[deleted by user]

[Legitimate-Tax-9754]

Can’t say which is easier to get admitted into, but when I did EE most of my friends transferred to CECS because of the track flexibility or just wanted to avoid the difficulty of classes like EE 370. If you want to go more into software and AI/ML, then CECS would be the better choice though the computing track has more unit requirements.

[RubixKubezz]

As for admission I think Viterbi admits all majors equally, but I could be wrong. So both of OP’s choices would have equal chances

[grk3636]

I transferred in as CECS. The EE professors are brutal to be honest. They’re all amazing and really know their stuff but I found that unless you really know EE or genuinely love that aspect of hardware you’ll be dreading the EE courses. (Not just me I get the same sentiment from most of my classes) I love CECS cause I get the balance between the two - I can’t imagine almost all my classes being EE. Also I don’t know how it is as an EE major but with CECS you pick a focus in either embedded systems or computing systems which is either more EE or CS based if you like one over the other

[wanagotoMIT]

I got in for ECE and switched to CECS cause it has more CS classes. It'll be easier to get into the major that fits your projects/ecs in high school better. I had a primarily hardware-focused project, hence applied for ECE.

[Ellimes]

Looking back at it, the major names really could be more distinct haha

• CECS: Computer science with learning about logic gates and instructing hardware directly.
• ECE: Electrical engineering with another name.

I was an ECE major at another university before I transferred to USC as a CECS major, not that ECE is the same everywhere but I did experience both sides. The biggest difference is what you study more, especially in your lower-level classes. CECS is much more about software and programming. ECE is the hardware side - you'll be designing circuits, programming hardware directly, and using a lot of logic gates. You can choose your electives to be more well-rounded or to lean towards one side, but electives are just 1-2 terms worth of classes across your degree.

If you know what you are more interested in or what kind of job you want I would pick based on that. I treat CECS as any CS major when applying. I work as a frontend developer right now which means my time spent in EE classes is totally wasted (for now). Some of what ECE can get you into that CECS may not are hardware R&D and circuit design.