>
<p>I asked an EE professor about the EE and EECS differences during a visit to a college. He laughed and said there is little difference, only a couple of courses are different. He said that we can take electives that appeal to us in the senior year and thereby choose which degree (EE or EECS) we want in front of our names. That is all.</p>
<p>Well it's not really a double major. An ECE major TYPICALLY does not go as far into depth into EE topics as EE majors, or as far into depth into CE topics as CE majors. To further muddy the water, in most ECE programs you have some flexibility to choose your elective courses to lean toward either EE or CE direction. </p>
<p>In other words, just because your school only has EE majors, doesn't mean you can't take more CE courses as your electives, and vice versa. </p>
<p>My advice is, ignore all the labels, and look at what classes are actually offered at a particular school.</p>
<p>Computer Science & Engineering. A bit misleading I think, should probably read Compute Science & Computer Engineering. Basically has both CS and CE courses.</p>
<p>Another wrench in the gears that you may find is that some schools have the ECE or EECS department, through which they offer the EE, CpE, CS and ECE degrees. At my college, the ECE department awarded the EE and CpE degrees.</p>