Master's or Year in Industry

I'd suggest a year in industry and the BSc -

If it helps I'm from India.

I'm trying my best to get a grip on how uni reputation works and honestly it's extremely hard without visiting the country and having no idea of how education works in the uk. I had a horrible career councellor who basically pushed me to apply to lower unis like Middlesex which I later realised was just done to meet their own enrollment targets etc.

the plan is to complete studies and secure work in the UK atleast to the extent that I can pay off the loan and return. It would be a nightmare to pay the exorbitant international fees and try to pay it back with a job in my home country, currency conversion wise I'd probably complete it in my 40s if I did that.

hopefully if things go as expected I hope to work for atleast a period of 4-5 years before returning back.

thanks! I think i feel some clarity regarding this

If it helps I'm from India.

I'm trying my best to get a grip on how uni reputation works and honestly it's extremely hard without visiting the country and having no idea of how education works in the uk. I had a horrible career councellor who basically pushed me to apply to lower unis like Middlesex which I later realised was just done to meet their own enrollment targets etc.

the plan is to complete studies and secure work in the UK atleast to the extent that I can pay off the loan and return. It would be a nightmare to pay the exorbitant international fees and try to pay it back with a job in my home country, currency conversion wise I'd probably complete it in my 40s if I did that.

hopefully if things go as expected I hope to work for atleast a period of 4-5 years before returning back.

If it helps I'm from India.

I'm trying my best to get a grip on how uni reputation works and honestly it's extremely hard without visiting the country and having no idea of how education works in the uk. I had a horrible career councellor who basically pushed me to apply to lower unis like Middlesex which I later realised was just done to meet their own enrollment targets etc.

the plan is to complete studies and secure work in the UK atleast to the extent that I can pay off the loan and return. It would be a nightmare to pay the exorbitant international fees and try to pay it back with a job in my home country, currency conversion wise I'd probably complete it in my 40s if I did that.

hopefully if things go as expected I hope to work for atleast a period of 4-5 years before returning back.

I teach Maths and a number of my students have chosen this route - all have good jobs.

Then I'd definitely go for the year in industry - UK employers value work experience very highly (although I'm not sure about Indian employers), and of course it's a much better option for your debt; earlier when I advised the year in industry to avoid more debt I was thinking about the home fees, but now you've reminded me of the international fees which are much higher, so definitely go for the year in industry!

Uni rep is difficult to understand but for CS the newer unis are acutally better as their courses tend to be more work focused. Brookes has a great CS department.

RG is not relevant and it's a self-selecting club which is over-rated for Undergrads.

thanks I've pretty much made up my mind now!

thanks I've pretty much made up my mind now!

thanks a ton. Any experiences from academics is Highly invaluable to me.

could you chime in about the unis I applied to?
namely swansea because it seems like a good place to learn comp sci.

other places I've apply are
Oxford Brookes
Nottingham Trent
Dundee
Queen's University Belfast
Coventry
Manchester Metropolitan

I know they're not the best unis but any opinion on them would be very much appreciated.

Great! My friend has a brother at Manchester Metropolitan and he said he really doesn't like it there; make sure you pick somewhere you'll enjoy as you'll be there for probably 4 years. I know you can't really visit now but take into account things like if you'd prefer to be in a smaller city (Coventry, Oxford Brookes) or a big city (all the others). And if you're still worried about finances, you can research into the prices of accommodation and the cost of living of each city.

Also, how did you apply to 7 universities? Can international applicants apply to as many as they like?

Great! My friend has a brother at Manchester Metropolitan and he said he really doesn't like it there; make sure you pick somewhere you'll enjoy as you'll be there for probably 4 years. I know you can't really visit now but take into account things like if you'd prefer to be in a smaller city (Coventry, Oxford Brookes) or a big city (all the others). And if you're still worried about finances, you can research into the prices of accommodation and the cost of living of each city.

Also, how did you apply to 7 universities? Can international applicants apply to as many as they like?

before you make up your mind use this little tool https://discoveruni.gov.uk/course-details/10007167/UUBCOMSCOM3~UBCOMSCOM3/FullTime/ it gives you some data on potenital earnings and employment prospects of degrees and univeristies. You have good a level eqivalents so don't be put off from applying through clearing,

I've read a few good things on Swansea so I'm kinda leaning towards confirming it. unless Dundee or qub have an offer then I'll probably come back here on TSR for opinions!

Regarding the applying, So some unis have the option of appliying directly via the online portal. similar to how some accept master's applications. they have this alongside UCAS for international applicants.

I missed the UCAS deadline so had to apply directly. the application this way is free and generally unis advise to use this method if we're only applying to their uni.

I honestly was paranoid so maybe applied to one too many places... so technically I could apply to every uni with a direct application portal. I don't know if it's misuse of the system, but I guess it evens out the cost with the tuition fees that's charged.. via UCAS the rules are still the same.

Oh I see! Well good luck with getting into the university that's most suitable for you!

Swansea campus is near the sea - it's in Wales so ot that popular to English students.

I rate Brookes - the CS course is based in Wheatley but you'll get a free bus pass in hall.

Dundee - Scotland is not very popular for english students - never had anyone go there ...

Belfast - ditto, Northern Ireland not popular

Trent - popular for some degrees ut not had anyone do CS there.

Last two not up to the above.

looks like I've applied to most places not popular to English students. I have a while to decide so . I'll keep myself updated. weirdly enough, I've learned a lot about the uk just by looking up unis!

The website says, and I quote, 'This website is in beta'; it's a very new thing set up by the government. I've been on it before but the data on there can be misleading as they only have data from a small number of students - for example it says 'Data from 65 people' for the Earnings after the course section and it says 'Data from 20 students' for the Employment after 15 months section. You have to be careful when look at statistics.


Oh I see! Well good luck with getting into the university that's most suitable for you!

aware of the small sample size but the pattern is clear across rg and non rg the earnings is higher for rg for compsci than for non rg.

I'm aware of that website and have been on it a few days now. it does get a bit skewed probably due to the small data set but all this considered it's a great tool imo. just taking the data with a pinch of salt.

thanks for all the info. this forum has been of great help. all the best to you too

I just thought of something - do you want to be an actual computer scientist? You might need a masters' for that, but for most things e.g. a software engineer you'll be fine with a bachelor's degree.

aware of the small sample size but the pattern is clear across rg and non rg the earnings is higher for rg for compsci than for non rg.

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