Many schools have alot of overlap anyway, see if it's possible to do both. Like someone else said, hold out on declaring a major right away, and see what you think (by talking to others in the program). Different programs at different schools can be quite a bit different.
You sound like you really like computers, so why try to limit yourself? See how easy it would be to do a double major in CE and CS. You will have to plan your courses a little more carefully so they are the ones that overlap (e.g., an extra electrodynamics class may count for CE but not for CS), but in general it will increase your graduation time by AT MOST one semester, and often you will still graduate in the same timeframe with proper planning. At UW-Madison, the difference is as little as 2 classes with proper planning.
Someone below had an accurate description - Computer Engineering seems to be the medium between EE and CS. It is inaccurate to say CE is "hardware" and CS is software - it is more accurate to say EE is hardware and CS is software, and CE is some of both. I wouldn't say any of the 3 are "harder" or more important, but I can tell you that you can get a job across different areas if you have exposure to both HW and SW. If you are more interested in SW, take more CSci classes as electives.
I advocate trying to do both because most programs have alot of flexibility and required BS classes - if you try a double-major for example, you may only have to take a couple more classes, and most of your electives will be computer classes instead of wasting your time. *To those liberal arts people - I can pick up any book I want about history and read it any day of the week. Sure, I can read about HW and SW, but I don't have access to the fancy expensive equipment. That's the only way I can fully justify the cost of college.*
Many of the responses are people who haven't finished their programs yet. As a recent graduate and participant in many interviews and job offers, I can tell you that if you have studied both hardware and software (regardless of your official major - e.g, you could be a CS major with some extra EE or CE classes), you WILL get offers from both sides, and they are very comparable in pay. But if you can get CE and CS, you will have all your bases covered. Plus, being able to interview with twice as many companies means twice as many free trips!
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Many schools have alot of overlap anyway, see if it's possible to do both. Like someone else said, hold out on declaring a major right away, and see what you think (by talking to others in the program). Different programs at different schools can be quite a bit different. You sound like you really like computers, so why try to limit yourself? See how easy it would be to do a double major in CE and CS. You will have to plan your courses a little more carefully so they are the ones that overlap (e.g., an extra electrodynamics class may count for CE but not for CS), but in general it will increase your graduation time by AT MOST one semester, and often you will still graduate in the same timeframe with proper planning. At UW-Madison, the difference is as little as 2 classes with proper planning. Someone below had an accurate description - Computer Engineering seems to be the medium between EE and CS. It is inaccurate to say CE is "hardware" and CS is software - it is more accurate to say EE is hardware and CS is software, and CE is some of both. I wouldn't say any of the 3 are "harder" or more important, but I can tell you that you can get a job across different areas if you have exposure to both HW and SW. If you are more interested in SW, take more CSci classes as electives. I advocate trying to do both because most programs have alot of flexibility and required BS classes - if you try a double-major for example, you may only have to take a couple more classes, and most of your electives will be computer classes instead of wasting your time. *To those liberal arts people - I can pick up any book I want about history and read it any day of the week. Sure, I can read about HW and SW, but I don't have access to the fancy expensive equipment. That's the only way I can fully justify the cost of college.* Many of the responses are people who haven't finished their programs yet. As a recent graduate and participant in many interviews and job offers, I can tell you that if you have studied both hardware and software (regardless of your official major - e.g, you could be a CS major with some extra EE or CE classes), you WILL get offers from both sides, and they are very comparable in pay. But if you can get CE and CS, you will have all your bases covered. Plus, being able to interview with twice as many companies means twice as many free trips!