What to research while deciding on a major?

[Minhtran1092]

I'm in the process of settling on a major (either Comp. Sci. or EE) and here are some things I've considered:

A. Subject description & relevance on a personal level
I. Hobbies

B. Subject description & relevance as a career choice
I. Industries within the major
II. Trending/Developing technologies
III. Academic overlap (Math, Physics, Computer Science); (I love my math and science)
IV. Job descriptions (job postings that include required knowledge, education, soft/hard skills)
V. Job prospects, availability, environment, and pay

Am I missing anything?

 

[berkeman]

I'm in the process of settling on a major (either Comp. Sci. or EE) and here are some things I've considered:

A. Subject description & relevance on a personal level
I. Hobbies

B. Subject description & relevance as a career choice
I. Industries within the major
II. Trending/Developing technologies
III. Academic overlap (Math, Physics, Computer Science); (I love my math and science)
IV. Job descriptions (job postings that include required knowledge, education, soft/hard skills)
V. Job prospects, availability, environment, and pay

Am I missing anything?

How much programming have you done? What languages, and what applications?

What kind of electronics kits have you put together? Have you tried out combining the EE and CS areas by building up a circuit to work with a PIC or other uC, and then programmed the uC for some fun real-time application?

 

[thegreenlaser]

How much programming have you done? What languages, and what applications?

What kind of electronics kits have you put together? Have you tried out combining the EE and CS areas by building up a circuit to work with a PIC or other uC, and then programmed the uC for some fun real-time application?

This is a good question, but I just want to add that you shouldn't worry if the answer is "I haven't done any of that."

That seems like a decent list to me. Don't worry too much about your decision. You're actually pretty lucky in that you seem to have it narrowed down to some reasonably similar options. (Some people have NO idea what they want to do) If you pick EE and then after a year decide you made the wrong choice, you probably won't have much trouble switching at all. So by all means do your research and make the best choice you can, but don't worry too much if you feel like you can't get enough information to make a well-informed decision. It's very unlikely that you'll be stuck with whatever you pick (and it's also possible that you'll be just as happy in either field). I just say all that because I know it's easy to get really worried about choosing your major when you really don't need to be.

One thing I'm wondering is why you're only considering EE and CS. Computer engineering, for example, can be an interesting blend of the two. Software engineering is another one that's similar to the two, but it focuses on different aspects. Again, it probably doesn't matter *that* much, but if you're going to research your options, you might as well try to research them all.