Course Dilemma - Should I change course?
So basically I have completed my first year doing Computer Science. I got a First for the whole of the year which was great but the problem is I wouldn't say I enjoyed the year. I was really never 100% convinced I would like it. In fact I wasn't supposed to do this degree, I went through adjustment and changed to it because it had better job and money prospects than my other subject, plus it was the chance to go to a redbrick university. I don't regret changing because I realised I wouldn't have been pushed to my potential in that course even I may have enjoyed it more.
I mean I consider myself to be a tech guy, geeky person, the first person family members go to for technical queries, who is very interested in computers and technology but I wouldn't say we learnt stuff like that. I mean apart from one or two modules It wasn't all that interesting, it was more theoretical. We did do a lot of programming which was expected and good which I consider to be practical learning. Also lectures were soooooooo boring, I would sometimes zone out or play solitaire on my laptop or go on facebook or read Tech news. I think the most unexpected thing for me to discover was how hard first year was, I mean It was not like introducing you into the course it was like all guns blazing, from the second week.
That was a really big problem at how had stuff was, in fact I nearly dropped out because I was unhappy at how hard it was. But I stuck it out and went till the end. By this I mean like assignments would take a very long time and I would get help. That's not to say I was the only one struggling, my friends and others were like me finding stuff hard and we would work together and help each other which was great. I just had never really been in that sort of situation in my life where I would have to get help from others and I couldn't do something by myself, and spend hours on an assignment. I'm mean the lecturers said they would be hard, but hey I never expected them to be that hard.
The exams were hard but I revised my socks off for all of them. This was hard because I wasn't motivated but revising was actually not bad for some modules which I found interesting when I actually understood the material. But in the end the hard work paid off and I got a first.
My problem is this firstly should I do a course which I haven't really enjoyed but have done very well in and secondly I didn't do A level maths though I did AS level, and next year there will be two maths intensive modules and I'm very scared that I will find them extremely hard and fail. I did a intro maths course this year which I was 2 marks off a first but I'm still scared I won't be able to do them.
My options are to stay in this course, transfer to a computer science with business course at the same uni or a computing for business course at a another uni which seems good, but I feel that reason I because It looks easier although some of the final year modules look interesting compared to mine. I did business at a level by the way and this would then bypass those maths modules.
I don't wanna leave this uni but at the end of the day I wanna enjoy the course to a certain extent but having a job Is important as well in this day and age. I also don't wanna fail next year cause I find it too hard and next year will obviously be even harder than this year.
Another thing is I only get one chance to change because student finance won't otherwise fund the first year if I change starting the second year.
Thanks for reading this very long post. I hope I didn't bore ya.
Any replies appreciated.
I mean I consider myself to be a tech guy, geeky person, the first person family members go to for technical queries, who is very interested in computers and technology but I wouldn't say we learnt stuff like that. I mean apart from one or two modules It wasn't all that interesting, it was more theoretical. We did do a lot of programming which was expected and good which I consider to be practical learning. Also lectures were soooooooo boring, I would sometimes zone out or play solitaire on my laptop or go on facebook or read Tech news. I think the most unexpected thing for me to discover was how hard first year was, I mean It was not like introducing you into the course it was like all guns blazing, from the second week.
That was a really big problem at how had stuff was, in fact I nearly dropped out because I was unhappy at how hard it was. But I stuck it out and went till the end. By this I mean like assignments would take a very long time and I would get help. That's not to say I was the only one struggling, my friends and others were like me finding stuff hard and we would work together and help each other which was great. I just had never really been in that sort of situation in my life where I would have to get help from others and I couldn't do something by myself, and spend hours on an assignment. I'm mean the lecturers said they would be hard, but hey I never expected them to be that hard.
The exams were hard but I revised my socks off for all of them. This was hard because I wasn't motivated but revising was actually not bad for some modules which I found interesting when I actually understood the material. But in the end the hard work paid off and I got a first.
My problem is this firstly should I do a course which I haven't really enjoyed but have done very well in and secondly I didn't do A level maths though I did AS level, and next year there will be two maths intensive modules and I'm very scared that I will find them extremely hard and fail. I did a intro maths course this year which I was 2 marks off a first but I'm still scared I won't be able to do them.
