Difficult Decision

Actually Warwick is better than Birmingham for Computer Science, like significantly better, the average graduate salary and research output of Warwick tells you this.

Don't look at uni tables, they're a load of rubbish usually.

How do you know this? are you in Warwick? I agree with the salary and research being good but im not sure that means they are better than birmingham. Salary is likely due to Warwick being prestigious and such. Do you think that the increased research outputs will make their standing improve while im at Uni?

Do you have any comments on the actual university, i.e. student life, location, etc.?

I firmed an unconditional offer for Warwick MEng Computer Science (Already have my A Levels) and believe me when I say I've thoroughly researched this degree at this university.

Right you need evidence:

Salary (While the stats vary, the general trend is that Warwick is superior):

Salary for MEng Warwick:
http://unistats.direct.gov.uk/Subjects/Overview/10007163FT-U-G503/ReturnTo/Search
http://university.which.co.uk/university-of-warwick-w20/computer-science-4-years-9000-g403-183791
http://www.whatuni.com/degrees/courses/Degree-details/Computer-Science-MEng-Hons-course-details/54952152/3771/cdetail.html

Salary for MSci Birmingham:
http://unistats.direct.gov.uk/Subjects/Overview/10006840FT-K0420/ReturnTo/Search
http://university.which.co.uk/university-of-birmingham-b32/computer-science-4-years-i101
http://www.whatuni.com/degrees/courses/Degree-details/Computer-Science-MSci-Hons-course-details/54984572/5666/cdetail.html

Research evidence:

Research Output for Warwick:
http://results.ref.ac.uk/Results/BySubmission/1416

Research Output for Birmingham:
http://results.ref.ac.uk/Results/BySubmission/1339

Right next, Warwick isn't prestigious for every degree they do, its pretty much limited to Maths, Economics (their business school), Politics, Philosophy, Computer Science, Physics and maybe Law. I'd say they're pretty much a normal uni for any other programme I've seen.

Universities work through their research, if they research better, it generally improves their reputation as a whole, which improves your chances of getting a job after graduating (generally, obviously there are anomalies).

Location and general comments about the university:

I think the location is great, but that's only because I live 45 mins away haha. A lot of people tell me it's possibly one of the worst located universities in the country, but I don't know if this is credible, a lot of these people come from London and the like and can't transition to life at Warwick (I live right at the edge of Birmingham)

I've been told that student life is pretty good, but not as good as Birmingham, again, purely due to the location. It won't take you long to commute to Birmingham and join in on the action there if you really feel short changed.

By no means is Birmingham a bad university for Computer Science, Warwick is just better, and it always has been. It's more established than Birmingham now, and it's part of the Alan Turing Institute for Data Science (Only Oxbridge, UCL, Edinburgh and Warwick got into this, where about 70 universities applied for it). The only reason I can think of as to why Birmingham ranks higher than Warwick in recent university league tables is that it has improved drastically over the past 5 years, and a league table is usually designed to show that.

Warwicks department for Computer Science is smaller than Birminghams, and for a subject like Computer Science, this is a good thing, it means that you'll know everyone more personally and get to use facilities more.

Don't just take my word for it, visit both of the universities departments, your impression has to matter more than mines does, because you'll be the one studying the degree.

Thats a lot of information haha. Exactly what i was looking for. Thanks for this help. Two last questions though. I'm planning to do Bsc in Computer and management. Do you know if Warwick is good for a bachelors or are you saying it is good for a masters. Also, Do you know anything about this combination of courses?
Thanks again

Right next, Warwick isn't prestigious for every degree they do, its pretty much limited to Maths, Economics (their business school), Politics, Philosophy, Computer Science, Physics and maybe Law. I'd say they're pretty much a normal uni for any other programme I've seen.

Hey! Sorry to jump in. I'm also making a decision between Warwick and Bristol for firm. It's for politics however. I don't know if you could give me any advice/evidence to go either way? If you can't not to worry. Thanks

For Politics or even Computer Science, there isn't much separating Bristol and Warwick, both prestigious universities for the courses mentioned, with somewhat identical job prospects when you graduate. Bristols campus is slightly prettier though, kinda reminds me of Cambridge (to which I've also been to). Its one of those situations where it would be a good idea for you to go check out both universities if you haven't done so already.

For me, I could have gone Bristol to study Computer Science however I chose Warwick because the location was more convenient for me, studying at Warwick gives me the option to commute for the entire duration of the degree, or if I chose, move nearer to Warwick in the second year onwards.

Both Bristol and Warwick are Oxbridge reject unis, so usually the insurance choices for Oxbridge students, so you'll see a lot of those around if you choose to go to either one.

But as I said before, between Birmingham and Warwick, it's a no brainer, Warwick any day.

Thanks so much for this! I'm choosing between Warwick, Bristol and to some extent Exeter. I feel that nationally Warwick is so renowned but internationally Bristol has the upper hand. Although, I've noticed bristol is slipping academically

Even internationally, given you are going to struggle, you'll struggle as much to get Bristol recognised as you would Warwick. So I wouldn't really consider one over the other based off of international success at 1 certain scenario. I agree, Bristol has been slipping recently but it's still better than albeit most of the Russell Group.

You've gotta consider which university you'll enjoy studying at more, and that's probably the most important, if you don't enjoy it, you won't do as well. They're both located similar times away from London, which is a good thing, however there are subtle things, like the accommodation and the night life that you have to consider.

I'm trying not to be biased towards Warwick here haha

No by all means be biased towards Warwick haha! I've heard such nice things about bristol but hardly any for warwick. What is leamington like? And is coventry really that bad? I mean both will have a good night life due to bristol being in a city and warwick being located in close proximity to lem, Cov and birmingham. Accommodation wise are pretty equal so yeah..Ah decisions decisions.