Computer Science vs Software Engineering

[SciCompAdanac]

I know this question has probably been asked tons of times across the internet, but it is also bugging me as well. I have done some research and I know that Computer Science is more theoretical and Software Engineering is more applied. I plan on applying for the University of Waterloo, but I am not sure which of those two programs I should plan on doing.

I like the idea of Computer Science because you gain a lot of theory, which you won't gain as much in the actual industry, plus doing some co-op in computer science (what I plan on doing) gives you a lot of experience as well. With Software engineering, you take the exact same courses in computer science as the computer science students take, but you also take additional courses that electrical/computer engineering programs have. Software engineering programs give you the title of an engineer, which gives you a broader range of jobs to apply to. The con about Software Engineering that I am not sure of is whether I will get enough practice and to build my math skills for programming, and theoretical thinking.

I also heard that at Waterloo, if you complete an undergraduate in Software Engineering, you can do a Masters in Computer Science after, which to me sounds great because you get your engineering title, and you get lots of applied work, then you move onto more theoretical studies, I am still unsure of this and any advice or clarity on this specific matter would be greatly appreciated.

In terms of careers, I want to mainly work on large software projects, typically like what Autodesk does, but I also want to explore and get experience on simple mobile app development, some web development, game development and etc.

Thank you, any help is greatly appreciated.

[Tony]

It... doesn't really matter. Software Engineers take Computer Science classes, and if Computer Science students want those special SE classes, they could add an "option in SE" to their degree. We all end up in the same jobs anyway. I'm in CS -- just about all of the Engineers I know, I've met on co-op terms.

This question had been asked a lot here, just look around the forums for details.

[crossley7]

Both programs get you into similar jobs. Having the title of Engineer doesn't give you too many more opportunities.

Software has a large amount of math courses as well so don't be worried about that. If you want to look in depth at the courses that you need to take, you can go directly to the Waterloo Software Engineering site and Computer Science site. In general they are both fairly theory oriented, but the engineering is likely a bit more hands on. I'm not quite 100% sure about that.

Comp Sci students will take a few more Comp sci courses than software students and they are slightly different courses as well. The major thing to know about the 2 is that Software Engineering is very directed for you from 1st year all the way until 4th year with very few electives and not much room to accommodate other interests. CS allows more flexibility in the program and allows you to choose specifically which branch of CS you want to pursue beyond University whereas SE is directed purely at churning out people than can build any kind of software you can imagine.

Both programs will let you get into the general field it appears that you wish to head to, so you can just choose which you prefer. I just finished my Waterloo application myself and actually applied to both of those as 2 of my 3 since I am still undecided as to which I want to head into, but I am leaning slightly towards CS for the sole reason that I intend on pursuing a secondary interest in addition to CS.

Hope that clears things up for you a little bit. If not I can try to clarify anything you are unsure of (Writing this at 11 pm makes it hard to know whether it is understandable or not)

EDIT : Crap, Tony beat me to it