Oxford Computer Science (CS) Students and Applicants

I couldn’t find any specific information about the number of students on an MSc in CS at Oxford. According to Final Examiners Report (Statistics -> Results) there are about 50 candidates each year. So, do these figures reflect the real number of postgraduate students in CS?

And is there any possibility to be the only person who selects some particular course from the offered topics? If yes, does this mean that you will be taught individually?

studying maths, further maths, physics and computing/ICT will be advantageous.

Hey to anyone there I would just like to know about oxfords computer science and how it's like in terms of how your finding it and enjoyment etc.

Also I would like to know about the joint maths and computer science degree and how it is compared to the normal computer science in terms of graduate prospects and what made you choose one over the other. And is it possible to switch between the two if you happen to change your mind?

I'm undecided whether to apply for Computer Science or Maths & Computer Science. Thanks

Hey,

I have just finished my first year doing Oxford's CS course.

Personally I couldn't love it more. It has a reputation (and is) much more theoretical than other Computer Science courses out there, and I was unsure how I would cope, but it is actually fine. In your first year you do:



I am working for an image processing company at the moment, and I personally am using knowledge from almost all of these topics day-to-day. In fact the only one which hasn't helped me hugely in this one project is Calculus.

So yeah it can be theoretical, and a different balance between theory and practically could be struck, but I would say Oxford's approach isn't so out-there.

In terms of employment, well loads of people secure internships in a field they think they might be interested in (be in programming, finance, academic, etc.) in their first year, and plenty more arrange something later on.
I would say that the course doesn't hold your hand and lead you through the easy stuff. The course teaches design of algorithms, data structures, concurrency, hardware considerations, and all that because it is important and difficult to fully appreciate if self-taught. If you want to be a programmer then there are lots of other things you should be teaching yourself (collaboration, code commenting, best practices) which you should pick up on your own projects or working on open source stuff.
It is not a software engineering degree, and it does not teach you everything you need to know to become a professional coder. However it does teach you all the hard, abstract, important stuff, and then give you the tools you need to follow further down that path if it is what you want to do.

Personally I prefer the straight CS course, I think it covers some important stuff that isn't in MCS, but both courses really do empower students with the core knowledge they need to do further learning where they feel they want to. You can probably change between the two in your first term at the discretion of your college tutors. I know someone who switched from MCS to Maths, which wasn't a problem he just had to convince the Maths tutors he was up to it.

Oh thanks for all the details I really appreciate it. I've tried the Oxford CompSci course for a day in summer of yr 10 and I really enjoyed it, before then I had no awareness of Computer Science. So what made you choose to do the normal computer science course in the 1st place? And if I choose one or the other would my graduate prospects be affected? Thanks.

Also what were you GCSE grades and A levels so that I can have a rough idea thanks.

What made me choose CS? That's a big question... In short I always wanted to follow either Physics or CS, and in the end I found myself doing more CS related stuff in my free time than reading around Physics, so applied for that.

I don't have the employment prospects for CS and MCS at hand (they are probably available on Oxford's CS website), but you won't struggle to find a job with either if you get your grades and show some kind of pulse outside the course. You are much better of choosing the one you think you will do better in, companies are desperate for CS/MCS interns and graduates at the moment, so doing either ticks one big box (there are some other requirements you must also satisfy, like performing well in their interviews, tests).

GCSE:


A-Level:

Thanks man you've been such a great help. Right now I'm leaning towards regular comp sci as I've always wanted to do programming since a kid, but maths has always been my fav subject which makes the decision hard but I rather specialise and learn more comp sci than to learn abstract maths. And your GCSE grades are exactly the same as mine so you've given me confidence . A levels almost the same except Economics instead of Chemistry. What do you plan on doing after your comp sci degree?

I did plan on going into finance, but recently decided I would much rather go in to a company like Google. So high-end development, I suppose.

I would recommend doing better than me in Maths A-level.

Yh maths is my strongest subject so I'm aiming to A* my A level Maths and I'll see how I find Further Maths.

Another thing I've always wondered is how is Physics relevant to Comp Sci?

HI All,

Can anybody help me in knowing whether I can get admisssion in oxford university for ms in computer science.

If yes, which test does they accept?

Thanks