Which schools have good IT and Comp Eng. Programs?

[BChico]

Ok first of all, can someone please explain to me the major differences between IT and comp eng degrees. In one school i looked at, RPI, you can concentrate your IT degree in comp eng...i am confused. I would guess the comp eng is much more involved than the IT, ivolves more math and EE? Also what schools should i be looking at? Already looking: CMU, Syracuse, RPI, Yale, Cornell. Thanks in advance!

 

[riddelrp]

<COUGH>Mass inst of Tech [aka MIT]</COUGH>

darn cold

 

[nd]

hmm.. you seem a little confused. Please don't lump together &quot;IT&quot; and Computer Engineering. Computer Engineering is essentially combining Computer Science (programming/algorithmic theory/software design) and Electrical Engineering (computer aspect being hardware design). IT is sometimes used as term to describe all &quot;technology&quot; related fields, but usually it deals with sysadmin/networking. Two very different things.

 

[BChico]

Hmmm so why would they bunch a comp eng and it program together...

BTW: I would never go to MIT...

 

[ElFenix]

whats RPI?

the closest thing we have to IT degree here at UT is &quot;management information systems&quot; which teaches damn near nothing about computers, netowrking, coding, or anything useful. its for business majors who think they're computer guys. i joke that MIS stands for microsoft indentured servant. a friend of mine was an MIS/ECO major and said people in his class were amazed when he used a pointer.

 

[GoldenBear]

<< a friend of mine was an MIS/ECO major and said people in his class were amazed when he used a pointer. >>

A pointer? You mean in C++?

 

[ElFenix]

yeah, in c++

 

[GoldenBear]

Oh, and here are rankings:

MIS

 

[Homer_Simpson]

Comp. Eng is NOT lumping comp sci w/ EE...at least not at UT. I'm a computer engineer and i've only taken 2 classes that are programming and no other programming courses...actually, one of them didn't even seem like a programming class. Computer Eng. is pretty much the same field as EE. AT UT, it's ECE (electrical/computer engineering) and only until you get to your jr. year do you start taking like only 3 courses different from EE. Programming is pretty much not involved w/ ECE.

Homer

 

[frizzlefry]

Hey, Carnegie Mellon is ranked 2nd? Geez. I wonder how things would be for now if I went that route 5 years ago. I went to UCI for ICS major. I know the area and stuff. Got into Carnegie Mellon but didnt' really want to go there. Saw the campus and everything but there was something that I didn't like about it. Now that I'm not in school anymore nor going for a CS degree, I wonder if that would have been different if I went to Carnegie Mellon. hmmmm.... :frown:

 

[nd]

<< Comp. Eng is NOT lumping comp sci w/ EE...at least not at UT. I'm a computer engineer and i've only taken 2 classes that are programming and no other programming courses...actually, one of them didn't even seem like a programming class. Computer Eng. is pretty much the same field as EE. AT UT, it's ECE (electrical/computer engineering) and only until you get to your jr. year do you start taking like only 3 courses different from EE. Programming is pretty much not involved w/ ECE.
>>

Sorry, but you're also a little confused. Let me explain a little history. There have been Electrical Engineers for a long time. There have been programmers for a long time. Electrical Engineers have had the job of designing computer/digital hardware, and mostly specialized in it if that's what they did. Some of them can program proficiently. Device drivers and other low level (hardware intimate) code is usually written by Computer Science people. Again, these particular CS people tend to specialize in this sort of thing.

Computer Engineering is meant to close the gap between these things mostly. A Computer Engineer learns the fundamentals of Electrical Engineering, and the specialized EE-like classes for computers &amp; digital systems. A Computer Engineer also learns programming, focusing on more of the practical engineering aspects than the theory. They also learn the specialized CS-like classes for CMPE (DSP, Embedded systems, etc.).

At UW-Madison, we also prefix our classes with ECE (Electrical and Computer Engineering), but that doesn't mean it's the same thing as EE. ECE is the name of our department which hosts the EE and CMPE majors at the College of Engineering. CS (at our school) is part of the College of Letters &amp; Sciences, in the CS department. Just because you have only taken 2 programming classes doesn't mean Computer Engineering isn't programming intensive. I don't know how many credits you've taken, or if the curriculum is messed up at your school or not, so I can't really say.

Again, ECE is usually not the major, but a department at Universities. A Computer Engineer is expected to be just as proficient as a CS major as far as programming goes for all practical purposes. Of course, you won't be expected to be experienced in the same types of programming.. but programming nonetheless. Once you get closer to graduation, you are supposed to take &quot;special&quot; CMPE classes, many of which are programming intensive (check your catalogue, I don't think UT is all that different). It's true that you can go into Computer Engineering and not HAVE to do a ton of programming.. it just depends what you want to focus on.

