Cambridge Computer Science (CompSci) Students and Applicants

Thank you for the reply, that was incredibly helpful. And i guess i'm going to have to go for the CompSci with Maths option. Luckily i have a huge passion for maths too! And the reason for me not doing physics was because of the comprehensive school i attended prior to starting my a Levels at a grammar school; the previous one was the bottom school in the borough (and still is), so it introduced several measures to try to make the school look good, which included a "BTEC Science" qualification - those who did it simply would not be able to cope with the rigour of any science A-Level, it didn't even have exams, and was a complete waste of two years in my opinion. Unfortunately I had to go through that very system but i'm far, far away from it now !



Do you know of any specific colleges where this happens? So far, the ones i've read about which seem to have an element of "leniency" to Physics A Levels are Corpus Christi and Trinity Hall. Is this true?

is taking Computing recommended since the first year of uni may overlap at lot of the topics?

Hi,
I'm currently studying at GCSE level and am thinking about my A level options. A long term goal of mine is to study CS at Cambridge and I'm leaning towards choosing Physics, Maths, Further Maths and Computing at A level. However is taking Computing recommended since the first year of uni may overlap at lot of the topics? Should I take another science instead? Any views on this would be appreciated

Thanks

Definitely ditch Computing and take another science. The key point is that A-level Computing overlap topics with CS in name only and it will be woefully shallow and sometimes downright wrong, and they'll teach you all there is to know from the start anyway without assuming you know anything about computing. Another science is much more attractive for your application.

I don't know... in some ways you're perfectly right, but in others A-level computing can help you get a perspective about what you're going to be studying so help make decisions as to whether to carry it on or not, and it's lead me in to great areas of further study which I'm sure would not be a bad thing to talk about during interviews. I think the AQA exam board is pretty accurate and it really does cover a lot of stuff and if I hadn't taken it, I would still be pretty clueless about what computing really was about.

I think one of the key criteria in whether choosing to study computing a level at a certain school lies in the exam board(AQA preferred on the cambridge website) and the teachers. Luckily my teachers seem to know what they're doing so I'm loving my course.

I think the best thing to do would be to have a look at the course itself, and if it seems to fit your needs and the teachers seem alright, I don't need why not give it a go if it's only for AS. You could take it as a fifth AS. I certainly think you could do a lot worse by taking a subject you're not really that interested in just due to the fact that you don't want to take a course due to overlap.

Knowing too much about the subject is definitely better than knowing too little.

What sort of work experience necessary for this course, for oxbridge or for other unis?

If I do Maths, Further Maths and Physics, does it really matter if my fourth A level is an essay based subject?

So what does this mean? is there a lack of students, or is it just highly contested?

And do you reckon i'll have a good chance of getting in, because i'm worried that i'll be up against the reincarnation of steve jobs, when i only know the basics of a couple languages.

You don't need ICT?

I imagine the engineering course is a combination of physics and maths students on top on the engineering ones?

A false dichotomy, but the subject is seriously undersubscribed. The Lab are somewhat concerned by this, and have been looking into addressing application numbers. There's a wider issue, though. Computer science has been drawing comparatively few students across the UK and elsewhere for several years now. That said, I don't think it changes things too much for individual applicants. From speaking to staff, it seems they'd rather take fewer students than drastically reduce the quality of the cohort.



As with all subjects, there's a spread of abilities. Of course, there are some extremely accomplished students, but you sound like a fairly unremarkable applicant (in the sense of being neither wildly under- nor overqualified). Apply if you like, it only costs you one place on your form and a potential visit for interview.



Nope.



Nope.

I have no idea what CS entails. But I could guess quite a large part of it is taught on computers maybe?

It would be harder to accomodate 600 students than it would be 70 for such a class.