MSc Computer Science (conversion course) - 2018/2019

Congrats on the offer dude! May I ask how long did Imperial take to make the offer from the date of submission with references?

Approximately a week!

Hi there,

I am also going to apply to a CS conversion course starting next year. First of all, I do not recommend the University of Kent as my friend started studying there doing the CS conversion course and she has had a horrible experience so far.

I am thinking of applying to UCL (hopefully get a scholarship there), Bristol, Birmingham and one of Birkbeck, Newcastle, Liverpool or East Anglia. I have limited funds and I am from the EU so I need to carefully consider my options. Also, almost all unis have drastically increased the tuition fees from 2017-8 to 2018-9 which is quite painful to watch.

As for my background, I finished my BA in French and English Language this year which it is completely unrelated to CS but I do have a first class degree at least. Also, I have the equivalent of an A-level in IT and Mathematics but that was from 2009. I started learning front end development this summer and currently I am doing a Udacity Developer Scholarship and hopefully soon a Front End Developer Nanodegree.

My question is: does anyone know how these unis perceive these online training courses? Also, for UCL there needs to be a few pages code submitted but I don't have anything so far that I could submit, I only just started with JavaScript and I doubt HTML and CSS would be enough. What kind of code do you think should I try to create with JavaScript?
Also, which unis have better reputation from my list? Rankings are one thing but I would rather hear something real and personal. Or even some gossips xD anything really...

Thank you,
Kata

Hey, in terms of codes to submit, I faced a similar problem as the codes I have (that were good enough) to submit were all in C. I emailed UCL and the lady said:

Although another programming language will not particularly hinder your application, you may find it difficult upon starting the programme, as we predominantly teach using Python and Java. I would therefore recommend that if you have not done so already, you incorporate strengthening your skills in both of these languages - you may wish to consider discussing this, and how you have transferred your skills from C, as part of your personal statement.

Hope that helps! Good luck!

I was just wondering about peoples backgrounds on this course in terms of undergraduate degree and work experience. I have a degree in financial economics and I have heard of people coming from an art background being accepted to the course.

Hey buddy, I applied to Imperial, Bristol, Birmingham and Kent and have received offers from all of them. I was going to apply to UCL too but the £75 fee puts me off so decided not to apply. What's your background?

Hey man,

how much programming experience do you have? I have been thinking about applying to the imperial course but I am unsure if I have enough experience.

Hi there,

I am also going to apply to a CS conversion course starting next year. First of all, I do not recommend the University of Kent as my friend started studying there doing the CS conversion course and she has had a horrible experience so far.

I am thinking of applying to UCL (hopefully get a scholarship there), Bristol, Birmingham and one of Birkbeck, Newcastle, Liverpool or East Anglia. I have limited funds and I am from the EU so I need to carefully consider my options. Also, almost all unis have drastically increased the tuition fees from 2017-8 to 2018-9 which is quite painful to watch.

As for my background, I finished my BA in French and English Language this year which it is completely unrelated to CS but I do have a first class degree at least. Also, I have the equivalent of an A-level in IT and Mathematics but that was from 2009. I started learning front end development this summer and currently I am doing a Udacity Developer Scholarship and hopefully soon a Front End Developer Nanodegree.

My question is: does anyone know how these unis perceive these online training courses? Also, for UCL there needs to be a few pages code submitted but I don't have anything so far that I could submit, I only just started with JavaScript and I doubt HTML and CSS would be enough. What kind of code do you think should I try to create with JavaScript?
Also, which unis have better reputation from my list? Rankings are one thing but I would rather hear something real and personal. Or even some gossips xD anything really...

Thank you,
Kata

This may sound silly, but has anyone ever thought of potentially completing the conversion course then advancing to the advanced comp. sci degree immediately afterwards? I am considering doing this in the future, Liverpool replied to my query and said it was possible if the grades were satisfactory. I didn't get a reply from other universities yet, but I only recently emailed them recently, (Friday).

I kind of see what you're saying I had a similar thought, but to do an MSc or MPhil in Machine learning afterward but quite frankly I don't know if its worth another year and another round of tuition fees, I think you might be better off getting a job and learning your skills from there. I'm not sure about the other universities but one thing I really liked about Imperial if you look at the optional modules on the conversion and the ones on the advanced loads of them are mutual so that means you would be learning the same level (in terms of complexity and skill level) as someone on the advanced I respected that because it makes me feel like I'm not missing out on more high level content.

Hi there,

I would like to know more as to why you don't recommend University of Kent and why you're friend has had a ''horrible experience''?

I'm currently in my final year of BSc Health & Exercise Science and I'm highly considering shifting to an MSc conversion course in computer science. However, I've decided in order to give myself a good chance both in writing up a personal statement and doing well in the course that I will apply for 2019 entry in order to give me a good amount of time to focus on self-development/study and get to grasp with coding.

Thanks for sharing your tips guys. I had a look at Imperial college and although I live in London, £14k is definitely a no no for me. I've been inclined to apply for: University of Birmingham, University of Kent (As they offer a year in industry), I did consider Birbeck university but I've heard some conflicting reviews about it...So not entirely sure and QMUL. I'm basically quite limited in terms of where I can apply and mostly at a setback due to not having A level Maths, and only a level 2 maths qualification which is equivalent to GCSE. I could potentially retake GCSE maths & take on an A level...But I've been suggested not to as I can prove myself via a portfolio.

Would be nice to hear what y'all thoughts are on this?

I'm interested in: IT consultancy & Software engineering

I just submitted my application to the UCL conversion degree. I will be applying to the Birmingham course shortly. UCL still have a lot of places apparently, according to the course administrator.

I was just wondering about peoples backgrounds on this course in terms of undergraduate degree and work experience. I have a degree in financial economics and I have heard of people coming from an art background being accepted to the course.

So my question is, if you have applied to, or received an offer from, or have taken the UCL course, what is your background and how much coding experience do you have?

my background:
BSc financial economics from Birkbeck College. Approximately 5-6 months of coding. have taken several online coding/programming courses including a python machine learning course, andrew ng's coursera machine learning course, and harvard's CS50x. I would highly reccomend cs50x as an introduction to computer science. I found it very engaging, interesting and enjoyable.

Hey I’ve applied to the UCL computer science course too! :-)

Whats your undergrad background? I'm thinking about it too

On path for a 2.1 in economics and finance from UOLIP. 2 internships, one consultancy internship with AT Kearney and one IB internship with a boutique firm. Picked up python by myself, have submitted a program which generates a list of stocks best suited for managing portfolio risk given a particular stock held.

Weak year 1 results.

How weak? I got a 2:2 in year 1 and then a 1st in year 2 ahaha

I kind of see what you're saying I had a similar thought, but to do an MSc or MPhil in Machine learning afterward but quite frankly I don't know if its worth another year and another round of tuition fees, I think you might be better off getting a job and learning your skills from there. I'm not sure about the other universities but one thing I really liked about Imperial if you look at the optional modules on the conversion and the ones on the advanced loads of them are mutual so that means you would be learning the same level (in terms of complexity and skill level) as someone on the advanced I respected that because it makes me feel like I'm not missing out on more high level content.

I noticed that too regarding Imperial. I appreciate that, although if I'm remembering correctly, I've read that someone wasn't able to do some of the modules they show as offered on the conversion course because they didn't meet the prerequisites.