<p>I got accepted in GA tech(Undecided Engineering major) and in CMU (CIT-ECE). So, I'm trying to figure out which would be the better engineering school for EE. I know that georgia tech is regarded as the better overall engineering school, but I dont really know how it compares with CMU's ECE department.
Any thoughts? Also, how does the UNDECIDED engineering major work at GA tech. Do you get to choose your major or do they give you whatever is left? If you get to choose the major, do you get to declare your major at the time you choose to enroll, or do you have to wait for a couple years?</p>
<p>Georgia Tech has no quotas, so you always get to choose your major. The first time you change majors, it’s completely free (you can change into any major without the need for any sort of approval). Every time you change majors after that first time (or after 60 hours), you need approval from the school to let you into their program (which is automatic, as long as your GPA is decent).</p>
<p>You can stay undecided for at least a year (I believe it’s actually two) before declaring a major. However, you’ll want to declare a major after your first year. There are enough general Freshman courses that you can take (that apply to any engineering major) to keep you busy for two semesters, but after that, you need to start taking major courses.</p>
<p>CMU requires all incoming freshmen in the school of engineering be undecided until about 3/4 of the way through their freshman year. Your first year you’re required to take two intro engineering courses (choices are Civil, ChemE, ECE, MechE, Materials, Biomedical, and Engineering & Public Policy, though the last two are only offered as double majors). You’re free to change majors any time you want as long as you’re admitted into CIT with no restrictions. If you’re admitted without getting into the ECE department, then you’ll have to show you can do well at CMU before transferring in. Transferring out of CIT into one of the other colleges at CMU isn’t difficult unless you’re trying to go to SCS (and possibly Tepper now that it’s become so popular).</p>
<p>Anyway, I think CMU gets a little hosed in the ratings since they have a combined Electrical & Computer Engineering department, while many other schools have just a straight EE degree which is a bit easier to rank. Also, as an ECE major I don’t believe you have to declare your track of CE or EE until your junior year, so if it turns out you want to work more on the programming side of EE then it’s always available to you.</p>
<p>Anyway, most of my friends at CMU were ECE majors and really enjoyed their time there. They got to do a bunch of really neat labs and projects. I remember my one roommate building a filter to remove an echo which he had to test by going into the stairwell of our building and shouting a lot. Another time he built a joystick and wrote a computer game and all the stuff in between for a class.</p>
<p>Aight then. Maybe it’s since most people wind up doing CE stuff then. I think of my 10+ friends my year in ECE only one of them were doing EE (and he went on to med school).</p>
<p>Anyway, I’d say make the choice based on how you feel you’d fit in at each of the schools.</p>
<p>I agree. You’re really splitting hairs when you compare the #6 and #7 schools. As long as you’re not taking a huge drop in rankings (like going from #6 to #26), you’re not getting a significant different in quality. Other than MIT and Stanford, the rest of the top 10 is going to put you in about the same position.</p>
<p>At that point, non-academic factors should play a more significant role (and Pittsburgh and Atlanta are very different places, so it’s not like you’re comparing Stanford and Berkeley).</p>