It depends on the university - at some of them Computer Science is not even in the engineering college, so Computer Engineering could be a lot different.
ok. Thank you
You will have some overlapping between Computer Science and Math or Compute Science and Computer Engineering.
I was looking at USC and the had it labeled as CSE (computer science/engineering). What does that mean?
Does that mean that to do computer engineering i would have to go the path of computer science? If computer science and computer engineering are different things then why would they be put under the same subsection. i get that they are very similar but wouldn’t there be a line of distinction that makes them separate subsections?
That means both. You can do both hardware and software for CSE major. USC also has BS in CS which is pure Computer Science.
Think of the USC program as a double major in CS and CmpE. A few other schools also offer that, such as Santa Clara.
USC also offers separate degrees in each field.
I checked the USC website and it’s not a double major.
That’s right, it’s not a double major. My suggestion was to think of it as a double major, because it is a combination of two more traditional majors.
http://www.phrasemix.com/phrases/think-of-something-as-something
Some schools do not allowed double majors that are so close. I mean what do really gain?
But Brown’s undergraduate population is almost twice the size of Rice’s so per capita the student-faculty ratio (based on overall undergrad size, not the # of student majors in the Dept) is better at Rice. And the Engineering Programs at Rice are, IMO stronger than Brown, with strong internship and employment opportunities. But both schools are great.
@wshs1575 - I like that fact that you are not just asking for rankings, but asking why. An inquisitive, questioning mind is important for success in engineering.
It is also very astute of you to be wary of on line rankings, particularly US News’ ranking of engineering programs. One of the US News rankings is for Phd Programs (not undergrad) and both are simple polls of people in academia. Since people in academia tend to have different evaluation criteria than people in industry, and they hire an extremely small percentage of graduating engineers, their opinions may or may not be relevant to your situation. They also all have Phd’s and all have a vested interest in the outcome of the poll. If everyone were to include a vote for their own school(s) in their tally, then you could see how easily it would devolve into a simple ranking of the size of the school’s Phd program, which is not particularly useful.
Actually, Engineering is considered one of the top programs at Tufts. What tends to cause confusion is that until recently it was a predominantly undergrad, “teaching focused”, program (with very little research) embedded in a school that is classified as a “Research University” (and therefore ranked based on research output).
One of Tufts’ key areas of research though, happens to be K-16 Engineering Education. Since the 1990’s (when the Dean of Engineering was an expert in Engineering Education) Tufts has been on the leading edge of undergrad Engineering curriculum reform. As a result, Tufts has a net zero attrition rate out of Engineering (the national average is 40% attrition) and Engineering undergrads have a 99% four-year graduation rate (which is very high even by Liberal Arts College standards). In the last decade, (under a new Dean from Michigan) research output has tripled, while maintaining a focus on undergrad teaching. This fall, a new Dean (from Northwestern) will take over, but it appears that he will continue on a track as the last.
In general, some of the larger, more widely known programs are just starting to tackle undergraduate curriculum reform, and as any student of physics knows, changing direction is a lot harder when you have lots of mass. Here is an excerpt from an article on University of Michigan.
http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/86757/Sick5.pdf?sequence=1
@WSHS1575 if you were not lucky enough to attend a high school with strong advanced math and science courses (as is the case with some Questbridge students), then Tufts has a program designed to help you be successful in obtaining an engineering degree.