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Reply 1
Hi, i have applied for Msc in computational science and machine learning at ucl on 2 april 2011. Can anyone tell me when i can expect my admission response. the deadline for department of computing is 30 may 2011 , does they will announc their decision after the mentioned deadline or i can expect before that?
and also what kind of profile and grades are needed to get admitted into this program at ucl. I am from India and my aggregate percentage is 75%.
University College London, University of London
University College London
London
Reply 2
UCL takes sometime to give out offers, I didnt get my offer until Late March.
Reply 3
Original post by Dibs_anim
UCL takes sometime to give out offers, I didnt get my offer until Late March.


me too:smile: what's your requirement? Is it AAAe? It seems that UCL CS offer higher than its before on this year.
Reply 4
Original post by patrick ye
me too:smile: what's your requirement? Is it AAAe? It seems that UCL CS offer higher than its before on this year.


I'm a first year at UCL my requirement last year was AAB but I'm not sure if they've pushed it up or not.
Reply 5
Original post by 1A*
Hi, i have applied for Msc in computational science and machine learning at ucl on 2 april 2011. Can anyone tell me when i can expect my admission response. the deadline for department of computing is 30 may 2011 , does they will announc their decision after the mentioned deadline or i can expect before that?
and also what kind of profile and grades are needed to get admitted into this program at ucl. I am from India and my aggregate percentage is 75%.


Greetings. Once you received a confirmation that your application has been received I think in about 1 or 2 weeks you will get an "informal offer",being a non-UK applicant. This essentially means you got accepted.

As for your chances, I think they are preety good. I have the same predicted average as you (I'm from Greece) and I received a conditional offer from the 'sister programme' of the one you are applying to ('MSc in Machine Learning'). The condition I must meet is to get 6.5/10 on my degree. As far as I know Indian applicants are well respected in Mathematics-related subjects so don't worry!
(edited 12 years ago)
prepare to be surrounded by utter douchebags for the next 3 years. I'm a recent grad and i have to admit i hated my time at ucl - too much toffs and egocentric people and what not.
Reply 7
Original post by blue_shift86
prepare to be surrounded by utter douchebags for the next 3 years. I'm a recent grad and i have to admit i hated my time at ucl - too much toffs and egocentric people and what not.


which course where you on? The UCL i have experienced so far isn't like that, maybe its the people you where hanging around with...
Original post by Dibs_anim
which course where you on? The UCL i have experienced so far isn't like that, maybe its the people you where hanging around with...


i did geophysics and i didn't hang around with uclers - they're turds. I went back to my NW london ghetto and hung around with normal people every day :cool:
Reply 9
Original post by Nikos_
Greetings. Once you received a confirmation that your application has been received I think in about 1 or 2 weeks you will get an "informal offer",being a non-UK applicant. This essentially means you got accepted.

As for your chances, I think they are preety good. I have the same predicted average as you (I'm from Greece) and I received a conditional offer from the 'sister programme' of the one you are applying to ('MSc in Machine Learning'). The condition I must meet is to get 6.5/10 on my degree. As far as I know Indian applicants are well respected in Mathematics-related subjects so don't worry!

Hey hi nikos:smile:..... can you ans my some of my queries!!
1. According to the entrance requiremets for the course in Msc in machine learning, one needs to have some industrial experience in this areas and need to cover its foundation course material in your first degree?
but i have done my bachelors of technology in information technology and i have not completed any course related to machine learning as a part of my first degree , so m afraid:afraid:, but m interseted to study this course !!
2. one more thing i one to know that does ur university background also matters in admission process. Does ucl select students only from top university??
Reply 10
Original post by 1A*
Hey hi nikos:smile:..... can you ans my some of my queries!!
1. According to the entrance requiremets for the course in Msc in machine learning, one needs to have some industrial experience in this areas and need to cover its foundation course material in your first degree?
but i have done my bachelors of technology in information technology and i have not completed any course related to machine learning as a part of my first degree , so m afraid:afraid:, but m interseted to study this course !!
2. one more thing i one to know that does ur university background also matters in admission process. Does ucl select students only from top university??


