Not sure what to do

I am struggling to find out if it matters which university I go to for computer science as I don't wanna study it and not have a job related to it as it would be pointless.

Am I better off studying at a decent university (e.g uea , essex , durham, Sussex ) for degree like economics/business and then go to a better university (e.g Southampton, kent , sussex ) for computer science or study computer science at a decent (essex , uea ) university? (Not shaming Uni's just going by the tables & average student and salary satisfaction).

I am very business oriented but I am very interested in tech mainly software development and being creative.
I am someone who would love to learn about AI and how it can be applied to the fashion industry (e.g, using AI & CS to help create designs & apps ).

Economics is a degree I'm unsure even though the course itself is interesting and it could be applied to real life and possiblly teach me about certain aspects in business, however I would try to pursue a masters after as I don't feel like I would be interested in the jobs Economics has to offer.

Even though running a business was my childhood dream , I feel like I need to put it to side for now.if any one could suggest a business / economics related subject which could help me learn how to run ,manage a successful start up it be also be appreciated.

If anyone does have any advice it would be appreciated

(edited 11 months ago)

Reply 1

University of Sheffield Students

Official Rep

14

Original post by Rose_99

I am struggling to find out if it matters which university I go to for computer science as I don't wanna study it and not have a job related to it as it would be pointless.

Am I better off studying at a decent university (e.g uea , essex , durham, Sussex ) for degree like economics/business and then go to a better university (e.g Southampton, kent , sussex ) for computer science or study computer science at a decent (essex , uea ) university? (Not shaming Uni's just going by the tables & average student and salary satisfaction).

I am very business oriented but I am very interested in tech mainly software development and being creative.
I am someone who would love to learn about AI and how it can be applied to the fashion industry (e.g, using AI & CS to help create designs & apps ).

Economics is a degree I'm unsure even though the course itself is interesting and it could be applied to real life and possiblly teach me about certain aspects in business, however I would try to pursue a masters after as I don't feel like I would be interested in the jobs Economics has to offer.

Even though running a business was my childhood dream , I feel like I need to put it to side for now.if any one could suggest a business / economics related subject which could help me learn how to run ,manage a successful start up it be also be appreciated.

If anyone does have any advice it would be appreciated

Hey,
I am not in this field at all (I am a medical student) but I have friends who have studied computer science and some who are now working in software development with the plan to build their own business. From what I have discussed with them, the best way to do it would be to get the computer science degree and then you can do the economics/business side of things from another course/masters or just learn it through experience in a company.
In terms of picking a University, it would be better to go and visit some, speak to the students there about the course and their own future plans/business placements that are available. The tables do not mean very much for specific students, so it is a good idea to visit the place or at least talk to some of the students online (there are lots of chat platforms at universities now).
I am aware I am not in the best position to give specific advice, but these are what my friends have told me about it.
I hope this helps and good luck with the future! I am sure whichever way you go about it, you will get there if you are passionate and continue to work for it.
Evie (4th year medic at UoS)

Reply 2

Rose_99

OP

14

Original post by University of Sheffield Students

Hey,
I am not in this field at all (I am a medical student) but I have friends who have studied computer science and some who are now working in software development with the plan to build their own business. From what I have discussed with them, the best way to do it would be to get the computer science degree and then you can do the economics/business side of things from another course/masters or just learn it through experience in a company.
In terms of picking a University, it would be better to go and visit some, speak to the students there about the course and their own future plans/business placements that are available. The tables do not mean very much for specific students, so it is a good idea to visit the place or at least talk to some of the students online (there are lots of chat platforms at universities now).
I am aware I am not in the best position to give specific advice, but these are what my friends have told me about it.
I hope this helps and good luck with the future! I am sure whichever way you go about it, you will get there if you are passionate and continue to work for it.
Evie (4th year medic at UoS)

Thank you so much, I really appreciate it.

Reply 3

CantHelpMyself

5

Original post by Rose_99

I am struggling to find out if it matters which university I go to for computer science as I don't wanna study it and not have a job related to it as it would be pointless.

Am I better off studying at a decent university (e.g uea , essex , durham, Sussex ) for degree like economics/business and then go to a better university (e.g Southampton, kent , sussex ) for computer science or study computer science at a decent (essex , uea ) university? (Not shaming Uni's just going by the tables & average student and salary satisfaction).

I am very business oriented but I am very interested in tech mainly software development and being creative.
I am someone who would love to learn about AI and how it can be applied to the fashion industry (e.g, using AI & CS to help create designs & apps ).

Economics is a degree I'm unsure even though the course itself is interesting and it could be applied to real life and possiblly teach me about certain aspects in business, however I would try to pursue a masters after as I don't feel like I would be interested in the jobs Economics has to offer.

Even though running a business was my childhood dream , I feel like I need to put it to side for now.if any one could suggest a business / economics related subject which could help me learn how to run ,manage a successful start up it be also be appreciated.

