Hi All,
Can you please post your opinions on the following:
Computer Science vs Computer Engineering – what is a tougher course. are they equivalent degrees in terms of knowledge and jobs? Do students from both degrees go for similar jobs?
Can you please let me know a list of colleges/universities that have Computer Science in their Engineering department.
I found only one so far: UMich.
Yes, employers will take CS majors from a non-engineering dept. Some colleges with CS majors don’t even have engineering depts, and their grads get jobs.
McGill in Montreal has CS in college of engineering. https://www.mcgill.ca/undergraduate-admissions/computer-science-faculty-engineering
There’s a lot of overlap in computers. In fact, most graduates end up getting good IT jobs and never look at a math problem their entire career. Honestly, it really won’t make any difference. Just choose something that interests you.
You can use http://main.abet.org/aps/Accreditedprogramsearch.aspx to find computer science programs. There are 11 Abet-accredited “Computer Science and Engineering” programs. They are:
Bucknell University >
Lewisburg, PA, US
Massachusetts Institute of Technology >
Cambridge, MA, US
Santa Clara University >
Santa Clara, CA, US
The Ohio State University (Formerly The Ohio State University) >
Columbus, OH, US
The University of Toledo >
Toledo, OH, US
University of California, Berkeley >
Berkeley, CA, US
University of California, Davis >
Davis, CA, US
University of California, Irvine >
Irvine, CA, US
University of California, Los Angeles >
Los Angeles, CA, US
University of Connecticut >
Storrs, CT, US
University of Nevada, Reno >
Reno, NV, US
There are also 296 “Computer Science” programs, you can search by program or school and filter by state, too.
You’ll find a University of Michigan’s Computer Science program in this category “Computer Science”.
Michigan also has “Computer Engineering” there are 246 other “Computer Engineering” programs.
The ABET site lists many different programs with the word “Computer” so review it to get an overview of the differences as you learn more about what different schools offer. Search by school, program or state.
My daughter graduated from Penn State with a degree in computer science from the College of Engineering.
Purdue offers both CS in Engineering (Electrical and Computer Engineering) and CS in the College of Science. If you are interested in more technical areas, Purdue Polytechnic is also an option.
Seems like Purdue Polytechnic majors are often less technical, like computer technology (more like IT).
Son in law graduated from Notre Dame with a degree in CS from the College of Engineering. They also offer a degree in CE.
Case Western .https://engineering.case.edu/eecs/
Search for “computer science (inside eng.)”
Search for “computer science (outside eng.)”
Search for “computer engineering”
Some colleges have moved/elevated CS out of the engineering department and have their own separate “college of computing”.
Some career surveys of those graduating in non-engineering CS majors:
https://www.cmu.edu/career/documents/2017_one_pagers/scs/BS_SCS_One_Pager_2017_%20rev.1.18.pdf
https://career.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/Survey/2017CompSci.pdf
University of Alabama has CS in their College of Engineering
My son graduated from Univ of Denver with a BS in computer science from the School of Engineering. Univ of Hawaii offers a CS program in the engineering school, and one in a different school (arts and sciences? not sure…); my niece did the latter.
CS programs run by the engineering department are probably the norm these day, so it’s almost pointless to try to list them. Employers won’t care which department administers the degree.
Most programmers I worked with did not have a degree with the word “Computer” in it, although they almost all had some type of STEM degree.
I got my CS degree in 1983, and there were more classes in hardware than there are in today’s CS programs. For me at least, the hardware classes were more difficult (and boring) then the programming-oriented classes. I’m sure there were students who thought the hardware classes were easier and more interesting, though. Just depends on the student.
University of Minnesota, College of Science and Engineering
Computer Science is a relatively “new” department in most colleges. Where the CS department belongs to in a college generally shows the roots of the CS department in that college. It could come out of the math department or the engineering school. If it’s the former, it’s likely in the school of arts and sciences (or something similar), or in the engineering school if it’s the latter. Some CS departments are housed in both (e.g. Cornell, Columbia) or neither (e.g. CMU). Because of its origin, a CS department may lean more heavily one way or another (mathy vs engineering). Where the CS department is housed typically affects the curriculum outside of the CS core. In the engineering school, there’s likely an engineering core, and in the arts/science school, there tends to be more of a liberal arts core, but the CS core is similar regardless where the department is housed. It generally makes no difference where one gets his/her degree, except in some very specialized situations.
I don’t think it much matters. Carnegie Mellon’s computer science department was originally housed in engineering. They spun themselves off into a separate school because they wanted more autonomy. My older brother had to major in applied science because there was no CS degree yet - four years later when my younger brother was at the same school there was. They had the same courses and requirements for the most part.