Computer Engineering vs Computer Science

[Ithryndil]

I have recently decided to pursue a career in either two fields. I am having difficulty choosing which degree / field I should go into. I would like to be a software engineer and will be going to the University of Arizona. Here's a link to their computer engineering page with a four year outline.

http://www.ece.arizona.edu/prospective-undergrads.php"

Here's a link to their computer science page with their requirements for the degree:

http://www.cs.arizona.edu/undergrad/admission.html"

I have decided to go into this field as opposed to either physics or astronomy because I feel it suits my interests better. As I said, I am not sure which route to pursue as both sound interesting. Thanks for any advice!

 

[snits]

Well if you are wanting to do software, Comp Sci would probably be the path to take. It doesn't look like the Engineering school has a software engineering program. Computer Engineering will deal with the design of hardware.

 

[Ithryndil]

Thanks. It seems many people say to go into Computer Engineering if you want to deal with both hardware and software, which I do, however, the Computer Engineering school seems to lack extensive computer programming courses that would be necessary for a software engineering degree.

 

[snits]

You do get 12 hours of electives in the senior year of the CE track, plus it looks like part of the track involves some discrete structures courses, and a algorithms course.

The Comp Sci department doesn't appear to specialize in Software Engineering either. It looks like they do have one course, but that is it.

Perhaps you can contact both departments and get a better feel for which path would suit you best.

 

[Ithryndil]

Eventually I will need to. It looks like with the computer science degree the courses add up to a max of 91 credit hours...meaning I would have about 30 credits to spend on a minor, such as computer engineering (however, I was hoping to minor in something different).