<p>I have begun reading all the posts concerning CS/CE degrees and am still a bit confused. (this is for my son). He is very bright and has always been interested in computers from how they function - taking them apart, etc. to using them for music recording, film production, etc. He thinks he would like to major in some form of Computer Science/Engineering. He is not interested in an IT position for a company. He would like to pursue the music/computer angle say in a company that designs hardware/software for the music industry or in another creative way. He is good in math, but really doesn't want to "study" math in total - he is more hands on than theoretical. Any helpful ideas out there to help him make a decision as to what to major in? </p>
<p>Also any help with possible schools (grades are good, but not good enough for Stanford, et al)?
thanks!</p>
<p>EE has a lot of signal processing, which is sadly mostly math, but could be used in various filters and ways of optimizing audio compression and junk like that.</p>
<p>He could also do something like acoustical engineering, where you design things based around sound quality as a primary concern. One of my friends was a materials engineer and interned at Bose doing finite element modeling of sound waves within various kinds of materials and geometries, which might be on the edge of what your son's interested in.</p>
<p>If he's more hands on than theoretical, that seems to favor computer engineering/computer systems engineering over computer science. either route entails a good amount of math, usually at least up to multivariate calculus and may include discrete mathematics or real analysis.</p>
<p>Past the theoretical vs. hands on is physics. Engineering requires a lot of classes that deal heavily with physics. After taking 2 semesters of physics, you will see that a lot of the engineering courses are applied physics to engineering problems in such courses like statics, mechanics, electric circuits and such. If he's comfortable with physics, then I don't see why he would have much of a barrier in CSE/CE should he choose to enter that program.</p>
<p>I am also interested in computers and music. I plan on doing a double major in math and computer engineering and doing some research in the computer music lab at columbia.</p>