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[Computer Science] York vs Manchester vs Bath

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I would disagree. The organisation who sponsor first year CS prizes at Bath withdrew their support from York because they said nobody there could program properly anymore. Whatever they've done in the last few years has ruined the department for undergrads, no matter how good the research going on is.

IMO, Bath's year in industry program is unparalleled and it's high on the league tables (above York and the others too, I think) for both Student Satisfaction (#1) and in CS (around the top ten depending on where you look.) I wasn't at all taken with KCL, and York was alright but the programming that goes on is a joke, which is fairly important to most CS students.

I'm interested in going to York to study CS. Could you elaborate what you mean by the 'programming that goes on is a joke'? I am just curious about what you mean.

Reply 21

Fire_Eater64

Third-year computer science w/IE student at Manchester - so obviously a little biased. This is just my experience - and you should pay as much, or as little attention to it as you want.

First of all - all three of the universities you listed are excellent, and you'll receive a world-class degree at any of them. I received offers from both Manchester and York and (obviously) went with Manchester for the following reasons:

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City/Campus uni cross. Pretty self-explainatory, whilst the whole uni is conveniently situated on one site - student accomodation and the city centre are never more than a 10/15 minute walk away. I (personally) felt the CS campus at York was a little isolated, and the city in general (whilst lovely) just didn't capture me like Manchester did. This hugely personal though, and is more down to your gut instinct that anything else.

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Course content. As the largest Computer Science department in the country - Manchester can afford to run many courses that smaller universities cannot. This, combined with the fact that Manchester is a world-leading Computer Science research department, meant that the breadth and quality of the courses on offer was (again - in my opinion) superior to York.

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Department size. I've mentioned that Manchester is a very large department - but at interview days was very aware of their size. Concerns about contact hours/individual attention were and have been baseless.

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Industry programs. Whilst York does offer these - I wasn't overly impressed with the careers department during my visits there. Both Bath and Manchester have excellent reputations with employers - with Manchester alumni employed in pretty much every field imaginable.

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General experience on open days.

Finally, just to clear up one or two erroneous points made so far in the thread:

Original post by AZHAN

but you weren't learn any hardware which is a advantage

Absolutely not true. Both Manchester and York offer some of the best Computer Hardware courses in the country, and the APT research group at Manchester boasts some of the best hardware researchers in the country, with strong links to Intel, ARM, nVidia, and Imagination Technologies (to name a few).

Original post by spidr901

Manchester is rubbish in the leagues for grad prospects compared to Surrey, Bath and York.

Could you define exactly what you mean by "rubbish"? Addressed in the 'Industry programs' section above.

Again, these are all opinions I formed 3 years ago - a lot may have changed since then. I know how tough the decision can be - and I don't envy you at all. That said, if you've got offers from all three - relax! There really is no 'wrong' choice here :smile: