Mini Project Ideas for Computer Science degree

I had offers from three of your choices - Bath, Birmingham and York (ended up firming Bath) so feel free to ask any questions.

Project-wise, how about a simple game or similar, like a Sudoku generator/solver, or two-player connect four. You can start with a command-line interface and then create a GUI as you get more experienced and comfortable.

I was thinking of doing something like that, but it seems too simple. It probably isn't but I mean, other kids must be doing things like making their own business and coding their own website etc.

Did you do anything? And what grades did you get if you don't mind me asking?

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Websites by themselves (the starting point being HTML, CSS and JavaScript) are easy, but the functionality you might want (dynamic content, database interaction etc.) aren't as easy, admittedly. As a rule though, CS courses care more about your compiled languages than anything dynamic you do online. Don't waste your time with web stuff unless you already have the basics down and can do some actual web programming.

I read a few books (The New Turing Omnibus being the best one, I think) did about 40-50 Project Euler problems (sadly it's down now and won't allow you to actually submit any answers) and I did A2 Computing so I spent Upper 6th building a simple enough system that allowed my college's Physics Department to created quizzes and upload them to Moodle to be marked automatically. Check out the write-up (missing the user guide) here.

My grades are in my sig - A*A*A in Maths, Further Maths and Computing + AC at AS in English Language and Physics.

my teacher was saying that Bath give quite a bit importance to AQA Computing A level. He was saying that they will reduce the grade boundaries to AAB if they see that you have a B in AQA Computing!!

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Yea I know basic HTML and CSS, nothing that could allow me to make a great website!

Yea I've heard that's pretty good so I was going to see if I could borrow that from my local library! And I'm actually doing something similar to that except I'm building a VLE for my school just without the networking capabilities. It's moving along pretty well and I'll be improving all the GUI elements because at the minute they're pretty primitive and to be fair not great!

And well I'm never going to get any of those grades! I should be able to get 3 As but my teacher was saying that Bath give quite a bit importance to AQA Computing A level. He was saying that they will reduce the grade boundaries to AAB if they see that you have a B in AQA Computing!!

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That's very true. They're one of the ones who aren't snobbish towards Computing as an A-Level, and I believe anyone regardless of exam board (so OCR and WJEC too) would receive a lower offer. Bath interview for CS but not in the same way as York or Birmingham, it seems.

At York it felt more like a formal interview with problems to solve and the expectation that you'd have questions to ask the interviewer etc. At Birmingham they don't interview before giving out offers but at any point they might invite you to a day of problem-solving exercises and an informal follow-up chat to decide whether they'd like to offer you a Scholarship (if you firm them.) In contrast at Bath it really was more of an informal discussion but it was still pre-offer. Some people I spoke to were even asked whether, in the case of them not having taken A-Level Computing and therefore not getting a lower offer, they'd rather have AAA (the standard offer on their website) or A*AB.

Don't forget your complexity marks regarding COMP 4! They're by far the most important thing that will guarantee you stay in the A*-B bracket. Don't have any O(n²) algorithms? Find an excuse to Bubblesort a list. Using OOP is also another easy way to get bumped up complexity-wise, even if (like in the case of my own project) it's terrible OOP.

The reason that A level computing isn't asked for in University entry is that it isn't offered in a lot of sixth forms and colleges. It's also because the content from Computing is the same as a lot of the first year content from most Universities.

Ohhh, that's interesting because when I went to Bath, they said that they don't usually ask for interviews and I've heard that York interviews are really informal and just ask you some sort of question.... Well, I'll soon find out!!

And also, my teacher was going on about bubble sort and I'll be trying to fit that in, probably to sort students names or something just for the sake of it!! And what's OOP? Rings a bell but can't quite remember what it stands for.

Also, do you reckon doing the British Informatics Olympiad and getting the threshold mark of like 20% is worth putting on a personal statement?

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Bath definitely interview for compsci if you live in the UK, but not for many other subjects.

OOP is the object-oriented paradigm - the AQA Comp 3 Wikibook has a good section on it It's annoying (the Bubblesort thing) but your teacher is right, it's good to have.

Maybe just put that you did it rather than the mark?