Choosing Uni for Computer Science

paul10

hi, am predicted 3 A's i my a-levels and i want to study computer science a uni, i was jus wondering how big of advantage is it to go to higher ranked uni for studying it at uni???

Imagine if you're a campus recruiter for a large software house.

You've received 60 applications for 10 places on your company's graduate scheme - 30 of those applicants are from Cambridge, Oxford, UCL, etc...
the other 30 are from lower ranked universities. They are all in their final years, and all have extracurriculars etc and their CVs are littered with various programming languages/technologies.

Who are you going to invite to interview first?

Now picture yourself after you've interviewed around 20 people, and given 7 job offers. Of the 40 applicants who have yet to hear something from you, there are only 3 places left.

Although in reality not everyone will have equally strong applications bar their universities, in terms of career prospects (at least upon graduation) its always better to be in a higher ranked university than not.

After a couple of years though, the university you studied at does not matter anywhere near as much as your performance on the job and your track record at delivering the goods. If you don't perform your employer is very likely to try and get rid of you.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 2

paul10

hi, am predicted 3 A's i my a-levels and i want to study computer science a uni, i was jus wondering how big of advantage is it to go to higher ranked uni for studying it at uni???

Reply 3

anongeek

I'd be interested to know which university the outlier in the top right is :biggrin:

Reply 4

sunspoon

I'd be interested to know which university the outlier in the top right is :biggrin:

Cambridge

Reply 5

Alfred_Vella

Take a look at:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/higher/the-complete-university-guide-university-league-table-2010-xhtml-1675616.html

and go to the highest place that you can.

I have taught computer science at many universities and your life prospects will be enhanced if you go to an 'old university' rather than a new one. There are some awful universities out there.

Alfred

Reply 6

polar_wrath11

anongeek

Errr this is SO TRUE for computer science. Where is this info from btw!? Would love to see which uni's constitute each point..

Reply 7

http://www.quofoundation.org/uploads/1/8/3/5/1835945/careerprospects.pdf

polar_wrath11

Errr this is SO TRUE for computer science. Where is this info from btw!? Would love to see which uni's constitute each point..

Reply 8

Supertoaster

1

That charts abit crap tbh, people with lower ucas points obviously arnt as smart/hard working as people with 550+, which unless you think people who have around 360 ucas points applied at unis that only require 220 or something then you cant relate it to just the university/teaching, it would be more the student (as id say the 30-40% who actually do pass are the people who had more bu applied lower)

Reply 9

http://www.quofoundation.org/uploads/1/8/3/5/1835945/careerprospects.pdf

anongeek

The percentage of students who entered a graduate profession related to their degree was taken as a measure of “career prospects”.

Thats not how I would rate career prospects - imo that would be more like 'how many people decide to take up jobs in the subject area'...

But meh. Results are not surprising though.

Reply 10

TheQueenOfComputerScience

Sam_a225

That charts abit crap tbh, people with lower ucas points obviously arnt as smart/hard working as people with 550+, which unless you think people who have around 360 ucas points applied at unis that only require 220 or something then you cant relate it to just the university/teaching, it would be more the student (as id say the 30-40% who actually do pass are the people who had more bu applied lower)

There's only a 1.1% salary differential across a three grade A-Level spread holding for other factors.

So two students on the same course/university, one with AAB and one with BBC, the student with AAB will only on average have a salary of 1.1% more than the BBC student. That is to say once you've got into a course, how well you did at A-Level is practically irrelevant. It is the course that makes the difference.

Reply 11

Huntzie

anongeek

Go Hull

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 12

MylesXD

http://unistats.direct.gov.uk/ best to look on hear :smile:

tells you in greater depth of each uni and each subject

Reply 13

i.am.lost

18

If you think you can get A* in Maths, it's gotta be Imperial. That's the place to be for Computer Science :yep:

Reply 14

13

anongeek

There's only a 1.1% salary differential across a three grade A-Level spread holding for other factors.

So two students on the same course/university, one with AAB and one with BBC, the student with AAB will only on average have a salary of 1.1% more than the BBC student. That is to say once you've got into a course, how well you did at A-Level is practically irrelevant. It is the course that makes the difference.

Now this is SO true. Anecdotally I have found that there little to no correlation between A Level grade and degree success. Even less between A Level grade and industry success.

Reply 15

paul10

OP

so bascially instead of applaying to queens uni belfast which is near to where i live, it would be a big benfit if i went abroad to as highest ranked uni as i could get in

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 16