If anyone does have any advice it would be appreciated

I've been looking at both Economics and Computer science fields a lot lately since I'm currently an economics undergrad at the Uni of Strathclyde but I'm considering a degree change. I think I can offer you some guidance.

I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to assume off of the uni's you listed that you're on about an AAA-ABB grade. If you're achieving higher or lower that's fine, it just has a large impact on the following advice.

To really succeed in economics / business, (top consultancies, highly paid corporate positions) you do need a great uni behind your name- highly regarded uni's like Warwick, Durham etc etc. The field is incredibly meritocratic and I'm finding that out the hard way.

Business:
If you can get into Business at Durham it would set you up very nicely for the business world (entry requirement AAB).
Bath's Bachelors of business administration course is very good also, it has an AAA entry requirement. These business courses could land you most graduate jobs in the corporate world with some solid extracurriculars, and would give you a great baseline for entrepreneurship, which you mentioned.

It's important to note there's a pretty large difference between Business and Economics degrees too, although in the end you will end up competing for fairly similar graduate jobs.

Economics:
Economics is one of the most competitive degrees in the country, and is pretty maths heavy if taught correctly. As a result, it's one of those degrees where the reputation of your uni really does matter. Again, I'm basing my recommendations on the uni's you previously listed, which should have similar entry requirements. Try looking at: Birmingham, Exeter, Loughborough and Surrey- Surrey has one of the best and oldest placement schemes in the country, and with their professional training year included you will be on track to a fairly good grad job in London. Some of these courses I've listed don't even require A level maths as a prerequisite, and all see graduates netting very healthy salaries 5 years after graduation. You'd do pretty well in the business world with a degree from any of these uni's, and I think all of them are somewhat lenient on entry requirements (some people get into Surrey economics with BBB, and it offers a foundation year with requirements at CCC).

There are pure economics, business economics and mathematics and Economics degrees offered by some of these uni's too. Have a look at the course content and see which one suits you best- business economics courses usually have less maths. It's important to distinguish between them. If you're not interested in the related career paths though, don't bother with Economics. Masters courses hold very little merit in the field unless from a top top uni (oxbridge, UCL/LSE). It's a weird one.

And I'm less informed on the computer science field, but I'm under the impression that recruitment in the field is the complete opposite to the business world when it comes to meritocracy and where you chose to study. I've heard that hiring in computer science is based about 80% on your actual skills and values, and maybe 20% on where your degree is from. As I understand it, hiring runs off of assessment centres which rigorously test your ability. So there's not much need to stress about where your degree in CS is from unless you're a child prodigy who wants to code backend for private equity firms. Regardless, some highly respected CS courses are offered by: Southampton, Uni of Glasgow, Uni of Edinburgh, and of course UCL and Imperial. People do computer science apprenticeships without ever getting a degree, justing hitting bootcamps and earning decent money. This is risky though.

Southampton offers a foundation degree for their software engineering course which has an entry requirement of ABB. I've looked at plenty of foundation courses over the past year, and this has to be the best for graduate earnings and pure prestige. Real zero to hero material: Southampton has one of the best Computer science courses in Europe, with some of the best graduate earnings projections in the UK and a fair handful of alumni eventually making their way over to silicon valley. It's such a turnaround degree they entirely blocked the foundation programme to international students I believe. I kick myself a lot for not picking this degree with foundation a few years back, and I suggest you consider it.

I can't help you decide what you want to do, but those are the courses in the areas you just mentioned which will bring you the best tuition and most success. There are hundreds of other factors when looking at Universities though. Please, whatever you do, do not listen to any guardian / complete university guide ranking. Most uni rankings are entirely contrived and very easily manipulated by campaign managers at the universities themselves. Like my uni- Strathclyde, ranked second best in the UK for Finance somehow in 2021, yet hasn't sent a single grad to an investment bank in decades. It's all a joke.

So to summarise, if I was you I'd be looking at
Business at Durham / Bath

Economics at Surrey (emphasis on the professional training year), Birmingham, Exeter or Loughborough

Computer science at Glasgow Uni, Southampton (foundation) or Edinburgh.

And finally- nothing is set in stone! Both computer science and business fields don't even require a related degree to enter the field. Thousands, even millions of people are in either of these fields with a completely unrelated degree like psychology or engineering. And if you insist on a degree related to your career field , MBA's and computer science conversion courses exist. They're expensive but get results.

Feel free to message me with any further questions.

Reply 4

CantHelpMyself

5

Original post by Rose_99

I am struggling to find out if it matters which university I go to for computer science as I don't wanna study it and not have a job related to it as it would be pointless.

Am I better off studying at a decent university (e.g uea , essex , durham, Sussex ) for degree like economics/business and then go to a better university (e.g Southampton, kent , sussex ) for computer science or study computer science at a decent (essex , uea ) university? (Not shaming Uni's just going by the tables & average student and salary satisfaction).

