<p>I am currently looking into colleges, but I have no idea where to start. The only thing I know so far is that I want to major in either computer science or software engineering. I'm not completely sure which is better to go into because software engineering is not offered at every college, but it seems like it would teach me more of the things I would need for a career in programming. I also don't know where to start looking college-wise, as when I try to look it up, all I get are top colleges that are hard to get into, and California colleges that are very expensive. What are some good colleges for my major(s) that are not way too expensive( meaning under $45k for the total cost a year). It would also be nice if the college has great connections or has a great city for internships in my career.</p>
<p>Does your school have the Naviance service? You can start with the College Match service in Naviance.</p>
<p>Well, if you’re okay with disclosing the info, what’s your GPA (unweighted or weighted), SAT/ACT score, and scores of any SAT subject tests? It’ll be easier to find schools that you’ll be able to get into.</p>
<p>In general, Carnegie Mellon, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Georgia Tech, and maybe University of Washington at St. Louis are good compsci/engineering schools (albeit Carnegie Mellon’s engineering program is extremely competitive.) You could also try Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Rochester Inst of Tech, Stevens Inst of Tech, Worcester Inst of Tech, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and University of Toronto.</p>
<p>You say CA schools are expensive. Are you OOS for those? What is your home state? Programming can be learned in Comp Sci or SW Eng. What are your grades and test scores?</p>
<p>Software engineering is not programming - before you choose, you need to understand the difference between the two. </p>
<p>As a general rule, software engineers don’t code, they design, then hand the task over to other software engineers for further design or to the programmers to implement the design. I’m sure you’ll find exceptions to that rule, but that’s the basics.</p>
<p>My GPA is 3.8 (weighted), I have not taken any of the placement tests yet (waiting for spring), My home state is Ohio, but I wouldn’t mind going to California as long as it is not like 60k a year like a lot of them are showing. Though, a college near the Midwest would be preferred. My school does have a Naviance service, but I’ve hardly used it so I don’t really know what to look for.</p>
<p>Also it seems that I might have mistaken my view on majors. What is the difference between Computer Science, Software Engineering, and which one is best for a programming career? From what I thought, Computer Science was more general, covering a bit from everything, while Software Engineering was more programming based, and required less hardware courses.</p>