UM seems to have Computer Science departments in Engineering as well as LSA. What’s the difference?
And is one easier to get accepted into than the other?
The similarities:
The actual major will be similar. CS majors in LSA and the CoE take the same CS courses taught by the same faculty in the same classrooms.
Tech employers visiting campus recruit both LSA and CoE CS majors without prejudice. CS majors in LSA and CoE have equal access to CS related campus recruiting activities.
The differences:
LSA and Engineering have different requirements for graduation. Your core and elective classes will be different.
Getting into LSA is easier than getting into the CoE if you are not scientifically inclined. Successful CoE applicants typically take advanced Math, Physics and Chemistry classes and ace them. So unless one has straight As and 5s in AP Calculus BC, AP Physics C and AP Chemistry with an SAT Math in the 730-800 range, I would not recommend applying to the CoE.
You don’t need a foreign language in engineering. You do in LS&A. Otherwise they are essentially the same program.
That is exactly correct KneeDeepClunge. LSA expects their applicants’ essay to be slightly more nuanced when describing their intellectual interests and how they intend to pursue them at Michigan. The community essay will also play a larger role with LSA (and even more so with Ross), but not as much with the CoE. That is not to say that the CoE does not care for the essays, but they will focus a little more on the applicant’s academic performance in the quantitative subjects.
There is no separate departments for CS-LSA and CS-ENG - they both are taught and advised by the same EECS faculty.
The only difference is basically what your non-CS requirements are going to be. CSE requires the math/physics that all engineering students need to take. CS-LSA requires you to fulfill he distribution and language requirements.