1. Industrial experience helps but is not a requirement (I don't have any). Machine Learning is essentially mathematics (linear algebra, probabilities/statistics, some differentiation/integration) and some basic programming more easily done in Matlab. The only vaguely related subjects I had on my transcipt when I applied were a course on pattern recognition and another one on neural networks (they don't emphasize much on the latter). Other than that we covered a lot of maths on my undergraduate (engineering).
I had good references and what I consider a nice personal statement explaining them why I want to study Machine Learning and why in UCL in particular, but also mentioning my other interests and last but not least stressing my mathematical and Matlab programming skills (I do an Electronics & Computer Engineering degree and Matlab is widely used especially in Telecommunications/ Signal Processing courses). My referees also emphasized on these skills in their letters.
2.By all means, NO. (I don't see my university in any list of 'top X universities in the world', with X ranging from 1 to 100000...yet they accepted me anywhere I applied but in Imperial). 'Top universities' are hard to define and all the 'lists' are ''cooked'' one way or the other. To be frank, personally I consider any Computer Science/ Informatics degree from India (where there is a focus in mathematics and very high competition) more demanding than (at least the vast majority of) its british counterparts (where the focus is on the use of tools, perfect to get a job later, not so good to do research). At least in mathematical/scientifical background that is. And in the end of the day that is the focus of machine learning: applied maths. People working in universities know this and thus the high number of international msc students one sees in machine learning courses.
And in case people think my comments are unfounded or personal views or anything, my source is: a professor of the UCL machine learning msc programme himself...

Finally, do not worry. There is much hype in British MSc degrees and to be honest I was awed first when I applied, but the facts are:

1)You (or someone else, e.g. a scholarship foundation) pay for them so they want you as a client (of course they won't accept ANYBODY, but you get the point).
2) They work on ''first-come-first-served'' basis in most things including the application process. This means I, having applied a month earlier than you, got accepted more easily than you and you will be more easily than someone that applies now.
3)I presume (and -believe me- they will, too) that you have an adequate mathematical background. This is what matters in this programme.
4)Also, this programme is not as competitive as others, where the screening process is presumably tougher (in my link you also see some reasons why).

However, it would be wise to also apply to other similar programmes (eg. in Imperial, Edinburgh, Manchester, Bristol) and not put all your hopes in one.

Personally, I am probably going to Edinburgh, mainly because the city is much cheaper than London and an acquaintance of mine also goes there.

I hope this helps! At least this is what I learned from my experience. (pun intended).:smile:
Reply 11
Original post by Nikos_
1. Industrial experience helps but is not a requirement (I don't have any). Machine Learning is essentially mathematics (linear algebra, probabilities/statistics, some differentiation/integration) and some basic programming more easily done in Matlab. The only vaguely related subjects I had on my transcipt when I applied were a course on pattern recognition and another one on neural networks (they don't emphasize much on the latter). Other than that we covered a lot of maths on my undergraduate (engineering).
I had good references and what I consider a nice personal statement explaining them why I want to study Machine Learning and why in UCL in particular, but also mentioning my other interests and last but not least stressing my mathematical and Matlab programming skills (I do an Electronics & Computer Engineering degree and Matlab is widely used especially in Telecommunications/ Signal Processing courses). My referees also emphasized on these skills in their letters.
2.By all means, NO. (I don't see my university in any list of 'top X universities in the world', with X ranging from 1 to 100000...yet they accepted me anywhere I applied but in Imperial). 'Top universities' are hard to define and all the 'lists' are ''cooked'' one way or the other. To be frank, personally I consider any Computer Science/ Informatics degree from India (where there is a focus in mathematics and very high competition) more demanding than (at least the vast majority of) its british counterparts (where the focus is on the use of tools, perfect to get a job later, not so good to do research). At least in mathematical/scientifical background that is. And in the end of the day that is the focus of machine learning: applied maths. People working in universities know this and thus the high number of international msc students one sees in machine learning courses.
And in case people think my comments are unfounded or personal views or anything, my source is: a professor of the UCL machine learning msc programme himself...

