CMU SCS acceptance rate is 7%
CMU ECE acceptance rate is 20+%?
How different (to future employer) would a ECE major with a CS minor be vs
a regular CS major?
Prob no difference and my guess is ece’s acceptance rate is lower than the engineering school rate and close to scs’s
(but im just an applicant so take this with a grain of salt)
Define “impressive”. To whom? For what?
An employer hiring an electrical/computer engineer would much prefer an ECE major with a CS minor to a CS major. An employer looking to hire a computer scientist would much prefer a CS major to an ECE major with a CS minor.
I spent 15+ years involved in recruiting, including at CMU. A minor was usually just an interesting side factoid.
I can promise that two different degrees with different plans of study from different colleges is not “no difference”.
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Both sound great.
Is there overlap with CS and ECE?
Yes, there’s certain amount of overlap. But as @RichInPitt pointed out, the two are geared towards different goals.
Here is the context:
Suppose you want to study CS (and work as a dev after graduation)
at CMU which is a top 3 CS program, however SCS acceptance rate is say 7%.
You can also go through the ECE track AND take enough CS courses as there is
as decent amount of overlap in the majors and take additional CS courses as electives
or as a minor.
ECE is in School of engineering … school of engineering acceptance rate is almost 4x that of SCS. So essentially you can “backdoor” into an equivalent of a CS degree from CMU.
As a employer (in quant finance) a ECE major with a CS minor from CMU looks as good a SCS major …
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I don’t believe you are allowed to minor in CS at CMU.
Also, CMU is aware of those trying to “backdoor”: Page not found! - College of Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University
“About one-third of our students are admitted to Engineering as “unrestricted,” meaning they can choose from any of the 5 traditional majors (Chemical, Civil and Environmental, Electrical and Computer, Mechanical, and Materials Science) without restriction. And two-thirds are admitted as “restricted,” meaning they have access to any of these traditional majors, excluding ECE.”
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Oh wow … “ALWAYS READ THE SMALL PRINT”
I think this only specifies whether a student who is admitted to the College of Engineering can declare a major in ECE, not whether or not s/he can minor in CS. CMU’s process to declare a CS minor does seem to be complicated and with restrictions, as described here:
https://csd.cmu.edu/guidelines-transfer-dual-degree-minor-and-additional-major-cs
yeah … another pathway would be … Industrial Engineering (OR) or even Math with a major in CS … but if CMU is making it that difficult, then it may just be a moot point …
There are a couple of things to consider. 1. Your major has to take precedence over any minor as you can’t graduate without the major being completed. If two classes conflict in timing and one is required for your major and the other is for a minor you have to take the major one. In engineering there are a lot of classes that are in a sequence so you can’t always skip around and try to pick them up later. CMU also tends to only offer a lot of classes after the intro ones just once a year. This also makes it difficult to juggle major courses to fit in minor ones. 2. The CS department is pretty clear in their policy on minors that those students are second priority over majors so you can find popular classes may be full or none of the open sections fit your schedule. These two make it challenging to get the minor. It can be done but requires compromise particularly on choice of minor classes and scheduling. if you are really trying to backdoor CS you really should just go CS somewhere else.
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Yup … that’s pretty much what I’ve concluded.
Not sure how legit this is but people on A2C Reddit often say that ECE is much harder to get accepted into than SCS… it’s odd how they don’t publish per-major acceptance rates but I’m really regretting applying as an ECE major when I just have a general interest in engineering and I’d be fine as an undecided student for now… worried that’ll bite me in the back come RD decisions.
who knows … good luck
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I literally major in ECE and minor in CS. what?
seems the idea was that getting into ECE was slightly easier than SCS … but it’s been disproved by the 2-tiered admission type into School of Engineering …
Good luck with your studies!
Hello, I came across your post and it appears you are quite knowledgeable about CMU. My daughter was recently accepted to CMU (ECE). We are deciding between CMU and Northeastern. CMU is about 9,000 more per year but that is not as much of a concern as the ECE vs. CS issue. My daughter THINKS she wants ECE for a major but may find CS is a better fit. Would the flexibility of another school (Northeastern) but better if she is not really able to get the same education as a CS major at CMU? It also appears very difficult to switch into that major at CMU. Another concern is the stress level and workload at the school. Will she be able to pursue other interests or are students primarily doing work for their classes? Any insight you may have would be helpful.
Hello, I came across your post and you are majoring in the same thing my daughter is hoping to pursue at CMU. My daughter was recently accepted to CMU (ECE). We are deciding between CMU and Northeastern. CMU is about 9,000 more per year but that is not as much of a concern as the ECE vs. CS issue. My daughter THINKS she wants ECE for a major but may find CS is a better fit. Do you feel that if someone felt CS was a better fit they would be able to gain enough experience/classes with a ECE major and CS minor? We are wondering, since she is not 100% sure about ECE if the flexibility of another school (Northeastern) but better for her? It also appears very difficult to switch into SCS at CMU. Another concern is the stress level and workload at the school. Will she be able to pursue other interests or are students primarily doing work for their classes? Does the prestige of CMU and possible additional stress outweigh the flexibility of Northeastern? Any insight you may have would be helpful.
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I won’t address the post title, since I don’t think “impressive” is any reason to pick a school…but I can say that ECE kids do very well at CMU for internships, etc, and there is a lot of overlap in the core CS courses with SCS (and math too). I don’t think it’d be hard to do a CS minor with an ECE major.
I would not worry about “all work/no play”…there is lots to do on and off campus, great clubs and activities, etc. There’s a top-rates drama and arts program, as well as a large business school, so plenty of other types of kids around. But taking advantage of those activities is kid-dependent, of course.
I will say, though, that any engineering program is necessarily less flexible than most non-eng programs. By design there are more required classes, structured per-reqs, etc - at any eng program at any school. CS is closer to math IMO, and generally will have more flexibility and fewer strict requirements …though many CS majors end up using that flex more more CS I imagine (but my math/CS kid is taking a music minor and loves the variety).
(I don’t know anything first hand about NE, however).
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Thanks so much for your feedback. Will share this with my daughter.