A Warning to Prospective Students in Computer Science

Just a quick note on this: I know it's a long read and that everyone's experience will vary. However I think it's important to warn people of the dangers of choosing this course.

Dear Prospective Students,

I Started my MSc course in Computer Science in 2013. I was given my personal tutor on the first day of term and found that he was starting on the same day as me (not a very encouraging start). As someone who is quite shy anyway I found it quite difficult to speak up but was determined to get help as I found it difficult in the beginning. The first year of the course is really good - even if the pastoral care is terrible, it's not too much of a challenge and I pretty much coasted through it without much difficulty.

Then, second year came. It is nothing like any open day or first year course you will experience. The courses suddenly became mostly theory and had no content geared towards anything creative, bar the software engineering course (but it was total chance that I was put into a group with people I actually got along with). By the end of my second year I was sure I had started the wrong course, and my marks reflected this. I was still too scared to speak up, and figured that if the university kicked me off the 4-year course I would only have to suffer through third year, come away with a 2:2 or 3rd, and move on to a masters course somewhere nearby to where I live.

Results day came and I had passed enough modules to continue but only on the three year course, like I had hoped. I pushed all my effort into making the most of the year and doing something creative for my project, an educational application. My personal tutor told me I would be able to achieve a 2:1 overall and I was never told my marks were right on the borderline of a pass grade. He also started shirking our rare face to face meetings, instead preferring to Skype me at 10pm (something I have discussed at length with a senior tutor at another uni, and he has said this is unheard of and shocking). In addition to this, personal circumstances at home had left me feeling anxious and isolated, and the lack of care I received meant I felt completely alone with no one but my housemates and girlfriend to talk to.

On the results day at the end of my final year, I had to pester them to receive my results, and was told I had failed three of my modules. I was told I would receive a letter telling me that I would have to resit the modules in June 2017 (something that still hasn't arrived, two months later) and was left reeling. I was still given no guidance and actually had to seek out a meeting with the senior tutor Mike Joy, who just insulted me and told me he would consider looking at pastoral care "in the future". Well, in the words of Joe Lycett, this doth butter no parsnips.

I submitted an appeal against the capping of my grade to a pass after resit on the grounds that I was treated unfairly by the university and that this had left me under ridiculous amounts of stress and submitted a formal complaint to the head of department. The appeal was simply laughed away, and the complaint has still yet to be answered. I have had advice from the head of the Office of the Independent Adjudicator, and a Head of Department at another university, and they have both advised me that I should seek legal advice. Yep, it's that bad.

Because this is the internet: TL;DR - Warwick University offers almost no student support especially in the computer science department, so I'd definitely consider going somewhere else.

Reply 1

Observatory

The key point of your complaint is that you weren't told what your marks were at the end of the second year. That seems very unlikely.

University of Warwick

Coventry

Reply 2

Bobjim12

This is a very cheeky first post.

Reply 3

Mullybobs

Original post by Observatory

The key point of your complaint is that you weren't told what your marks were at the end of the second year. That seems very unlikely.

Unlikely but true. When I realised for myself I needed some help and asked for it my personal tutor shrugged me off pretty quickly. It's also been like that since June in the department, getting pawned off to different areas who all say the same thing.

Reply 4

BlueSam3

Your objection seems to be primarily that your computer science degree is a computer science degree. Computer science is a branch of mathematics that got rich enough to buy its own building. That's what the subject is, so that's what most of your degree is going to consist of. If you wanted a programming qualification, you should have done a programming course.

Reply 5

Mullybobs

Original post by BlueSam3

Don't want to appear petty in arguing, to be honest you're probably right about the course I was on being the wrong one for me. My objection isn't actually in the course, the teaching was ok and fairly engaging most of the time. The issue I have is that the level of care I received was little to none, even when I asked for it. I understand that the university have to take an objective approach to their teaching, but when I asked the head of the personal tutors he told me that Warwick had chosen "good research grants" over "good pastoral care".

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 6

username2791512

Sorry to hear about your experience - I've just finished my second year in CS (at Warwick) and I'd like to share my own, which is radically different.

Original post by Mullybobs

I was given my personal tutor on the first day of term

For the prospective or hopeful students: this is typical. You will meet with your personal tutor, in person, at minimum twice a term (and more if you wish).

Original post by Mullybobs

Then, second year came. It is nothing like any open day or first year course you will experience. The courses suddenly became mostly theory

On the contrary, a heavy focus on theory from the second year is typical of almost every Russel-group CS course. If the open day you attended didn't mention the level of theory then that is definitely unfortunate, but I've attended or assisted with the open days every year since 2013, and those have always discussed the level of theory in the course - if any current prospective students who attended an open day are reading this, you should definitely have an accurate idea of what the course involves.

Original post by Mullybobs

By the end of my second year I was sure I had started the wrong course, and my marks reflected this. I was still too scared to speak up

Respectfully, I don't think this is something you can or should be blaming the university for. Even at the end of second year you can still move courses, and there are courses you can switch to that wouldn't require you to do a full 3 years.

Original post by Mullybobs

My personal tutor told me I would be able to achieve a 2:1 overall and I was never told my marks were right on the borderline of a pass grade.

Just to clarify: you were never told your second year marks? That seems incredibly unlikely to me. If this was the case though, you could have asked your personal tutor, the senior tutor, or any nearby CS professor for them. They are also available for you to view online through Warwick's student area, so no prospective students should worry about this happening.

Original post by Mullybobs

He also started shirking our rare face to face meetings, instead preferring to Skype me at 10pm (something I have discussed at length with a senior tutor at another uni, and he has said this is unheard of and shocking).

This is most definitely not typical of the department or university, and is something you should have raised with Warwick's senior tutor instead of contacting a senior tutor at another university - only one of them can actually do something about it.

Original post by Mullybobs

I was still given no guidance and actually had to seek out a meeting with the senior tutor Mike Joy, who just insulted me

This is a serious allegation against the person who is responsible for overseeing pastoral care of every student in the department, and I very much wonder if you have misinterpreted him. From the experience of both myself and every other student I know, Mike is incredibly understanding and compassionate; in his spare time at university he volunteers with the student cinema (£2.50 for classic films and films currently in the cinema, I love it), and also runs point on first aid within the department.

Original post by Mullybobs

Warwick University offers almost no student support

Nothing you have described in this post has referred to the university's general student support, so I wonder where this part is coming from. For the prospective student, there are many resources both within and outside of each department:
any student can contact the Student's Union's team for advice, as well as the Chaplaincy (regardless of which religion you follow, if any), the university's own Counselling Service, Nightline in the later hours, and if you're staying on-campus, you could speak to your Residential Services team, of which two people are allocated per building. There are also other services that are trained to help should you need it (such as the campus security team) - and this is not mentioning the tutoring teams in each department.

Again, I'm very sorry to hear you didn't enjoy your time at Warwick; I am incredibly surprised that your experience is so wildly different to my own, given that we are studying the exact same course, and only a year apart. To those who may (very) shortly be considering whether or not to come here, I wholeheartedly recommend both the university and the department. If you are concerned about the level of theory here (which is little higher than any other Russell group university, and probably the same as a significant number), you can check out the Warwick CS course structure to see exactly what the course involves (and the other courses should have something like this too, if you aren't pursuing CS).