My options are to stay in this course, transfer to a computer science with business course at the same uni or a computing for business course at a another uni which seems good, but I feel that reason I because It looks easier although some of the final year modules look interesting compared to mine. I did business at a level by the way and this would then bypass those maths modules.
I don't wanna leave this uni but at the end of the day I wanna enjoy the course to a certain extent but having a job Is important as well in this day and age. I also don't wanna fail next year cause I find it too hard and next year will obviously be even harder than this year.
Another thing is I only get one chance to change because student finance won't otherwise fund the first year if I change starting the second year.
Thanks for reading this very long post. I hope I didn't bore ya.
Any replies appreciated.
I've just finished my Computer Science degree, so hopefully my advice can be of some help. It's scary actually how similar your story is to mine.
Like you, I didn't particularly enjoy my first year of the course - I struggled with several modules and most of them weren't particularly interesting to me. I decided to stick with CS and I am so glad that I did because the course got better and better as time went on. The course was still difficult at points, but the modules certainly got more interesting as time went on (Particularly since I could choose my own modules in third year).
You mention zoning out in lectures - don't take your laptop! I found myself getting a lot more out of the lectures when I left the laptop at home - without the temptation to go on facebook you'll find it much easier to pay attention.
As for the maths - I never did A-Level Maths so I certainly struggled with the maths modules, though if you attend the lectures/practicals and speak to your lecturer if you have issues, you should be ok. I hated the maths modules and I didn't put much effort into them - ended up getting 41% on my final maths exam. The important thing to remember with university is that your final mark is based on the average of all module marks. Even with such a terrible mark in the Maths module, I managed to get a first at the end of my degree. This doesn't mean you shouldn't have a good go at every module.
Now I'm not sure what your particular course is like, but for mine I had a team project throughout second year, and an individual project for my final year. These were without a doubt the best parts of the course, and if you're into programming then you'll love the freedom that the extended projects will give you. Now that you've done a lot of theoretical modules in first year, you should find that your assignments will be more practical in the second and third years of the course.
At the end of the day, it's your decision about whether to stay or not. But from my experience, I must encourage you to stick it out as you seem to have an interest in the subject, and the course really does improve as it goes on. It may be hard work at times, but you shouldn't switch to another course just because it's easier! CS degrees are high in demand, and you must clearly be good at it if you've got a first.
Like you, I didn't particularly enjoy my first year of the course - I struggled with several modules and most of them weren't particularly interesting to me. I decided to stick with CS and I am so glad that I did because the course got better and better as time went on. The course was still difficult at points, but the modules certainly got more interesting as time went on (Particularly since I could choose my own modules in third year).
You mention zoning out in lectures - don't take your laptop! I found myself getting a lot more out of the lectures when I left the laptop at home - without the temptation to go on facebook you'll find it much easier to pay attention.
As for the maths - I never did A-Level Maths so I certainly struggled with the maths modules, though if you attend the lectures/practicals and speak to your lecturer if you have issues, you should be ok. I hated the maths modules and I didn't put much effort into them - ended up getting 41% on my final maths exam. The important thing to remember with university is that your final mark is based on the average of all module marks. Even with such a terrible mark in the Maths module, I managed to get a first at the end of my degree. This doesn't mean you shouldn't have a good go at every module.
Now I'm not sure what your particular course is like, but for mine I had a team project throughout second year, and an individual project for my final year. These were without a doubt the best parts of the course, and if you're into programming then you'll love the freedom that the extended projects will give you. Now that you've done a lot of theoretical modules in first year, you should find that your assignments will be more practical in the second and third years of the course.
At the end of the day, it's your decision about whether to stay or not. But from my experience, I must encourage you to stick it out as you seem to have an interest in the subject, and the course really does improve as it goes on. It may be hard work at times, but you shouldn't switch to another course just because it's easier! CS degrees are high in demand, and you must clearly be good at it if you've got a first.
Original post by Elmand
I've just finished my Computer Science degree, so hopefully my advice can be of some help. It's scary actually how similar your story is to mine.
