<p>I'm a high school senior looking to go to college for engineering. I find the concepts of EE very interesting and I like the possible jobs it brings, but it seems that every school I look at it is almost identical to the CE programs.
I mean I love computers, and for a while I even considered CS as a major, but I don't like the idea of being too similar to a CE.
Could someone explain to me why EE and CE are so closely related in the course layout, even after sophomore year where the two split there only seems to be 1 or 2 classes that make it different, and I'm not sure if I like that.</p>
<p>EE and CS are very interrelated to the point that many schools merge the departments. However, there is continuum of topics within these fields. Some topics such as electromagnetics and semiconductor physics clearly are EE only. Some topics such as complexity theory are clearly CS. However, there is a broad place in the middle where things like digital design, embedded programming, and many other topics overlap both areas. </p>
<p>Don’t think of CE as a different discipline, think of it as a place on the spectrum that has aspects of both EE and CS.</p>
<p>They can be quite different at my school.</p>
<p>Looking at just the major “core”:</p>
<p>CE’s take 18 credits of their core that I will never take as a EE.
I will take 15 credits towards my core that CE’s don’t have to.</p>
<p>CE core classes that I will never get close to touching:
Computer Science II
Algorithms & Data Structures
Intro to Systems Software
Computer Architecture
Computer Systems Design
Digital Systems Laboratory</p>
<p>Looking at the big picture:</p>
<p>I just ran a degree audit for what I would need to get a CE degree in May. I can graduate in May with both my BS/MS in EE + a BS in Systems Engineering. It would take me an additional 45 credits to graduate with a CE degree. So my degrees hardly overlap.</p>
<p>To compare, it would only take me an additional 36 credits get a MechE degree, and 52 for ChemE.</p>
<p>Tl;dr: EE and CE can overlap if you choose to (ie for many EE’s at my school it would be far less than 45). But EE != CE for many.</p>
<p>The short answer is that EE and CE are similar because computers are built out of electric circuits so the physics behind them is not only similar, but identical. CE is basically EE tailored specifically towards computers and with some computer science stuff added in at the expense of several other things EE’s typically do.</p>