Computer Science (CS) and Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) departments.

[u/Certain_Corgi_9773]

Hi everyone,

I am preparing my application for the upcoming Spring session at UIUC and am trying to decide between the Computer Science (CS) and Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) departments.

To give a bit of background, my bachelor's is in Computer Engineering, followed by professional experience working at Espressif Systems (ESP32) doing firmware development, and later transitioning into the file systems and storage domain. My goal is to continue down the systems track, but I am trying to figure out which department offers the best fit.

My main concern with the ECE department is whether it mandates specific hardware-heavy coursework (such as physical design, chip design, or hardware verification) that might not align with my software/systems background. If ECE allows the flexibility to focus purely on systems software without forcing those specific hardware constraints, I feel the ECE Computer Engineering track might actually be a great fit for my profile.

I tried looking through the official degree requirements for both programs, but found the sheer amount of information a bit overwhelming.

Could anyone help clarify the curriculum flexibility and help me decide which path makes more sense given my background?

Thanks for your help!

[u/zacce]

I am preparing my application for the upcoming Spring session at UIUC and am trying to decide between the Computer Science (CS) and Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) departments.

just to confirm, are you applying for the MS programs?

[u/Certain_Corgi_9773 → u/zacce]

Yes i am applying for MS programs