Like you, I didn't particularly enjoy my first year of the course - I struggled with several modules and most of them weren't particularly interesting to me. I decided to stick with CS and I am so glad that I did because the course got better and better as time went on. The course was still difficult at points, but the modules certainly got more interesting as time went on (Particularly since I could choose my own modules in third year).
You mention zoning out in lectures - don't take your laptop! I found myself getting a lot more out of the lectures when I left the laptop at home - without the temptation to go on facebook you'll find it much easier to pay attention.
As for the maths - I never did A-Level Maths so I certainly struggled with the maths modules, though if you attend the lectures/practicals and speak to your lecturer if you have issues, you should be ok. I hated the maths modules and I didn't put much effort into them - ended up getting 41% on my final maths exam. The important thing to remember with university is that your final mark is based on the average of all module marks. Even with such a terrible mark in the Maths module, I managed to get a first at the end of my degree. This doesn't mean you shouldn't have a good go at every module.
Now I'm not sure what your particular course is like, but for mine I had a team project throughout second year, and an individual project for my final year. These were without a doubt the best parts of the course, and if you're into programming then you'll love the freedom that the extended projects will give you. Now that you've done a lot of theoretical modules in first year, you should find that your assignments will be more practical in the second and third years of the course.
At the end of the day, it's your decision about whether to stay or not. But from my experience, I must encourage you to stick it out as you seem to have an interest in the subject, and the course really does improve as it goes on. It may be hard work at times, but you shouldn't switch to another course just because it's easier! CS degrees are high in demand, and you must clearly be good at it if you've got a first.
Like you, I didn't particularly enjoy my first year of the course - I struggled with several modules and most of them weren't particularly interesting to me. I decided to stick with CS and I am so glad that I did because the course got better and better as time went on. The course was still difficult at points, but the modules certainly got more interesting as time went on (Particularly since I could choose my own modules in third year).
You mention zoning out in lectures - don't take your laptop! I found myself getting a lot more out of the lectures when I left the laptop at home - without the temptation to go on facebook you'll find it much easier to pay attention.
As for the maths - I never did A-Level Maths so I certainly struggled with the maths modules, though if you attend the lectures/practicals and speak to your lecturer if you have issues, you should be ok. I hated the maths modules and I didn't put much effort into them - ended up getting 41% on my final maths exam. The important thing to remember with university is that your final mark is based on the average of all module marks. Even with such a terrible mark in the Maths module, I managed to get a first at the end of my degree. This doesn't mean you shouldn't have a good go at every module.
Now I'm not sure what your particular course is like, but for mine I had a team project throughout second year, and an individual project for my final year. These were without a doubt the best parts of the course, and if you're into programming then you'll love the freedom that the extended projects will give you. Now that you've done a lot of theoretical modules in first year, you should find that your assignments will be more practical in the second and third years of the course.
At the end of the day, it's your decision about whether to stay or not. But from my experience, I must encourage you to stick it out as you seem to have an interest in the subject, and the course really does improve as it goes on. It may be hard work at times, but you shouldn't switch to another course just because it's easier! CS degrees are high in demand, and you must clearly be good at it if you've got a first.
Thanks for your reply, I really appreciate it. Also I apologise for the late reply, was on holiday. I was wondering whether you did any of these modules in your second year and if so how you found them.
Software System Components
Professional Computing
Mathematical Techniques for Computer Science
Functional Programming
Models of Computation
Team Project
Computer Systems & Architecture
Computer Security
C++
I did a few similar modules to those throughout my degree. There's a nice variety of topics there and I'm sure you'll enjoy it but just make sure you don't let yourself fall behind in these modules. If you start slacking off in some of those modules you can find it very difficult to catch back up when it comes to exam time. If you stay on top of the work you should be fine.
The team project was certainly a highlight of my degree - got a bit stressful at times trying to co-ordinate everyone but I learnt a great deal from it. It's a very unique module when compared to the rest of your course, and it's something you'll likely be talking about in your job interviews after university.
The team project was certainly a highlight of my degree - got a bit stressful at times trying to co-ordinate everyone but I learnt a great deal from it. It's a very unique module when compared to the rest of your course, and it's something you'll likely be talking about in your job interviews after university.
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