Best Uni for Computer Science

Which of these universities is best for computer science?
Bristol, St Andrews or UCL. I've got offers from all of these and I live in England but don't really want to go to Scotland. But which of these unis would you choose?

ucl

UCL by far. Better International rep as well

Reply 3

username2130115

Original post by VictoriaCoolio

Really, why so? I would have thought most people would have said Bristol due to league table rankings.

ucl is a target university for IB and international top 10

Reply 4

username1732491

Out of the 3, St Andrews.

http://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/league-tables/rankings?s=computer%20science

http://www.theguardian.com/education/ng-interactive/2015/may/25/university-guide-2016-league-table-for-computer-science-information

As can be seen by these tables, St. Andrews has by far the highest student satisfaction and graduate prospects (only one with 100% prospects). Their research is a bit lacking, coming in at 27th in the UK, but if you're just going for an undergraduate course then it won't matter for much, as you won't be doing research. So your best option would be St Andrews by a long shot, at least on the academic side of things.

Original post by VictoriaCoolio

Which of these universities is best for computer science?Bristol, St Andrews or UCL. I've got offers from all of these and I live in England but don't really want to go to Scotland. But which of these unis would you choose?

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 5

TrojanH

Original post by TimGB

best graduate prospects = ucl

Reply 6

username1732491

Original post by TrojanH

best graduate prospects = ucl

That's not what the facts say. In fact UCL is the worst of the three for graduate prospects.

St Andrews - 100%

Bristol - 95%

UCL - 90%

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 7

username738914

Original post by TimGB

That's not what the facts say. In fact UCL is the worst of the three for graduate prospects.

St Andrews - 100%

Bristol - 95%

UCL - 90%

These numbers are meaningless mate. More top employers visit UCL than St As., and St As has a tiny CS cohort so any % in employment should be taken with a grain of salt.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 8

username1732491

Original post by Princepieman

More top employers visit UCL than St As

This claim sounds believable but really needs evidence to back it up.

Original post by Princepieman

St As has a tiny CS cohort so any % in employment should be taken with a grain of salt.

I don't see why this should matter. If a university can find full employment for its undergrads, especially in Computer Science which is well known for high unemployment, it shouldn't matter that there are a smaller number of them. If you have an offer, like @VictoriaCoolio has, then you are pretty much guaranteed employment if you go there, and similarly with Bristol, while UCL has failed to find employment for a large number of students (only 10%, so still very good, but with a large cohort it's quite a lot more than Bristol and St As.) However if UCL really does attract more top employers, then this could be reason to join UCL instead.

If you are worried about consistency, I will point out that this is the second year in a row that St Andrews has achieved full employment. Going further back reveals that before their run of 100%, they had a similar level to UCL and Bristol, so clearly something changed in 2014 that greatly improved the department.

Reply 9

BlackSniper

I have a similar thread here but haven't received many responses. I am thinking about Warwick vs UCL for my firm and Manchester as insurance. Which university is the better one? Warwick or UCL?

Reply 10

username738914

Original post by BlackSniper

I have a similar thread here but haven't received many responses. I am thinking about Warwick vs UCL for my firm and Manchester as insurance. Which university is the better one? Warwick or UCL?

I chose Warwick because I didn't want to waste money living in London when I could have the same prospects by going to a cheaper CoL uni (Warwick).

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 11

BlackSniper

Original post by Princepieman

I chose Warwick because I didn't want to waste money living in London when I could have the same prospects by going to a cheaper CoL uni (Warwick).

Posted from TSR Mobile

That is a really good argument for Warwick, I also heard they got one of the best departments in the UK and it is really competitive. How do you like it so far? Can you tell me a few things about your experience there?