Best uni for Computer Science

[Jeros]

At the moment I am planning on doing a Access to science course at York college and if I do well I should be able to get a place at York Uni.

I don’t have any A levels, then again that’s what the access course is for, to get into York Uni I need to finish it with 3 Mathematics modules grade AAA, 3 physics modules AAA, and two more of my choosing at BB, and they will be at A Level standard.

But I have been doing some digging I now see that after that course I could very well be able to gain entry to other top Unis like kings college (!). According the guardian (heh) York is ranked third for comp sci, but I will no doubt be applying to the top ten or so when I finish the access course.

What dear posters is, in your opinion, the best uni for computer science? or where have you heard good things from?

 

[Oafsipha]

I know this is probably advise you have heard and you are probably annoyed to hear it but it's essential.

It's what you think is best, it's what is best for you, employers don't tend to see what university you have been to, aslong as you get a PhD or whatever that's all that matters.

I am sure you will get better advise.

 

[Chronictank]

talk to your UCAS advisor or local advice center, seriously they are far more informed than anyone here will be

 

[Huntingtons]

lies, i know more about the english education system than any other guidance councilar would ever learn!

 

[DocWolfe]

Newcastle I needed 3 Bs... and they do a maths foundation course for those who didn't do a-lev maths.

Was a pretty good uni for CS tbh.

 

[Aiteal]

uni shmuni

I took a somewhat unconventional route into software engineering
Did biochemistry at uni
dropped out after 2 years
lived in a shithole house with 4 mates, off my tits on weed, mushrooms ketamine etc for 5 years whilst working in a bar
great days

got an ultimatum from the then girlfriend to "sort my life out"
so I got a really badly paid job writing data loading applications for a software house
stuck it out for a few years, all the while teaching myself new programming languages/tools

and now 8 years later I consistantly get promoted over work colleagues with masters degrees etc
for the simple reason that I have more hands on experience
so I recently got promoted to the rather wanky position of technical architect, with half a dozen software engineers with letters after their names doing what I say

basically the moral of the tale is

when you pick a uni, go for one that offers as much "real world" experience as possible
the saving grace (in my eyes) of the software industry is that it is as close as you will get to a genuine meritocracy
it's the mongol empire of the modern world

don't judge a uni by it's pass rate, or what the guardian education supplement says about it, but rather by things like the placement year they offer, and which companies recruit for that placement year

look carefully at the actual syllabus and see how the modules they offer relate to the jobs you see on offer in the recruitment section.
if you have friends who work in computers, ask their opinion of the syllabus
they will soon set you straight on what's a load of crap you will never use in a real job, and what will let you hit the ground running when you start working

going to a "highly rated" uni and graduating after 3 years with no work placement and 3 years experience in little used languages or technologies won't give you the best start in IT

my youngest brother spent the first two years of a computers degree learning 4 different programming languages none of them to the standard that he learnt java in his BTEC HND, it was the actual hands on knowledge of java and sql he aquired in his HND that landed him a good work placement this coming september

so whilst his classmates (who did A levels instead of a HND) are still trying to find work placements for the year that don't involve 12 months of testing someone elses code or answering support questions by phone, he will have 12 months experience of working on a live application with a web front end and an oracle backend.

in case I havent droned on about it enough, i'll say it again
pick a uni where the degree is as hands on and relevant as possible

that's the best advice I can offer

 

[Aoami]

Reading or Southampton

 

[kirennia]

Doing a computer programming degree at plymouth at the moment so that's really all I can reflect for you. Very good resources, good lecturers and generally a very good nightlife as long as you go to the right places.

There is an access course for it through which many of my course friends applied through and so far it has taught me an incredible amount, so long as I was willing to put the effort in.

8/10 in general as a course if you're into that sort of thing.

 

[Tilda]

Everybody knows Southampton rocks.

Fucking huge department, throwing money at students, top lecturers and plenty of opportunity for post-grad research.

 

[Succi]

Yeh southampton computer suites rock when they arent burning down






seriously it isnt gonna matter, at the end of the day its the individual that counts as long as you get into a 'respectable' uni