I've encountered so many definitions of Computer Science and Software Engineering that I lost track. Every school seems to interpret the brief slightly differently.
Some school have Computer Science as a spin off of the mathematics department. You can graduate without writing a single line of code. As Knuth said in one of it's memos: "Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not tried it."[0]
Others have Computer Science as a spinoff of EE (MIT and Berkley are like that) where CS is the skills you need once the circuits are reliable enough you don't have to care too much for their implementation.
Lastly, I've seen "Software Engineering" courses at some places that are almost trade-school-esque discipline (beware of some masters degrees [1]) that's basically what would have been called data processing or IT/Information System.
Other places consider it double major in CS and Engineering where there's dedicated courses on software design. As a rule of thumb, if the OS class is about mutex and semaphore you are at the right spot. If there's group policy involved, look at transferring.
[0] http://staff.science.uva.nl/~peter/knuthnote.pdf [1] https://blog.alinelerner.com/how-different-is-a-b-s-in-compu...
At my institution, the Software Engineering students take the same courses as the Computer Science students. However, the SE program has less flexibility in electives, as nearly all of their electives have been replaced by mandatory engineering courses.
Though, I imagine it is difficult for universities. They're trying to be more theoretical and less practical than trade schools, despite the majority of undergrads do not continue to pursue more degrees. I imagine if universities shifted its focus to more applied sciences, it might be even harder to keep the number of applications for masters and phd programs up.
I doubt there will be any impact on MS/Phd applicants. The people who are interested in the fundamentals are usually interested from the start.
I fully support offering degrees that train you for the practical aspects of software engineering without wasting time on things you’re unlikely to ever use in that field. At the same time, one of these things is not like the other, you can’t call them the same.
those trades schools that popped up are good enough
While, I support trade schools for SE, they don't provide a "complete" education.
Higher education was always for elitists that had the privilege and time to pursue "complete" education. Everyone else just got a job, they went to trade school or had an apprenticeship or just less specialized work. A lot of that kind of work - briefly in history and into the present - required having a degree. Software engineering is not one of those.
So don't get it twisted. People that want to pursue a complete education because they are interested in the subject can keep going to academia. For everyone else, it is a waste of time, software engineering trade schools are cheaper, faster and good enough.