I am very business oriented but I am very interested in tech mainly software development and being creative.
I am someone who would love to learn about AI and how it can be applied to the fashion industry (e.g, using AI & CS to help create designs & apps ).

Economics is a degree I'm unsure even though the course itself is interesting and it could be applied to real life and possiblly teach me about certain aspects in business, however I would try to pursue a masters after as I don't feel like I would be interested in the jobs Economics has to offer.

Even though running a business was my childhood dream , I feel like I need to put it to side for now.if any one could suggest a business / economics related subject which could help me learn how to run ,manage a successful start up it be also be appreciated.

If anyone does have any advice it would be appreciated

I've been looking at both Economics and Computer science fields a lot lately since I'm currently an economics undergrad at the Uni of Strathclyde but I'm considering a degree change. I think I can offer you some guidance.

I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to assume off of the uni's you listed that you're on about an AAA-ABB grade. If you're achieving higher or lower that's fine, it just has a large impact on the following advice.

To really succeed in economics / business, (top consultancies, highly paid corporate positions) you do need a great uni behind your name- highly regarded uni's like Warwick, Durham etc etc. The field is incredibly meritocratic and I'm finding that out the hard way.

Business:
If you can get into Business at Durham it would set you up very nicely for the business world (entry requirement AAB).
Bath's Bachelors of business administration course is very good also, it has an AAA entry requirement. These business courses could land you most graduate jobs in the corporate world with some solid extracurriculars, and would give you a great baseline for entrepreneurship, which you mentioned.

It's important to note there's a pretty large difference between Business and Economics degrees too, although in the end you will end up competing for fairly similar graduate jobs.

Economics:
Economics is one of the most competitive degrees in the country, and is pretty maths heavy if taught correctly. As a result, it's one of those degrees where the reputation of your uni really does matter. Again, I'm basing my recommendations on the uni's you previously listed, which should have similar entry requirements. Try looking at: Birmingham, Exeter, Loughborough and Surrey- Surrey has one of the best and oldest placement schemes in the country, and with their professional training year included you will be on track to a fairly good grad job in London. Some of these courses I've listed don't even require A level maths as a prerequisite, and all see graduates netting very healthy salaries 5 years after graduation. You'd do pretty well in the business world with a degree from any of these uni's, and I think all of them are somewhat lenient on entry requirements (some people get into Surrey economics with BBB, and it offers a foundation year with requirements at CCC).

There are pure economics, business economics and mathematics and Economics degrees offered by some of these uni's too. Have a look at the course content and see which one suits you best- business economics courses usually have less maths. It's important to distinguish between them. If you're not interested in the related career paths though, don't bother with Economics. Masters courses hold very little merit in the field unless from a top top uni (oxbridge, UCL/LSE). It's a weird one.

And I'm less informed on the computer science field, but I'm under the impression that recruitment in the field is the complete opposite to the business world when it comes to meritocracy and where you chose to study. I've heard that hiring in computer science is based about 80% on your actual skills and values, and maybe 20% on where your degree is from. As I understand it, hiring runs off of assessment centres which rigorously test your ability. So there's not much need to stress about where your degree in CS is from unless you're a child prodigy who wants to code backend for private equity firms. Regardless, some highly respected CS courses are offered by: Southampton, Uni of Glasgow, Uni of Edinburgh, and of course UCL and Imperial. People do computer science apprenticeships without ever getting a degree, justing hitting bootcamps and earning decent money. This is risky though.

Southampton offers a foundation degree for their software engineering course which has an entry requirement of ABB. I've looked at plenty of foundation courses over the past year, and this has to be the best for graduate earnings and pure prestige. Real zero to hero material: Southampton has one of the best Computer science courses in Europe, with some of the best graduate earnings projections in the UK and a fair handful of alumni eventually making their way over to silicon valley. It's such a turnaround degree they entirely blocked the foundation programme to international students I believe. I kick myself a lot for not picking this degree with foundation a few years back, and I suggest you consider it.

I can't help you decide what you want to do, but those are the courses in the areas you just mentioned which will bring you the best tuition and most success. There are hundreds of other factors when looking at Universities though. Please, whatever you do, do not listen to any guardian / complete university guide ranking. Most uni rankings are entirely contrived and very easily manipulated by campaign managers at the universities themselves. Like my uni- Strathclyde, ranked second best in the UK for Finance somehow in 2021, yet hasn't sent a single grad to an investment bank in decades. It's all a joke.

So to summarise, if I was you I'd be looking at
Business at Durham / Bath

Economics at Surrey (emphasis on the professional training year), Birmingham, Exeter or Loughborough

Computer science at Glasgow Uni, Southampton (foundation) or Edinburgh.

And finally- nothing is set in stone! Both computer science and business fields don't even require a related degree to enter the field. Thousands, even millions of people are in either of these fields with a completely unrelated degree like psychology or engineering. And if you insist on a degree related to your career field , MBA's and computer science conversion courses exist. They're expensive but get results.

Feel free to message me with any further questions.

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