What is Computer Science like?

username378540

hello.

Reply 1

username378540

k cheers

Reply 2

fat_hampster

Hey, I'm studying compsci at oxford. Oxford supposedly has quite a theoretical/ maths heavy degree, so you may want to take that into consideration when you listen to what I say.

I have found that whilst there is quite a lot of programming, there is also a lot of a certain kind of maths. I have done about one programming module per term so far, out of a total of 10 modules last year, and 6 so far this year. On top of that there have been some very related subjects such as design and analysis of algorithms, and lots of the others have practicals which involve programming, or the work involves programming.

On the maths side, we did a couple of courses joint with the mathematicians, as well as a couple of other maths courses purely for the computer scientists. These included discrete maths (set theory, modular arithmetic) and linear algebra (solving a system of linear equations). We've also had a module on formal logic, and a module on digital hardware - looking at how things work at the basic level, and building to basic gates, and more complicated operators, and on to a basic architecture.

Hope that helps

Reply 3

username378540

fat_hampster

overall though, is the course interesting?

Reply 4

xSkyFire

I'm surprised no one has said sausage-fest yet lol :biggrin:

Reply 5

fat_hampster

titsmcgee

overall though, is the course interesting?

I find the course interesting. I enjoy most of the maths (calculus in first year being a big exception, fortunately I no longer need to do any of it), I think it is taught well, and is mostly very relevant. I'm not a huge fan of programming, and some of the programming modules I didn't find very enjoyable, but I accept that they are an essential part of the course, and others of the 'programming' modules have been good.

I definitely think that computer science was the right choice for me, and given the option wouldn't change to any other course (or any other uni).

Reply 6

TheQueenOfComputerScience

titsmcgee

overall though, is the course interesting?

Yea it is, its varied which is always nice.

Reply 7

Leigh

At York, the first year has quite a few programming modules. After that, programming is a little more assumed, and code or languages are just used to demonstrate other concepts - you are still programming, but to achieve something else, not just to learn programming.

There are also plenty of modules which don't use much programming at all; hardware, maths, cryptography, networking and are just discussing concepts.

Happy to answer any other questions about the course if you're considering York. Be sure to quote me.

Reply 8

mituozo

titsmcgee

I'm doing Physics, Maths, F Maths and Computing at A Level. I really enjoy all of them, and would like to do a degree in Computer Science. I am really interested in programming etc. and have fun doing it, but is that what most of the course is? What else does it consist of? Anyone who already does it, what do you think of the course? Is it as interesting as you first expected, and do you enjoy it as much? What university do you study it at? I was thinking of studying at maybe Oxbridge, UCL, Imperial, Warwick or Bath.

As an after thought, I was thinking of maybe going to study Computer Science as an undergraduate, that I would go to somewhere like LSE and study for a Masters in Finance. Would this be odd, or would the uni look at me in a more negative light because I didn't do a finance related degree? I want to either do something like Investment Banking or Software Engineering/Programming or Web Design or something similar as a career.

I basically just want to know what you think of my choices.

Do a 4 year MEng in Computing at Imperial, get a 2:1 and you're pretty much in the door at an investment bank. (No need for LSE finance or whatever).. Their average grad starting salary is over £35k. (Because of all the banks that hire the grads)

Reply 9

m.grump

If you go for the top universities, as others have said here, you will get a very mathematical degree - and that will be of benefit for finance on its own. If you do masters-level study in finance also, they'll love you. Most of the highly paid computing jobs are in finance and banking, so yes - it's a very good route for employment, if that's what you want to do.