Hi everyone,
I was accepted to both SAS and SOE, and my intended major will either be ECE or CS. A little about myself is that I have taken a lot of CS courses at my school (5 on AP Exam) and I have also taken AP science and math courses (Calc BC/Physics C). However, I am having trouble on deciding which school to attend, I am aware that it is easy to drop from ECE to CS if I don’t like it, but I would like some advice on what to choose. Thanks!
You can definitely drop from ECE to CS. You can also double major in ECE and CS. But fundamentally, it comes down to what you have a passion for.
Ask yourself the following questions…
Are you the type of person who loves to take electronics apart, tinker around to see how the inner circuits work and then reassemble them? That means you have a passion for ECE.
Are you the type of person who loves to code, always has ideas for new computer apps, loves to try designing software, and/or hacks around now and then? That means you have a passion for CS.
Do both of these descriptions sound like you? That means you have a passion for both ECE and CS.
Do neither of these descriptions sound like you? If so, you need to ask yourself why you’re thinking about doing ECE/CS in the first place.
Since you are having trouble deciding between the two I will take it as you like both equally. Take my experience with a grain of salt by checking for yourself but here’s what I’ve been going through:
My son is majoring in Computer and Systems Engineering (similar to your ECE). He is looking for an internship for this summer and on every job website, or internship service search, you can plug in computer engineering internship and you will find hundreds of jobs available for computer programming. When you plug in Computer Science Internship instead you get all the results with the description of computer programming.
In short, there were no internships available for a job description solely for computer engineers. All results in both cases were for people who could handle computer programming. Now here’s the thing, in his major CSysE he is able to do some programming so he’ll be able to find something. But for those who major in CS directly, the opportunities and qualifications are GREATER.
Check for yourself right now, go to indeed or monster websites and try each of the majors and see how all of them require programming. Although you might get seen for an interview (and you might pass it), you have more opportunites with a CS major that has a wider scope in the field.
TLDR; unless there is a specialized field of computer engineering you want to enter (like embedded chip design), do Computer Science because there are way more job opportunities available to you.
I asked my dad’s opinion since he graduated from Rutgers with CS and EE under the BA/BS 5 year dual degree program. Since he has worked all his life initially in application development and then as IT managers in various wall street firms, he never used any of Elec Engineering skills in real life. Having said that, it depends on each person. CS majors definitely opens up lot more doors in pharma, financial industry, software companies and consulting firms compared to EE major. Also EE or any other engineering majors require lot more required courses and less electives than CS major.