Finally, do not worry. There is much hype in British MSc degrees and to be honest I was awed first when I applied, but the facts are:

1)You (or someone else, e.g. a scholarship foundation) pay for them so they want you as a client (of course they won't accept ANYBODY, but you get the point).
2) They work on ''first-come-first-served'' basis in most things including the application process. This means I, having applied a month earlier than you, got accepted more easily than you and you will be more easily than someone that applies now.
3)I presume (and -believe me- they will, too) that you have an adequate mathematical background. This is what matters in this programme.
4)Also, this programme is not as competitive as others, where the screening process is presumably tougher (in my link you also see some reasons why).

However, it would be wise to also apply to other similar programmes (eg. in Imperial, Edinburgh, Manchester, Bristol) and not put all your hopes in one.

Personally, I am probably going to Edinburgh, mainly because the city is much cheaper than London and an acquaintance of mine also goes there.

I hope this helps! At least this is what I learned from my experience. (pun intended).:smile:


Thanks a lot nikos for all the information you provided to me , God bless u for that!!
and yes i have also applied to oxford ,but got rejected from there after interview and also got rejected from imperial but they have not gave any reason to me:frown:. I got the final offer from york,bristol ,newcastle and waiting from edinburg and ucl.If i got in edinburh them m definetely going to meet you there , it seems to me that you are very nice person:smile:.......
just be in touch with me i will ask you the question if got stuck in deciding between ucl and edinburh. Take care:smile:
Reply 12
Original post by 1A*
Thanks a lot nikos for all the information you provided to me , God bless u for that!!
and yes i have also applied to oxford ,but got rejected from there after interview and also got rejected from imperial but they have not gave any reason to me:frown:. I got the final offer from york,bristol ,newcastle and waiting from edinburg and ucl.If i got in edinburh them m definetely going to meet you there , it seems to me that you are very nice person:smile:.......
just be in touch with me i will ask you the question if got stuck in deciding between ucl and edinburh. Take care:smile:


Thank you for your kind words, friend.
Whatever you need, send me a private message (or whatever this forum/site uses...), or perhaps quote one of my posts so that I notice.
If we end up in the same university, knowing each other in advance will be nice, being both foreigners in a new land.
I wish you the best of luck with your remaining applications!
Reply 13
Original post by Nikos_
Thank you for your kind words, friend.
Whatever you need, send me a private message (or whatever this forum/site uses...), or perhaps quote one of my posts so that I notice.
If we end up in the same university, knowing each other in advance will be nice, being both foreigners in a new land.
I wish you the best of luck with your remaining applications!

I will pray to god that we should end up in same university:smile: and can u plz ans some of my queries and u can call me honey:smile: ,my nickname
1. when you have applied to imperial , have they give you any reason that why they reject ???
I am shocked when i got their decision that my application was unsucessfull
2. In my undergraduate studies , i have publish 3 papers in networking in international journals like IEEE,IJCA to name few but m always intertsed in studing bioinformatics, that why i have applied for Msc in computational stats and machine learning at ucl bcoz it involves a lot of mathematics and also i will get to study the modules of evolutionary algorithms and intelligent systems in bioinformatics. Can you tell me the scope and job prospects in this subject in UK if you are aware of this field??
3.If i got in edinburgh and ucl , then for which univ i should go for according to status, good infrastructure and more importantly about the graduate employment after studying this course . The problem is m taking an education loan and my dad can/t support me financially , as m not from strong financial background, so i need the job to put offmy loan and then again want to go back to studies in UK.
4. If i don't get in edinburgh and ucl , then among york,bristol and new castle which one i should choose considering all the parameters i mentioned in point 3.
Reply 14
Original post by 1A*
I will pray to god that we should end up in same university:smile: and can u plz ans some of my queries and u can call me honey:smile: ,my nickname
1. when you have applied to imperial , have they give you any reason that why they reject ???
I am shocked when i got their decision that my application was unsucessfull
2. In my undergraduate studies , i have publish 3 papers in networking in international journals like IEEE,IJCA to name few but m always intertsed in studing bioinformatics, that why i have applied for Msc in computational stats and machine learning at ucl bcoz it involves a lot of mathematics and also i will get to study the modules of evolutionary algorithms and intelligent systems in bioinformatics. Can you tell me the scope and job prospects in this subject in UK if you are aware of this field??
3.If i got in edinburgh and ucl , then for which univ i should go for according to status, good infrastructure and more importantly about the graduate employment after studying this course . The problem is m taking an education loan and my dad can/t support me financially , as m not from strong financial background, so i need the job to put offmy loan and then again want to go back to studies in UK.
4. If i don't get in edinburgh and ucl , then among york,bristol and new castle which one i should choose considering all the parameters i mentioned in point 3.


