MSc Computing - Imperial College London

I've only seen like myself and two others get an offer for this so far (on grad cafe) so maybe they just haven't processed them yet. Good luck! Which will you choose between imperial and Oxford if you get a choice?

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Reply 21

mochiii

Original post by ViralRiver

I've only seen like myself and two others get an offer for this so far (on grad cafe) so maybe they just haven't processed them yet. Good luck! Which will you choose between imperial and Oxford if you get a choice?

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I think I will choose Oxford over Imperial because of the Oxford brand. I'm still thinking about whether that can justify though; I know it shouldn't matter, but I feel that it will look really good to potential employers, even just with the fact that they have such strict admission rate. Of course Imperial is great too, but I think people's impression is still that Oxford is still "better"... imperial might be more practical (I'm not sure though, have to do some research on that - Oxford does have really interesting final projects which does seem super practical) but both on the theoretical side, so if it was between the two, I'd choose Oxford. Especially since they do seem to have decent machine learning options. Also the course at imperial is so much more expensive! I say that now, but after doing more research I might change my mind. But I'll worry about that later because beggars can't be choosers :P (I don't have any offers yet!!)

However if I get UCL (CSML) I'd struggle to choose between Oxford and UCL. The UCL one sounds like such a good machine learning course because it has lots of practical hands on work - my problem is that I can't decide yet whether to go straight into machine learning with practical training or do a broader label theoretical computing course first. I'd do both if I could!

Edit: Also for me I'm not sure how much more I should concentrate on the practical (applications in industry) side of it because I might want to do a PhD. But if I was completely set on going straight to work after uni, I'd choose UCL.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 22

cspostgrad

Got an email yesterday asking for some more details about my current course and what modules I would choose if I were to do the MSc in Advanced Computing and how I meet the pre requisites for the modules.
Anybody else get anything similar?

Reply 23

ViralRiver

16

For the ML specialism I was sent an informal email asking how I met the prereqs for one of the compulsory modules. But then I had no interview. It might just be they have nothing else to ask you and it would be a waste to interview for that reason. In my opinion it's good news, just be clear with your answer and make sure you can back up all those prereqs :wink:

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Reply 24

ViralRiver

16

Original post by mochiii

I think I will choose Oxford over Imperial because of the Oxford brand. I'm still thinking about whether that can justify though; I know it shouldn't matter, but I feel that it will look really good to potential employers, even just with the fact that they have such strict admission rate. Of course Imperial is great too, but I think people's impression is still that Oxford is still "better"... imperial might be more practical (I'm not sure though, have to do some research on that - Oxford does have really interesting final projects which does seem super practical) but both on the theoretical side, so if it was between the two, I'd choose Oxford. Especially since they do seem to have decent machine learning options. Also the course at imperial is so much more expensive! I say that now, but after doing more research I might change my mind. But I'll worry about that later because beggars can't be choosers :P (I don't have any offers yet!!)

However if I get UCL (CSML) I'd struggle to choose between Oxford and UCL. The UCL one sounds like such a good machine learning course because it has lots of practical hands on work - my problem is that I can't decide yet whether to go straight into machine learning with practical training or do a broader label theoretical computing course first. I'd do both if I could!

Edit: Also for me I'm not sure how much more I should concentrate on the practical (applications in industry) side of it because I might want to do a PhD. But if I was completely set on going straight to work after uni, I'd choose UCL.

Yeah, so your dilemma/predicament is pretty much identical to mine. I have both Imperial and UCL (standard ML, didn't apply for CSML), and know Imperial is more reputable, but UCL is more coursework based (which I'd prefer). I've been to Imperial before, but that's neither a plus nor a minus haha. My girlfriend is working in Holborn so UCL is easier in that regard. But then Imperial is more theory-hungry which could be more useful in a more research scientist-oriented job. It's definitely a difficult choice. The two coolest coursework things I see are split between both unis - UCL offer a course which is graded based on Kaggle competitions, and Imperial offer a robotics and advanced robotics course using lego NXTs (which I played with at NUS' Computing department) and drones (and I'm an aero guy at heart so this fits well with me!). I'm trying to find every reason I can to choose UCL, but I still think Imperial is edging it, based on the aerial robotics module and reputation. Oh, and they offer a module in crypto and comp. finance (the first is interesting, the second seems good to keep career paths open). I feel like I made a slight mistake applying for ML as opposed to CSML at UCL as that would have given me a better theory/coursework balance, but nothing I can do about that now I guess.

Sorry for the ramble, but this dilemma has taken over my head for over a month now and it's stressful haha.

