Transferring faculties

[Drahcir]

These questions are a bit broad, but this will probably be a couple of years of my life, so I want to make sure that I get things right.
I've been accepted at Waterloo for Computer Engineering. That was my second choice. My first choice was Computer Science. When I was choosing courses to apply to, I was 99% sure I would just go into Computer Science, because the chance of me getting into computer engineering was very slim anyways.
So now I have a dilemma.
Computer Science sounds like exactly what I want to do in the future, but I want to give Engineering a chance too.

Is it possible to transfer from Computer Engineering to Computer Science if I realize that I don't like it?
Do the two of them share any of the same courses? If so, what are they?
How does having one degree over the other affect my chances at a software company, at say, Google or Microsoft or something?
And lastly, if I wanted to do both, how long would that take me?

[Tony]

I've actually done something similar -- Mechatronics Engineering -> Computer Science transfer at UW. So to answer your questions:

- Yes, it's possible, but it's not trivial.
- Only a few of the courses have 1-to-1 mappings. Program advisers would know more. Most of the Math and all of the Electives are fairly straight-forward. The rest will likely fill the "non-math electives" slots that CS has. Now keep in mind that when transferring between faculties, only your 70+% credits (and all failures) transfer with you.
-- Side note: you need to be in good academic standing with your current major to transfer; additionally Honours CS (the only CS available) has a limit on the number of failed credits that you may carry on your transcript. Basically if you start failing CE, chances are that you will not be able to "drop to CS".
- As a Computer Engineer you can get into hardware, power management, etc. Google does quite a bit of stuff in that space. If you want to stick to software development instead, then either degree keeps that option open as well.
- There would be little point in having both of those as undergraduate degrees, but you could attempt to pursue grad studies in the other major.

[Drahcir]

If I wanted to say, transfer into Software Engineering from Computer Engineering, would that be less of a hassle, since they're both engineering?

For Software Engineering vs a Computer Science specialized in Software Engineering, the latter don't get the Iron Ring, right?

[Tony]

In some ways Computer Engineering to Software Engineering transfer would be less of a hassle. Staying in the same faculty is easier, and common courses are easier to keep. On the other hand because Engineering is rigorously structured, it's very difficult to play catchup if you try to start at any point that is not 1st year. At the same time 1st year is typically filled by the newly admitted high school students, and available space might be a concern.

So there are unique challenges in either transfer.

A specialization/option in SE does not grant you an Iron Ring.