Hi. I'm a student trying to learn more about the industry and gameplay programming. While pursuing my degree I've created several games for PC (pretty simple games like shoot the target to activate moving platforms to reach the end of the level). What I want to know is how similar developing for a console is to developing for a PC. Like when you go from developing from saying Unreal 4 games on PC to developing Unreal 4 games on console, is it basically the same, or is it like having to learn a new game engine?

If you're using a regular game engine like Unreal or better Unity, it is quite the same for both, PC and Console development. The difference appears in hardware limitations when writing shader code, using special asset compression (especially for lower spec'ed consoles like handhelds). However, major difference is the controlling, you need to have two layouts for your game, one for the PC and one for the target platform you whish to develop for; let's say Playstation4 controller setup.

Input is different from system to system, while you have a varity of gamepads and controllers on PC as same as keyboard and mouse, you have just a limited set of them on a console but they may differe from what you have on PC. Like Playstation's touch-pad or the movement controlls

If you've made your game in Unity or Unreal and designed it to work with a gamepad on PC, it can potentially work directly on game consoles with minimal changes. I've worked on a few ports where nearly everything worked out of the box because the PC version focused on xbox controllers.

If you've built it around using the mouse, your user interfaces may need a complete overhaul. If that is deeply embedded in your game systems, those will require work as well.