Reply 25

mochiii

Original post by ViralRiver

Yeah, so your dilemma/predicament is pretty much identical to mine. I have both Imperial and UCL (standard ML, didn't apply for CSML), and know Imperial is more reputable, but UCL is more coursework based (which I'd prefer). I've been to Imperial before, but that's neither a plus nor a minus haha. My girlfriend is working in Holborn so UCL is easier in that regard. But then Imperial is more theory-hungry which could be more useful in a more research scientist-oriented job. It's definitely a difficult choice. The two coolest coursework things I see are split between both unis - UCL offer a course which is graded based on Kaggle competitions, and Imperial offer a robotics and advanced robotics course using lego NXTs (which I played with at NUS' Computing department) and drones (and I'm an aero guy at heart so this fits well with me!). I'm trying to find every reason I can to choose UCL, but I still think Imperial is edging it, based on the aerial robotics module and reputation. Oh, and they offer a module in crypto and comp. finance (the first is interesting, the second seems good to keep career paths open). I feel like I made a slight mistake applying for ML as opposed to CSML at UCL as that would have given me a better theory/coursework balance, but nothing I can do about that now I guess.

Sorry for the ramble, but this dilemma has taken over my head for over a month now and it's stressful haha.

I think you've answered your own question - go to Imperial! :P Also thanks for reminding me that Imperial has other cool options like computational finance (I just remembered that that was a big appeal of that course). Imperial is more reputable, it teaches you theory from the ground up and also do cool projects which allows you to work on your practical skills as well.

If you've done aero eng I honestly don't think you'd have problems rapidly equipping yourself with practical skills in the future, so the courses at Imperial sounds a lot more relevant. The UCL course doesn't require ANY prior experience right? I'd put a lot more trust into the Imperial one which has stricter technical requirements, I think you'd learn more that way. (I'm not trying to convince you to do either, but rather speaking out my own thoughts as I have the same problem as you - I did physics at Imperial and I've done some ML MOOCs.)

This might be a bit less relevant - there is a big hype around Kaggle competitions but the opinions amongst experienced people are mixed e.g. https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-get-a-job-as-a-data-scientist-if-I-have-no-prior-experience-as-a-data-scientist/answer/Brian-Farley-3?srid=seh5
(I find Quora to be a great source of info on personal experiences. They also have great answers about how people found the UCL ML course, couldn't find anything about the Imperial one though.)
Oh also if you're interested there's a GREAT course on data science called CS109 - it's rapidly paced and extremely hands on, and I imagine this might be what the UCL course might be like. But see, these days it's so easy to do hands on stuff by learning it online!

I've read somewhere that CSML starts 2 weeks earlier than the ML course to take extra stats lessons, but I'm not sure if that's still true. I've also read that people have in the past switched between the two, and also that you'd have to sacrifice some of the ML courses in order to take stats ones which isn't necessarily a good thing.

I'd draw up a massive list of pros and cons of UCL/Imperial and assign points to each criteria and add them up. :P

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 26

ViralRiver

16

Original post by mochiii

I think you've answered your own question - go to Imperial! :P Also thanks for reminding me that Imperial has other cool options like computational finance (I just remembered that that was a big appeal of that course). Imperial is more reputable, it teaches you theory from the ground up and also do cool projects which allows you to work on your practical skills as well.

If you've done aero eng I honestly don't think you'd have problems rapidly equipping yourself with practical skills in the future, so the courses at Imperial sounds a lot more relevant. The UCL course doesn't require ANY prior experience right? I'd put a lot more trust into the Imperial one which has stricter technical requirements, I think you'd learn more that way. (I'm not trying to convince you to do either, but rather speaking out my own thoughts as I have the same problem as you - I did physics at Imperial and I've done some ML MOOCs.)

This might be a bit less relevant - there is a big hype around Kaggle competitions but the opinions amongst experienced people are mixed e.g. https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-get-a-job-as-a-data-scientist-if-I-have-no-prior-experience-as-a-data-scientist/answer/Brian-Farley-3?srid=seh5
(I find Quora to be a great source of info on personal experiences. They also have great answers about how people found the UCL ML course, couldn't find anything about the Imperial one though.)
Oh also if you're interested there's a GREAT course on data science called CS109 - it's rapidly paced and extremely hands on, and I imagine this might be what the UCL course might be like. But see, these days it's so easy to do hands on stuff by learning it online!

I've read somewhere that CSML starts 2 weeks earlier than the ML course to take extra stats lessons, but I'm not sure if that's still true. I've also read that people have in the past switched between the two, and also that you'd have to sacrifice some of the ML courses in order to take stats ones which isn't necessarily a good thing.

I'd draw up a massive list of pros and cons of UCL/Imperial and assign points to each criteria and add them up. :P

Thanks - that definitely helps :smile:

. I've been asking so many people around me for help with this decision, but it makes more sense to ask those who are in a similar position :wink:

.

Although, I was under the impression the ML course at UCL was not a beginners course, but had some advanced prereqs - will need to check it again.

And yeah, I have a pro/con list stretching 6 pages and counting :wink:

. Still not finished haha.

Even though Imperial seems to rank much higher than UCL for CS, I've seen that UCL is very well known in ML thanks to the Gatsby Neuroscience Unit - have you heard anything about it or have any insight? I wonder if maybe they are better than Imperial for ML, just there isn't a ranking for it :P .