MSc Computer Science (conversion course) - 2018/2019

Sounds pretty solid Warwick is pretty respected for maths, yeah Im not sure how much consideration they give to the first year grade, I got 82 first year and 70 second year was hoping I would get a bit higher second year and hoping its not a reason for rejection, Im hoping my work experience will pull through for me tbh, did a research internship at my university in first year and a software internship at a big company second year, If I do get rejected I will just have to assume its because of my second year grade, It's only been two weeks since they received both references but nervous since some people have received offers within one week, How long have you been waiting for man?

It's only been a week for me, tbh I don't know what I would do if i got an offer. I assume It'd be conditional on a first and that's not exactly guaranteed.

What do you mean? Its hard to specialise if you don't know the fundamentals

Every time I get an email, I immediately check it thinking it could be something related to my application, and it just ends up being something silly haha, anyone else know that feel?

Hi, exactly same feeling here. My second reference was submitted on 21st december and I'm still waiting. Fingers crossed.

Good luck to all!

Computer conversion course is waste of money. Just specialize directly. Its important to know the specific modules covered in the course. Remember technology is always evolving.

RELOADED !

What do you mean? Its hard to specialise if you don't know the fundamentals

Yeah I think I agree with Ppi2020. It's certainly harder to get into a specialist course without a very numerate undergraduate but I believe that you can compensate that with relevant work experience and self-study the basics. It depends on your future plans. If you plan on doing a PhD afterwards, then conversion course is great and you can specialise using your PhD. For someone like me who doesn't want to do a PhD (at this moment of time), then a conversion course doesn't really give me the specialist knowledge that I need to get a job in tech/ML/data science.

So given everything you just said, why have you applied to conversion courses? Or have you had a change of heart?

It varies by course content but I fail to see how a conversion course will not prepare you for a career in software dev, again with the qualifier of which course it is. Some of them are more focused on preparing you for further academic work. None of the elements such a course teaches will change so drastically in a year that it will be obsolete, least of all the programming languages like Java, or the value you will get through doing projects on the course. You can of course teach yourself most aspects of the course in alternative ways. Even coding bootcamps will take 2 - 3 months at a minimum and of course won't touch on any other areas of computer science. These conversion courses aren't intended to prepare you for very specialised areas like ML or data science (for which a business analysis course is actually a better option), with some exceptions.

By all means, look at the course's employment statistics, which most of these universities will offer freely, and also weigh up the modules in terms of how what they actually focus on, but it's just blatantly false to say that they can't prepare you for a career in tech, when they can and do this with existing grads. It's a matter of weighing up the costs and benefits vs alternative methods of delivery.

I applied to the conversion course with the objective to select few extra MSc Machine Learning modules and to do a PhD. However, after communicating with the course director, it doesn't seem to be possible given how the course has been structured. I also spoke to few UCL lecturers and it seems that I dont really need a PhD to achieve my goals. Tbh, I was having a very difficult time choosing between the masters (conversion course) and tech consulting but companies do invest money in helping you develop the core basics programming skills and you can also put forward some relevant training for the company to sponsor you.

I guess my view point is that you can master the basics through work, self-studying and competitions (without incurring heavy cost). Once you feel you are ready with a strong portfolio, apply to a specialist course. If you are planning on pursuing a PhD, stick with the conversion course as PhD is usually funded anyway so you can specialise then. It depends what you want to achieve with the masters. A conversion course or a tech job, either way you win



I agree, the course content is definitely very important. And yes it's definitely false to say that a CS conversion course cant prepare you for a career in tech. I am speaking with ML and data science in mind but definitely helps with tech! and I just want to be clear, It's not that you cant get into ML/data science with a conversion course but the level of competitiveness means you probably need to do more, whether that be a specialist masters, PhD or few relevant work experience to compete and work at the top companies.

Hi all - am seriously looking at doing a CS conversion course, and am most interested in the Imperial and UCL ones (particularly Imperial). Did Econ undergrad at Cambridge (graduated with 2:1) and have been in work for over a year now in banking, but want to move over into tech/software engineering, so looking for a solid post-grad degree that teaches the fundamentals of CS and offers decent specialisation options in AI and ML.

Few Qs for those that have applied and got accepted - what did your personal statements look like? How did you guys emphasise your interest in CS esp if you didn't have a huge amount of prior experience? I've been self-learning Javascript and C++ in my spare time, attending weekly coding meetups etc but I haven't exactly got a huge amount of real-world experience to point to, any tips on how to overcome this?

If you PM me I can tell you what I put in mine (I received offers from all the universities I applied to), however they are basically just after a brief answer as to why you're interested in the course and are not looking for a huge amount of technical detail, but rather what you want to do with the degree and why you think you will benefit from it, plus of course you could go into why you think you're qualified for it. None of the unis that I am aware of require coding experience, although they recommend warm up practice prior to commencement.

The courses are intended to take you from zero experience to having a sufficient base to either pursue a graduate level career in software dev or similar, or go on to further study. They're not expecting technical proficiency at this point.

And I am going to be blunt here, but with an 2:i from Cambridge in a "hard" (non-trivial) subject like econ, they're not going to pull their noses up at you. Quite the opposite. So I would not look at the PS as a determining factor at all in this respect. These courses - even at Imperial - are not as competitive for entry as you might think. There is no real formula to them. I'd be quite happy to proof read it for you, and offer any suggestions that might come up.

Thanks very much for the response and the flattering words! Out of curiosity which course did you apply for and how did you find it?

Hey guys, no idea why I was rejected for MSc Computer Science but received an offer for MSc Data Science :/

Hey guys, no idea why I was rejected for MSc Computer Science but received an offer for MSc Data Science :/

Ah sorry and congrats at the same time, are you referring to UCL here? As Imperial doesn’t offer a Data Science MSc as far as I’m aware