I’m undecided whether i should major in ME or CS. My interests are in artificial intelligence and robotics. I do plan on going to graduate school and then get my PhD. What would be a better undergraduate degree ME or CS? Maybe a double degree? I will be attending Stevens Institute of Technology this coming fall.
Electrical engineering.
Don’t go for a double degree unless you can finish both of them in 4 years. Instead, get on with graduate school since that is your plan.
Computer science
I’m planning on doing the co-op program, so i’ll graduate in 5 years instead of 4. Maybe i should just get a BS in CompScience and a minor in mechatronics
If you are considering doing a co-op or other semester off of school, think of on-time graduation in terms of semesters. I.e. will you graduate in 8 semesters of school (not including the semester(s) off school doing a co-op)? Check your school to see if any key courses for your major’s prerequisite sequences are offered only once per year. If that is the case, then doing a co-op that causes you to miss the offering of such a course may cause you to need an extra semester due to setting you back a whole year in the prerequisite sequence.
I just answered something similar in another thread but I think it depends on what you are most interested in. Nowadays many fields require some programming knowledge (even the biosciences). My son’s freshman engineering class included basic programming. So you may still get a good foundation without majoring in it. Fwiw, my dh got two ME degrees-in graduate school, he focused on robotics and had to learn programming (this was back in the dark ages before classes) for that. He got a job at NASA after school working in telerobotics. He now works as a software engineer. Think of each step as building your way towards what you want. One decision will not define you.
@ucbalumnus
Stevens has a set schedule for student that are in the co-op program.There are 8 semesters of school and 6 co-op semesters.
@Pbrain
I was looking at the study plan for mechanical engineering and they do have one intro to programming class, but that’s it. Of course, i could always take more classes or get a minor in CompScience. I think i’m stressing myself out, because i’m trying to plan everything out. My goal is to either go to Carnegie Mellon, Stanford or MIT. Those are my top 3, so i wanted to have the best possible chance by starting to plan everything early. But I understand what you are saying and to just take it one step at the time.
I would take one step at a time. Don’t plan out everything just yet.
Re: #7
http://www.stevens.edu/sit/co-op/future-students/what-is.cfm indicates that Stevens students doing co-ops will have 7 semesters and 1 summer of school and 3 semesters and 3 summers of co-ops. Stevens actually has two summer sessions each summer, each of which is about half as long as a semester. Taking full loads (i.e. two courses in each summer session) means being able to take four courses during a summer, the same as a normal load for a regular semester.