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Sorry if this is in the wrong place; I haven´t posted in SE Engineering before, and the site said that SEE is also for students.

I´m a High School senior and I´m debating between Computer Engineering and Computer Science. Can someone give me practical ¨real world¨ differences between the two? I think I´m more interested in embedded systems, VR, AI, and electronics than just software (though who really knows until I actually study it!) Especially virtual reality and AI because they´re such new, promising fields. If I want to work in those fields would either degree be more applicable?

Thanks for your input! I´d really appreciate some replies from outside sources or personal experience.

JKlemm
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    Welcome to Engineering! This looks like an [academic guidance question](http://meta.engineering.stackexchange.com/q/261/1832). Such questions often involve personal choice and can probably be better answered by an adviser or counselor. We do not believe this site's format is well-suited to such questions, which are therefore considered off-topic. This site is entirely open to students, but the questions should be objective and clear, such as how to solve a specific engineering problem. – Wasabi May 31 '16 at 19:59
  • Real quick answer: Computer engineering is about designing computers. Computer science is about using them. Long answer: Have a good talk with your guidance councellor *and* your favorite science teacher or two. This is what guidance councellors are supposed to be for, but sometime they aren't so go on distinctions between technical fields. – Olin Lathrop May 31 '16 at 20:47
  • The question in the title is answerable (i.e. what is the difference?), the question in the body of your text is more option based (i.e. what should I pick?). – hazzey May 31 '16 at 20:50
  • The difference is the same as between most other aspects of "science" and "engineering". In "science" the motivation is to understand something, as an end in itself. In "engineering" the motivation is to make something useful in the real world. In the real-world computer industry, "computer scientists" are notorious for being incapable of writing a 10-line program that actually works - even though they know 57 different ways to improve the programming language that they can't actually use! – alephzero May 31 '16 at 21:37
  • Computer science is the application of mathematics to the theory of computation and computability. Computer science does not strictly require the use of computers nor programming languages. Computer engineering is design and construction of practical electronic components and devices which will be used for computation. To add one more, software engineering is the application of computer science (and probably other domain-specific knowledge) to the design and construction of practical software applications. – do-the-thing-please May 31 '16 at 23:20
  • You could probably do what you are interested in with any degree from electrical or computer engineering, or computer science (with emphasis on software engineering and practical applications), or even mathematics or physics if you look in the right places and focus on computation and practical applications. You would just approach problems with a different mindset. Talk to an advisor at your school, or find someone to job shadow. – do-the-thing-please May 31 '16 at 23:22
  • @JKlemm, I suggest that you rephrase the body of question to "what is the difference between a college CE vs CS program.?" and follow up with "I want to concentrate on x-topic, y-topic, and what is a best method to evaluate college programs the meets my criteria. Also request to reopen the question – Mahendra Gunawardena Jun 01 '16 at 11:03

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Computer Engineering tend to go more deeper into Electrical engineering topics such as electronics, transistors, micro processor design, embedded systems as well as some computer programming topic. Labs tend to be more hands on working with electronic components, as well as using electronic measurement instruments such as oscilloscopes and logic analyzers

Computer Science programs tend go deeper into topic such as programming languages, database design, object oriented programming and so forth. The exposure to electronics are much lighter in a computer science programs. Labs tend to mostly focused on writing software programs.

I suggest that you look at computer engineering and computer science curriculum from different universities. This is should help you get better understanding of the differences between programs.

Here are the undergraduate curriculum requirement for Computer Engineering and Computer science at University of Illinois. I suggest that you do side by side comparison between a both the programs.

If you are more interested in Embedded Systems, I suggest that you follow a Computer Engineering program. I also suggest following some of the free online course. These will give you better first hand experiences on what is best for you.

Good luck

706Astor
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