CS postgraduate - Edinburgh vs St Andrews

Hi all,

I have something of a dilemma right now as I have applied for a master's course in computer science in two universities that I like very much and they have both offered me a place - University of Edinburgh and St Andrews.

The course in Edinburgh is Artificial Intelligence whereas the one in St Andrews is general computer science. Which one would be a wiser choice? It is extremely confusing, I really like both places and they seem to be more or less equal in terms of prestige.

I also had offers from UCL and Bristol but turned them down because I want to go north :smile:

. However, I won't go to St Andrews only because it is further north, I need more of a reason :biggrin:

Reply 1

arod

May or may not be helpful.
This info was provided to us when we were trying to decide btw unis

Reply 2

Dirac Delta Function

Sennin

. However, I won't go to St Andrews only because it is further north, I need more of a reason :biggrin:

Obviously it is important to weigh in whether you want to do AI specialisation or general, however, I think edingburgh are fairly flexible with their MSc Computer Science courses.

As for prestige, Edinburgh's CS (Informatics) department is definately better than St Andrews. They have an excellent history of research and the quality of their courses is well known amongst computer scientists to be excellent. Infact, Cambridge, Imperial Warwick and Edinburgh are usually considered the top Computer Science universities in the country. Edinburgh is as good as any of the other three and will provide a good springboard to research.

FYI, I didn't study at Edinburgh, I studied at Cambridge, and many of our lecturers got their PhDs from Edinburgh and hold it in high regard.

Reply 3

Nomd

Both Edinburgh and St. Andrews are excellent schools, and you will get a quality education form both. However Edinburgh has a bit better reputation for Computer Science.

Even more so if you are interested in AI, Natural Language Processing or pure theoretical computational sciences. So if if it were me I think I would choose Edinburgh, but St. Andrews is of corse still an excellent school and you will be in a good position with an MSc for Edinburgh or St. Andrews.

Good luck.

P.S. I should add the caveat that I am going to be going to edinburgh for Informatics next year, so you know were my bias lays :wink:

Reply 4

Sennin

Thank you all guys, I was already leaning towards Edinburgh and the information above helped to make up my mind.

I've already declined all other offers and confirmed Edinburgh's. Hopefully they won't happen to forget about me or decide they don't want me any more (unlikely as it is; sorry I am paranoid.)

By the way I did notice that in the charts posted by arod, Ed has a lower percentage of international students, 11% versus 25%. This seems interesting, any ideas why. Whatever the reason, I intend to acquire an authentic Scottish accent so it's not an issue :wink:

Reply 5

snischal

Senin, I got offer to Edinburgh CS Dept 2008 Sept. Are you going to CS Dept? Which year?

Reply 6

thetmon4

Dirac Delta Function

hi....
i ve a paradox whether to choose UCL or Edinburgh for computer science
pls help me give a suggestion

thanks alot :smile:

Reply 7

Dirac Delta Function

thetmon4

hi....
i ve a paradox whether to choose UCL or Edinburgh for computer science
pls help me give a suggestion

thanks alot :smile:

That's not a paradox.

You haven't said what it is you want to study exactly - presumably a postgrad course?
I can give a more helpful reply if you could provide more information.

Reply 8

thetmon4

Dirac Delta Function

That's not a paradox.

You haven't said what it is you want to study exactly - presumably a postgrad course?
I can give a more helpful reply if you could provide more information.

hi

really appreciate ur reply

I will be studying undergraduate course in UK

the courses what I got right now are

1) UCL G403 entrypoint 1
syllabus : http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/students.html (one the left handside got 1st yr , 2nd yr , 3rd yr.....)

2) Edinburgh G401 entry point 2

Syllabus: http://www.drps.ed.ac.uk/08-09/dpts/SCE_FINAL/201.html

3) Edinburgh GN42 entry point 2

Syllabus : http://www.drps.ed.ac.uk/08-09/dpts/SCE_FINAL/204.html

4) is Bristol computer science G401

but i am not particularly like it

I have just finished my diploma in Electrical computing and communications

and in my 3rd yr i have to do some networking and i was awed by it

but i duno what career like software engineering , IT profession or networking administrator will be good and exciting

i like to study which i can use effectively and i ve ambition to set up a company in the future.....

i duno what areas of computing are interesting cos I have not studied them deeply....

So, I will be really grateful if you will suggest me sth :smile:

thanks alot