What makes Imperial the best if not, one of the best for CS?

I always hear that Imperial is one of the best Universities in the UK for CS, if not the best.

There entry requirements is the highest in the UK I think A*AA for 2012 entry. I read on here that they even require a Merit in AEA maths or Grade 2 in STEP I if you take it.

Also, there CS postgraduate courses is the most expensive in the Country, 7k, compared to 5.4k for CS postgraduate courses at Southampton. Correct me, if I am wrong.

I am interested to know, what makes CS at Imperial so great, is it the teaching? lab facilities? course content? lecturers?

I would be interested to hear from Imperial CS students.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 1

roblee

The high selection requirements play a part in their own right. While not perfect, asking for A*A*A weeds out people like me who would struggle with an academically rigorous course. This allows lecturers to work with a higher GCD of ability.

They also seem to cover more maths than most places except Oxbridge, which contributes to their reputation for graduating investment bankers. A bunch of extracurricular student socs for making games, robots, and mobile applications also give real programming experience without bogging down the pure parts of the course.

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Reply 2

GuyUK

Original post by roblee

Hi there,

I notice, on your profile, that you went to Bath

Did you do CS there?

Reply 3

roblee

Original post by GuyUK

Hi there,

I notice, on your profile, that you went to Bath

Did you do CS there?

Yes.

Reply 4

GuyUK

How would you rate CS at Bath compared to Imperial? Do you think CS at Bath is on the same level, higher or lower then Imperial? How would you rate CS at Bath?

I think you are underestimating yourself when you wrote that you would struggle with CS at Imperial, as you got into Bath for CS, so you must of got an A or B in A level maths. Also, CS at Bath has a high entry requirements, so the course must be a similar difficulty and workload compared to CS at Imperial?

If someone had met the offer requirements for CS at Imperial and Bath, which University would you recommend they go to?

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 5

roblee

Original post by GuyUK

It was a joke. I applied to Imperial and received an offer, then missed that offer and picked Bath in clearing. My preference is for Imperial for the reasons I outlined above, ie.

•

the large number of societies;

•

the difficulty for people with no idea what they're doing to get accepted to the course;

•

the stronger focus on Maths as opposed to Business

If you have any questions specifically about compsci at Bath (or what an industry-oriented CS degree is like), I'll gladly answer them.

Reply 6

Linke

Original post by roblee

It was a joke. I applied to Imperial and received an offer, then missed that offer and picked Bath in clearing. My preference is for Imperial for the reasons I outlined above, ie.

•

the large number of societies;

•

the difficulty for people with no idea what they're doing to get accepted to the course;

•

the stronger focus on Maths as opposed to Business

If you have any questions specifically about compsci at Bath (or what an industry-oriented CS degree is like), I'll gladly answer them.

Did you still finish your course at Bath? What do you do now?

Reply 7

MartinMorrison

I think there is a huge campus/environment difference between Bath and Imperial that you should take into consideration. It's not just London vs Bath. Also remember that Imperial has a very strong engineering focus as a university as a whole, whereas Bath is a lot more diverse. I think Imperial has a tiny Humanities department and courses on offer but please correct me if I'm wrong. This may be a problem if you watch to switch. I have a friend who left Imperial because he absolutely hated that totally engineering focus - he did quite well marks wise though.

I know for CS Bath would not accept an application from me so late (I applied in August), but Glasgow/Edinburgh/Manchester would. Bath just said they were already full. I didn't apply to Imperial for CS because I hated the campus and I didn't really see the reason why it was so much more expensive. I know someone doing CS who went on exchange to Caltech and there were Imperial CS exchange students there - it was commented that the Imperial CS students had a much stronger math background and had less trouble with that aspect of Caltech modules which I imagine is very true. I am sure it would have one of the strongest maths components of CS in the UK - which may be a problem for some people.

I personally would choose Bath over Imperial. I think they are two very different universities, not just in terms of CS, but in terms of rigidity, location and overall focus of the university. I know Imperial is ranked highly, but I know it would definitely not be for me!

Reply 8

GuyUK

Original post by MartinMorrison

What's the campus at Imperial like? Is it just loads of buildings?

Accommodation is very expensive at Imperial, for undergraduate, the cheapest 39 week rent is £99.56/week(20 minutes walk to campus), 2nd, 3rd and 4th year would proberly costs £150/week including bills and for postgraduate, the cheapest I can find is £179.90/week.
For Bath, for undergraduate, the cheapest 39 week rent is £85(5 minutes walk to campus), 2nd,3rd, and 4th year would proberly costs £100 including bills and for postgraduate, the cheapest is £88/week.

The benefit for doing UG at Imperial, is that you get to do a 6 months placements on a MEng course, total of 4 years. While at Bath, it takes an extra year, so, you do a 12 months placements on a MComp course, total of 5 years.

In my opinion, you would earn more money by the time you are 23 if you went to Imperial instead of Bath, providing you worked for a year after you graduate from Imperial at 22.

But, I think if you decided to go to Imperial, accommodation is so expensive that if you live in halls and private accommodation for 4 years at Imperial, you would have more money by the time your 23, if you went to Bath.

The difficulties is deciding if Bath CS is as good as Imperial CS? As I think Bath CS has increased its entry requirements. I think they use to require AAB with B in A level maths, while at Imperial, it use to require AAB with an A in A level maths. Imperial has a higher entry requirements overall and in A level maths then Bath.

I am leaning towards Bath for UG and PG, as Imperial accommodation is too expensive, and I don't think Imperial CS is that much better Bath CS, there's not that much differences in CS league tables. I don't think you should use league tables to pick your University, but just use it just a guide.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 9

MartinMorrison

The entire campus at Imperial is spread out across different buildings around London. I think you should probably visit if you get an offer from there. Its more of a personal preference, but in my opinion Imperial and UCL campuses are just bad. The Computer Science department is on the South Kensington campus here: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=google+maps+imperial+college+london+exhibition+road&hl=en&sll=51.495744,-0.176191&sspn=0.044085,0.111494&t=v&gl=uk&hq=imperial+college+london+exhibition+road&z=15 It's behind the Natural History Museum and near Hyde Park which you may like. I'm not sure about Bath.

I think you should look at : http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/table/2008/dec/18/rae-2008-computer-science-and-informatics

That is the Research Assessment Exercise for 2008, in the subject of Computer Science. The 'FTE Category A staff submitted' is how many people doing research in that field at the university the university chose to submit to be reviewed for research assessment. This entire assessment was done for research across all fields in the UK and took 7 years so it's a pretty good indicator as to research and the number of staff submitted and the percentages of 4*, 3* is a good reflection of how big and active the respective computer science departments are.

If you want to graduate and start working right away I don't think the above matters too much. But it gives a reflection as to why the universities have different entry requirements. It is clear that Imperial has a better CS department, but that is far from the only factor that will help you secure a good job in the end. I think at the end of the day the costs of living in London are very strong disadvantage to going to Imperial, regardless of how good the CS department is. There is definitely a bigger and more active (research wise) CS department at Imperial but this does not necessarily mean that this will mean the best lecturers or courses. If money is a big issue just don't go study in London for 4 years. I also think you miss out on a lot by going to an engineering focussed university.

Reply 10

freefrag

Original post by GuyUK

I am leaning towards Bath for UG and PG, as Imperial accommodation is too expensive, and I don't think Imperial CS is that much better Bath CS, there's not that much differences in CS league tables. I don't think you should use league tables to pick your University, but just use it just a guide.

Unless you really want to go into banking you shouldn't care about the academic differences between Imperial, Bath or any other top 20 university for that matter.