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Getting into a top CS or SE program - what recommendations do you have?

So my lil bro wants to get into a top CS or SE program. He still has two more years of study and I was wondering if you guys could summarise your top 3 pieces of advice for him outside of getting great marks in his exams for him to secure a place e.g. extra-curricular activities, learning something new, developing a program, getting additional qualifications (these are all random things that I can think of).

Thank you very much in advance for your help!
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Greu
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There is always a danger of learning half a dozen languages and then listing them on a personal statement. Well, don't...

Instead, think of a project, ideally something which hasn't been done before and then find the languages/topics you must learn to in order to execute that idea.

Then you can talk about what you learnt in order to be able to execute that project. ("I built a game that did X, and for that I required a database, so I used Y and then I set it up like..." ) You don't need to go into too much detail, just show interest and awareness... You want them to be interested by what you've done, if you just write a list of languages, admissions tutors will say "So what?"

People often forget that CompSci/Software Engineering is so much more than just learning a language, talking about other topics - what you've done, what you've read, what you did can put you at an advantage.


I hope this helps.

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