Well, honey:smile:

1. No, they just said it was 'unsuccessful'.
2.First of all: wow, 3 papers! This seriously raises your chances to be accepted anywhere you apply! You shouldn't worry at all!
Secondly: I too am very interested in bioinformatics. In fact when I first considered doing an MSc, I thought doing one in bioinformatics. However, later I realised that I wanted to approach bioinformatics from a 'machine learning/ pattern recognition point of view' and settled for looking for machine learning programmes. I still want to take courses and/or a final project with a bioinformatics theme, however!
Thirdly: I have no idea regarding the job prospects in bioinformatics. I believe they are not yet great, but in 3-6 years they will start being. However, machine learning covers a wider area, so job prospects for machine learning specialists are better. Another reason that made me chose it instead of bioinformatics. Needless to say that if you hold an msc in 'machine learning' or 'artificial intelligence' they will regard you in a job interview as a 'computer science specialist', whereas if you tell them i have an msc in bioinformatics they might find it more exotic/ 'straying from the path of cs'/'suitable for a smaller spectrum of positions'
3. I had the same dilemma between ucl and edinburgh. I started a thread some time ago. I hope the various ideas of those that replied to me help you. To be honest I don't know much about the job prospects. I am lucky enough to not be in need of taking a loan. I haven't given that much thought about it, I just follow my desire to learn more on machine learning. I would advise you to ask someone more knowledgeable, perhaps a professor in one of the machine learning programmes might know about employment prospects both in general machine learning and in bioinformatics (though each will tell you that their department has the best ones:tongue:). They might also direct you to a path leading to a bioinformatics career through their programme. Finally, the universities themselves might help you find a job suited to your talents after you graduate in order to pay off your loan. British universities are so successful due to the fact that they bridge very efficiently education and employment.
4. I don't know about the other two, but Bristol's cs department is pretty good (some have told me better than ucl's), however the main programming is done in C which sounds too much of a trouble for machine learning algorithms (I also commented on that on the above thread). On the other hand they HAVE to have already implemented libraries with frequently used functions and data structures so it might not be as tough as I think (I still prefer Matlab though!:rolleyes:)

Again, do not take my word for it. Better ask someone with more knowledge, but the conclusion I reached is that both UCL and Edinburgh are very good choices for this subject. Perhaps the best in UK along with Imperial. Both education-wise and career-wise.
Reply 15
Original post by Nikos_
Well, honey:smile:

1. No, they just said it was 'unsuccessful'.
2.First of all: wow, 3 papers! This seriously raises your chances to be accepted anywhere you apply! You shouldn't worry at all!
Secondly: I too am very interested in bioinformatics. In fact when I first considered doing an MSc, I thought doing one in bioinformatics. However, later I realised that I wanted to approach bioinformatics from a 'machine learning/ pattern recognition point of view' and settled for looking for machine learning programmes. I still want to take courses and/or a final project with a bioinformatics theme, however!
Thirdly: I have no idea regarding the job prospects in bioinformatics. I believe they are not yet great, but in 3-6 years they will start being. However, machine learning covers a wider area, so job prospects for machine learning specialists are better. Another reason that made me chose it instead of bioinformatics. Needless to say that if you hold an msc in 'machine learning' or 'artificial intelligence' they will regard you in a job interview as a 'computer science specialist', whereas if you tell them i have an msc in bioinformatics they might find it more exotic/ 'straying from the path of cs'/'suitable for a smaller spectrum of positions'
3. I had the same dilemma between ucl and edinburgh. I started a thread some time ago. I hope the various ideas of those that replied to me help you. To be honest I don't know much about the job prospects. I am lucky enough to not be in need of taking a loan. I haven't given that much thought about it, I just follow my desire to learn more on machine learning. I would advise you to ask someone more knowledgeable, perhaps a professor in one of the machine learning programmes might know about employment prospects both in general machine learning and in bioinformatics (though each will tell you that their department has the best ones:tongue:). They might also direct you to a path leading to a bioinformatics career through their programme. Finally, the universities themselves might help you find a job suited to your talents after you graduate in order to pay off your loan. British universities are so successful due to the fact that they bridge very efficiently education and employment.
4. I don't know about the other two, but Bristol's cs department is pretty good (some have told me better than ucl's), however the main programming is done in C which sounds too much of a trouble for machine learning algorithms (I also commented on that on the above thread). On the other hand they HAVE to have already implemented libraries with frequently used functions and data structures so it might not be as tough as I think (I still prefer Matlab though!:rolleyes:)

