Computer Science at Manchester Uni. Is it worth it?

Hello,

I got an offer from Manchester for Computer Science and I think I will be able to fulfill offer's requirements. So, I wanted to ask you, is it worth it to leave my country (Middle Europe) and study CS in Manchester Uni?

It would be awesome to hear opinions from the people who actually have studied in Manchester Uni too.

1) First of all, is it hard for people who are not native speakers of English to understand everything what lecturers say?

2) Is CS hard to learn? Does Manchester CS contain fair amount of programming or lots of maths?

3) Are there lots of paper works to do in order to live/study in UK?

4) Would I find a job for good salary after graduation?

5) Please say something more about CS and studying in UK/Manchester in general.

I already have some programming experience (2 years with PHP and MySQL).

Please convince me I should learn and study in Manchester, because I am sure I should do that (country I live in doesn't provide such a good education as in UK). Thank you very much.

I MUST DECIDE IN 2 WEEKS. SO PLEASE, IF YOU HAVE TIME, HELP ME TO DO THAT, THANKS.

Reply 1

tom4s

OP

Please, any help?

Reply 2

FrankInformation

6

I also got a letter through from Manchester with a little booklet about Computer Science.

Reply 3

tom4s

OP

UP

Reply 4

Joinedup

20

Maybe break your batch of questions down into individual posts and try on international students, computer science & manchester university?

probably not all that many foreign students doing CS at manchester are posting on TSR at any given moment.

Reply 5

MancStudent098

13

I think Manchester is a good university city, it's big and has plenty of social life and entertainment but isn't as expensive or daunting as London can be. On the other hand it will depend on what you personally want.

I'm British so I wouldn't know how tough British lectures are for non first language speakers, that said I've studied in universities outside the UK and I would say that you need a strong grasp of the relevant language if you want to succeed at university level, I would suspect that's particularly so in the UK as we're pretty bad at catering for people who don't grasp English well.

The difficulty of obtaining a Student visa will depend on where you're from. If you're from the EU everything will be very easy, if not it will be substantially more difficult not to mention expensive (for the visa but primarily the course itself). Anyway you'l need to check with the relevant UK authorities for information specific to your country.

I didn't do that course myself but I understand it's well regarded. Certainly the handful of computer scientists I knew here tend to have done well for themselves, going on to very good postgrads and jobs. Manchester has a strong history in that area so I guess maybe it has a little more prestige than arts subjects here. Anyway I think Joinedup's advice is sound, take any remaining questions to a more relevant part of the forum.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 6

tom4s

OP

Original post by Joinedup

Maybe break your batch of questions down into individual posts and try on international students, computer science & manchester university?

probably not all that many foreign students doing CS at manchester are posting on TSR at any given moment.

And how can I find them?

By the way, thank you for your comments.

Reply 7

stefyx

6

What country is that exactly? Is it part of the European Union?

Reply 8

miser

20

Original post by tom4s

Hello,

I got an offer from Manchester for Computer Science and I think I will be able to fulfill offer's requirements. So, I wanted to ask you, is it worth it to leave my country (Middle Europe) and study CS in Manchester Uni?

It would be awesome to hear opinions from the people who actually have studied in Manchester Uni too.

1) First of all, is it hard for people who are not native speakers of English to understand everything what lecturers say?

2) Is CS hard to learn? Does Manchester CS contain fair amount of programming or lots of maths?

3) Are there lots of paper works to do in order to live/study in UK?

4) Would I find a job for good salary after graduation?

5) Please say something more about CS and studying in UK/Manchester in general.

I already have some programming experience (2 years with PHP and MySQL).

Please convince me I should learn and study in Manchester, because I am sure I should do that (country I live in doesn't provide such a good education as in UK). Thank you very much.

I MUST DECIDE IN 2 WEEKS. SO PLEASE, IF YOU HAVE TIME, HELP ME TO DO THAT, THANKS.

1) This one will really depend on how well you speak english and how well the university lecturer speaks english. I had a chinese lecturer for some modules and it was sometimes difficult to understand what she said, but any technical terminology you should find on lecture slides or the handouts. If you're not sure, you can ask someone.

2) I wouldn't say computer science by its nature was hard, but I would say that it requires a certain mindset. It is very logical - if you have a talent for maths you should do quite well. Computer science, essentially, is an applied mathematics and it's remarkable how much translates - even a lot of the notation of C-style languages has been borrowed from the existing conventions used in maths. I can't say about Manchester specifically, but I'd imagine most computer science courses would have a roughly equal balance, or maybe tipping in favour of programming. There will definitely be programming and definitely be maths, but the exact ratio will depend on the specific course structure - you should be able to look at the associated course modules through the university's website.

3) I can't answer because I'm British.

4) As far as I'm aware there is a decent demand for computer scientists - the subject is narrow enough to be considered useful for computing-related jobs, and simultaneously broad enough to cover many different computing-related areas. After graduation you might apply for job titles such as programmer, database developer, network administrator, etc. Though I feel it's best suited for programmers, you'll most likely have modules covering these kinds of areas.

The salary very much depends on the job you're able to get - if you are talented, get a good final grade, write a good CV and sell yourself well in an interview, you could work for many different technology-heavy organisations that specifically invest in finding young capable new employees. The range of organisations you can work for is very broad - from the government to the financial sector to software companies. There are a lot of computer science graduates though, and so employers tend to be fairly stringent - for programming jobs for example, expect to solve a few basic algorithmic problems during interview.

5) I would say that if your heart's set on computer science, just do it. You say you have programming experience already, that will put you ahead of the pack - it's amazing how many people start studying computer subjects with no real experience beforehand. There's one girl on my course that had to be shown how to use a USB stick.

Computer science to me is a very engaging subject - if you get passionate about it, you can do really well, but at the same time it's not for everyone. If you don't have the mindset (and a lot of people don't), you can find it very difficult, but seeing as you're already a PHP programmer (for fun I take it), this shouldn't be a problem.

Reply 9

tom4s

OP

Original post by stefyx

What country is that exactly? Is it part of the European Union?

Yes, it's EU.

miser, thank you very much for such a great answer. :smile:

Reply 10

stefyx

6

Original post by tom4s

3) Are there lots of paper works to do in order to live/study in UK?

Yes, it's EU.

In that case you shouldn't have any problem. To enter UK you just need your identity card.

Of course, you could apply for residency, work permits(not sure if needed), but there really should be minor bureaucracy.
Also you seem to speak English quite well. My belief is that even if you do have problems understanding what's being said, after a few weeks you will get used to the accents, the language, and it will become much easier.
I know people that went to different countries without having any knowledge whatsoever of the language, and after a few years they could speak quite well.

Also, I once knew of a CS course that didn't include any maths, but can't remember what university offered it. You should do some research because there are definitely universities that don't focus on maths(if you want to avoid it, of course).

(edited 12 years ago)

Computer Science at Manchester Uni. Is it worth it?

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