 

[huypham]

hey man,

mit is a fine school, don't take it off your list. give it a try

huy

 

[BChico]

Thanks for the info nd.

RPI - Renselear Poly. Ins. (Check spelling on that, lol)

MIT is a great school, even though my sat scores wont cut it and i probably wouldnt fit in...

 

[Homer_Simpson]

nd:

Obviously, our ECE programs/cirriculums are different. For me, there is hardly any programming involved in computer engineer.
<<Just because you have only taken 2 programming classes doesn't mean Computer Engineering isn't programming intensive. I don't know how many credits you've taken, or if the curriculum is messed up at your school or not, so I can't really say.>>


Hey, let's not be an ass here ok? thanks. UT is one of the best engineering schools in the country.

I'm a jr. and I if i take anymore programming classes, it will be at most 1, but I doubt that I will even be taking anymore programming classes. For us, computer engineering is really close to EE except for a few classes like i said. Of course once you choose your technical area, you take more specific classes for that area.

<<It's true that you can go into Computer Engineering and not HAVE to do a ton of programming.. it just depends what you want to focus on>>

I agree with you on that.


Homer

 

[Bomberboy]

You could go to the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. Microsoft hires more graduate employees from Waterloo than any other University anywhere. Also, tuition, bording, books, etc. Ring up a total cost of around 8k CAD. Which Equals 5.3K US. Compared to 40k US..... I'll take it.

 

[SuperTool]

Cornell has excellent EE.
But that's just me

 

[JaiKnight]

Yeah, I cringe everytime I hear about the tuition fees in the states. I'm making just enough to cover tuition, books, and res with a bit left over. I don't know how you guys pay for it, you're either loaded or you take out huge loans

 

[frizzlefry]

<< Cornell has excellent EE.
But that's just me >>


It's not just you. They have a great EE program there. Sister went there, interned for Intel for a couple years, and before grad, was hired. Can't beat that! actually it's kidna suckin cuz the stock price is so low.

-edit-

Yeah we take huge loans.

 

[SuperTool]

Let's just say I got 5 offers from 5 interviews, and all your favorite CPU makers were represented
That was last year though. That kind of stuff doesn't happen anymore

 

[BChico]

My next question for you guys is how damn important are sat scores? I know most of you guys prob god super high scores... I am stuck at a 1220 and i dont know why...i got a 1390 on the psat, guess it was just luck... The thing is the grades dont match the sat score. I go to a pretty competitive high school and i had the highest yearly gpa (not all years) at 4.25 unweighted, out A+ is worth 4.33... I slacked 9-10 so my all years is like 3.75 or something, i am 12 because of that... I have alot of activities and i can get some damn nice recs. and i got a bunch of awards this year. I also got into the PA Gov. School for Info Tech. But after all this work will SAT scores hold me back?

 

[fitzhue]

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign certainly isn't bad. Number 4 in the country. I've visited their campus before and it is certainly impressive, especially the digital computer lab.

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/eng/coenps05.htm

 

[Handle]

<< I'm a computer engineer and i've only taken 2 classes that are programming and no other programming courses...actually, one of them didn't even seem like a programming class. >>


Hmmm... I guess different universities are different, but by the end of my second year in Computer Engineering, I will have taken 4 courses in programming (1 in the first year, 3 in the second... and I'm sure it goes up in the 3rd and 4th years). Even the electrical engineers will have taken 3 programming courses by the end of the second year.

 

[iamfried]

nd was pretty accurate. I am a CE major at UCSD (ranked 8th in the nation for public schools btw in CE). We do it slightly different though. You could be a CE major in the ECE dept like nd said, or, you could be a CE major in the CSE dept. The difference is, in the ECE dept. you are dealing more with hardware and in the CSE dept., you are dealing with software. (generally)
I personnaly hate it when I tell people that I am a CE major and later they refer to me as being a computer science major---completely different animal.

 

[Tank]

I also happen to be in the Computer Engineering program at UT and I agree with mr. Homer_Simpson. I'm a little farther along than he is, senior graduating in December, and I've taken every programming course offered for computer engineers. That total happens to be 5, of which only 2 actually teach programming itself. It is my opinion that the authors of the UT CompE program assume that engineers need to be taught the mechanics of programming only. CS majors recieve much more theory, algorithm analysis, exposure to different languages, etc. than ECE's do. The only real differences between EE and CompE at UT are that CompE's are required to take a C++ Data Structures class, EE's are required to take Automated Control, and EE's are required to take Matrices while CompE's are required to take Discrete Math... other than that, the choices are all in electives.

 

[BChico]

What kind of SAT scores do you guys have?