My son added USC to his common app list and USC supplement asks him to choose a major. He’s interested in Computer Science. However, there are 4 computer science programs in the Engineering school – Computer Science, Computer Science (games), Computer Engineering and science, and Computer Science and Business Administration.
Questions:
Best way to see specific differences is to look at major requirements for each one and the course descriptions in the course catalog. You can focus more on hardware (Computer Engineering), software (CS), designing games (Games), or combining business courses with CS (CSBA). For some, the CSBA is perfect, others students I know that started with that switched over to CS because it wasn’t strong enough in SW classes and it felt like a “CS lite” degree. Depends on what you want to do when you graduate, which most don’t really know until after they dig into the school and a major. He can decide which direction after he gets in, there is no issue switching among them if you are already in Viterbi. Getting in Viterbi is the hard part, USC admit rate is 16%, but we were told at admission event Viterbi is closer to 10%. All of those majors are equally difficult to get into, there isn’t one that is “better” to apply to in terms of getting in. However, engineering major has to be listed a 1st choice, Viterbi doesn’t consider students who list an engineering major as second choice, say after Marshall Business as a first choice. Good luck!