doge89

Lets try to map out which paths in EE and CS are the more and less beaten ones. Anecdotal and concrete evidence (such as enrollment numbers, etc) are all welcome. From what I've gathered so far, looking at enrollment numbers in my department and from talking to people: taking into account both saturation and competitiveness I'd say it goes somewhat in this order: 1. ML / AI / Theory: Due to all the marketing it gets, buzzwords like data science and CS being popular in general. Attracts high volume of smart people in addition to all the wannabes. 2. Digital Signal Processing / Info Theory / Comms: I've heard its a fairly mature field where all the low hanging fruits are gone. Attracts brilliant math people who typically know what they're doing because its a make it or break it field. 3. Embedded / Networking / Distributed: CLOUD COMPUTING IOT IOT CLOUD THE CLOUD!!... did I mention CLOUD COMPUTING?!?! 4. HCI: Ditto, anecdotally speaking its very popular. People uninterested in theory or math tend to drift here. 5. IC Design / Circuits: Most EEs were introduced to EE through circuits after all. But hardware tends to be less popular. 6. Nanotechnology: Could be very niche, or have huge numbers of interested bioengineering people / demonic premeds? 7. Electromagnetics / Photonics: Most undergrads don't even know what photonics is, highly niche so = relatively low competition? 8. Microelectronics / Devices: In my department at least, solid state devices is easily the most hated class in the curriculum that everyone wants to get over with and forget. I need more information on these topics however: High Performance Parallel / Scientific Computing / Computational Science and Engineering Computer Architecture Optimization / Controls Remote Sensing NEMS / MEMS Inputs are appreciated! If this thread gets going, I'll have other things to add.