<p>I am a junior in high school that is extremely interested in the engineering field, specifically in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. While looking at different degrees in these fields, I have come upon different programs that schools over and was wondering what the difference was:</p>
<p>Electrical Engineering (EE) vs. Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) vs. Computer Science (CS) vs. Computer Engineering (CE) vs. Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE)??</p>
<p>EE includes design of such things as power systems, electronics, integrated circuits, control systems, signals and communications, robotics, etc…</p>
<p>CS includes design of computer software and hardware, as well as studying the theoretical foundations of computing (very math-like).</p>
<p>CE typically straddles EE and CS, covering EE-type topics like electronics and intergrated circuits and some CS-type topics like operating systems, compilers, and computer hardware.</p>
<p>EECS programs often allow the student to choose a subarea of concentration in any of the above areas.</p>
<p>But the details vary by school, so check each school’s web pages for details.</p>
<p>Schools organize these differently. At UT-Austin and CMU, for example, Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) is one major and CS is another (under a different college in both cases); around sophomore year, ECE splits into multiple tracks (EE and CE at UT-Austin, a bunch of different ones at CMU) that specialize in different things. At Berkeley, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS in the College of Engineering) is the same major going in but breaks up into Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) and Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) around halfway through, if I’m not mistaken; they also have a separate CS major under their college of Letters & Sciences.</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus gave a really solid general description of each category but keep in mind that this varies on a school-to-school basis depending on how the departments are organized. Check the class requirements.</p>
<p>The general rule is the CS is the most software-oriented, CE deals mostly with computer hardware, and EE is way broader and deals with electrical circuits and electronics in general. Depending on the job market you’re entering, EE and CE might offer different opportunities; for example, at the University of Houston and while touring Intel/HP nearby, I was told that employers don’t know what Computer Engineering means so Electrical Engineering is a safer degree (I don’t think that’s a highly valid statement, but Houston’s not exactly a computer hub so it might be true)- and electrical engineers get access to a much broader job market than computer engineers here.</p>
<p>Things also get messier when you include software engineering, which is a subset of CE/ECE. The only way to really know what these terms mean is to look at the required courses and talk around; maybe you can look at job data to see what different fields they lead into.</p>
<p>Software engineering, where it exists as a major in college, tends to resemble CS, but has more software engineering methodology courses, which can reduce the schedule space for advanced CS topics courses (some of which are included in software engineering majors). Generally, a CS major would be preferable (one software engineering or project course should be sufficient in terms of school work as a base for on-the-job self-education in the subject) in order to be able to take more advanced CS topics courses.</p>
<p>Wow. This information is extremely helpful! Thank you! I’m currently really interested in Berkeley’s EECS. Do any of you know the minimum GPA & acceptance rate for admission? </p>
<p>EECS acceptance rate, apocryphally, is hovering around 10% (I think it’s dipped below by now); I can’t find the applicant/admitted student profiles for EECS specifically (looking at Berkeley as a whole- 18% acceptance- will be pretty misleading since EECS is significantly tougher to get into). @ucbalumnus probably knows this way better than I do, and I think you should check out the Berkeley subforum to get better information in here.</p>
<p>Berkeley EECS is hypercompetitive to get into, though- they’re #3 for EE and #4 for CE undergrad, and tied with CMU/MIT/Stanford for #1 CS grad. I personally got waitlisted (and then rejected) with perfect stats, and they look heavily at demonstrated interest in CSE. L&S CS is significantly easier to get into (since L&S is technically undeclared) if you’re not sure about getting into EECS and doesn’t really differ much.</p>
<p>There’s a larger thread on the topic of Berkeley EECS that you might want to check out:</p>
<p>Something that was weird to us non-Cal folks was when we met Cal people and they said their major was “EECS”. I mean, I was a CS major originally in the EECS department of the engineering school at my university (they split in to ECE and CS midway while I was there; now they’re back together again–power struggles and all that), but nobody at my school ever said their major was “EECS”. It was always either CS or CE or EE.</p>
<p>Now I have to ask my Cal friend if he was EECS or L&S CS. :)</p>
<p>Anyway, I would say that CS has almost no hardware. Definitely math and theory, though.</p>
<p>Also, I see “Software Engineering” as more like the current version of IS or “IT management”. It seems like it’s IS + some coding, with virtually none of the math of a traditional CS curriculum (and sometimes not even what I consider the core courses of a CS curriculum: data structures, algorithms, and operating systems).</p>
<p>I will soon head into my junior year and my sophomore stats are a 3.73 GPA (this is my all-time low, I am totally capable of achieving a 4.0) and a weighted GPA of 4.3. I know what to do to achieve a 4.73 GPA next year (my max).</p>
<p>By the end of my senior year, I would have taken 18-19 APs/Honors courses. Do you think I have a shot of getting in? By the way, I am a successful member of my school’s Speech and Debate team and a devoted member in the Robotics Club (I have been doing robotics since the age of 6). I program mobile applications in my free time and some of them are on the Google Android market. </p>
<p>@robotics5000 That’s some pretty heavy course rigor right there. The University of California system has its own GPA-calculation system, btw, and it only lets you weight 4 or so AP courses (I’m not exactly sure). It’s basically sophomore and junior year only that go into the calculation; if freshman year’s what’s weighing you down, the UC system doesn’t care at all. And your GPA isn’t bad as it is, but if you’ve got it planned out- go ahead and max it out because the UC’s do look at stats pretty closely.</p>
<p>If you’re good at Speech and Debate (what event? If y’all do national circuit stuff, the Cal Invitational’s an awesome excuse to check out Berkeley’s campus because it’s three days long and rounds are 2+ hours apart) and have a demonstrated passion for Robotics, things shouldn’t be tough. Your profile makes you look like a pretty good fit for Berkeley EECS from the small sample of EECS friends I have, but someone who’s actually gone to UCB (cough cough @ucbalumnus) is probably way more qualified to tell you whether you’d fit into the EECS bunch. I definitely think you have a really solid shot, though; probably above-average chances due to demonstrated interest and excellence in some of the toughest ECs out there.</p>
<p>Thank you for the information! Yeah, I’m doing Public Forum Debate & I’ve stayed at the campus for about 6 days because of the Cal Invite! Fantastic campus…
Thanks for the reference! I should contact this member…</p>
<p>Yeah, thanks for the correction @ucbalumnus. I meant demonstrated interest in the field you’re going into. Everyone I know who got into EECS has done some serious programming/coding/hacking on the side. I’ve never seen Berkeley accused of yield protection. :)</p>