Again, do not take my word for it. Better ask someone with more knowledge, but the conclusion I reached is that both UCL and Edinburgh are very good choices for this subject. Perhaps the best in UK along with Imperial. Both education-wise and career-wise.

Thanks a lot mate for your valuable information. I wish you best of luck for edinburg university and also for your future. Hope i met you there if i choose edinburgh over ucl. even if i choose ucl then by some means i will come to edinburg to meet you:tongue: , cheers!!!!!!!!!!!! Take care:smile:
Reply 16
Original post by Nikos_
Thank you for your kind words, friend.
Whatever you need, send me a private message (or whatever this forum/site uses...), or perhaps quote one of my posts so that I notice.
If we end up in the same university, knowing each other in advance will be nice, being both foreigners in a new land.
I wish you the best of luck with your remaining applications!

Hi , I need to send some extra documnets at ucl to support my application but i dont know where to send it . I have also contacted rebbeca martin, postgraduate administrator of Msc in comp stats and amchine learning, but i have not any reply from them yet. do you know anything about that where to send my extra documents and also i need to send one more recommendatin letter but do not know where to send as ucl consider only 2 refrees.
Reply 17
Original post by 1A*
Hi , I need to send some extra documnets at ucl to support my application but i dont know where to send it . I have also contacted rebbeca martin, postgraduate administrator of Msc in comp stats and amchine learning, but i have not any reply from them yet. do you know anything about that where to send my extra documents and also i need to send one more recommendatin letter but do not know where to send as ucl consider only 2 refrees.


Ms Martin is the person to contact. In my experience she replies quite soon and always sorts things out. If she got your message, then the problem is solved.
Good Luck!
Reply 18
Original post by Nikos_
Ms Martin is the person to contact. In my experience she replies quite soon and always sorts things out. If she got your message, then the problem is solved.
Good Luck!

Hi nikos, I also got the offer from University of Edinburgh:colondollar: , but m waiting for UCL decision.
Actually m confused why the UCL world ranking, has slipped from rank 4 to rank 22. Can u comment on this ??
Reply 19
Original post by 1A*
Hi nikos, I also got the offer from University of Edinburgh:colondollar: , but m waiting for UCL decision.
Actually m confused why the UCL world ranking, has slipped from rank 4 to rank 22. Can u comment on this ??


Congratulations!:smile:
Well...I don't know much about rankings. There are many of them and each of them takes different parameters into account and with different weight. I believe all of them are not to be taken very seriously. If ,for example, a 50yr old ex-Chemistry student from my university receives a Nobel Prize, this might lift the name of my university, but still it will mean nothing to me as a Computer Science student...

No one doubts that MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Oxford and Cambridge are among the best universities in the world, but what does that mean? Perhaps despite their 'brandname' in some fields they do not offer the best education. I believe the prospective employers in the engineering industry would favor an Imperial graduate over a Cambridge one, for example.

UCL is still a highly reputable university. However, I would say, don't let the rankings sway you as much as other factors (course structure, research activity in the area you are interested in, economic/personal reasons, etc)

The course we are interested in is offered in a handful of universities and, to my knowledge, UCL, Edinburgh and Imperial are among the most well-known in Europe that offer it. They are all considered to be centres of research in the field and they all have a good 'name'.

Both UCL and Edinburgh are excellent choices, so good luck deciding!

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