<p>Hi everyone,
I transferred to Cornell ECE as a soph. this semester, yet my major of choice was Comp Sci. (well it was Comp. Inf. Sys. to be exact) in my previous college. I am wondering if I should transfer to computer science from electrical and computer engineering. ECE seems to be much more 'hardware' oriented, while CS is obviously emphasizing programming. I might be able to get 10-15 awarded credits more from my previous work if I can get into CS but then again there is the idea of (though wrong it may be) "you can learn programming yourself but not engineering concepts"..</p>
<p>If that would make any difference, I am an international student, and will very likely to go to grad school after ugrad. I have not yet decided whether to pursue an academic career (e.g professorship) or get a job..
I will appreciate any advice and comments. Thanks a lot.
mmrnmhrm</p>
<p>many students double-major in both ece and cs. if you don't want to or can't, then pick whichever one you like most. 10-15 credits = 3-4 classes which you can easily make up by the time you graduate.</p>
<p>Thanks Shizz, for the quick reply.. I would like to double major but I do not know how many more credits I will have to take and what would be the compensation on the field (in the form of wage increase I mean). I don't take fin aid and pay for myself so longer the college deeper the pit I am in. I have searched internet for numbers, even approximate would have done, but to no success yet.</p>
<p>I am thinking of going to Phd after ugrad, and I do believe this would require quite good grades, right? Does anyone know what should I do to to get to Phd right after ugrad (without a master's that is)? Thanks a lot..</p>
<p>They changed the major's name from ELE to ECE while I was enrolled. Many engineering schools created "computer engineering" departments back in the 1990s when "computer" was the buzzword. This is confusing because "computer engineering" isn't that special; it's just one application of electrical engineering oriented toward CS. At Cornell they rolled the work "computer" into the EE major. Many of the computer engineering classes at Cornell are hybid courses created and jointly taught by the EE and CS departments (e.g. ECE 314). The general idea about ECE is:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>ECE covers everything from the electrical portion of Engineering Physics to pseudo Computer Science. The concentrations (ranging from theory/physics oriented to practical/hardware oriented) are:</p>
<ul>
<li>electromagnetics</li>
<li>signal and systems / communications / information theory</li>
<li>analog electronics / solid state physics / devices</li>
<li>power systems</li>
<li>digital systems / computer architecture</li>
</ul></li>
</ul>
<p>With the exception of digital systems / computer architecture most of the concentrations are different than CIS. I think of CIS as sort of an IT field, and I don't know if there is a direct comparisson at Cornell. That being said CS is probably more similar than ECE.</p>
<p>The most important things you can do to get a PhD are 1) figure out why you want the PhD 2) decide what you are interested in and 3) get involved in a project/research effort in the area you are interested in. Right now it doesn't sound like you know why you want the PhD or what to study in detail. That's ok for sophomores - just pick something that looks interesting and explore it a little more before proceeding to 3).</p>