Swansea vs oxford brookes vs Essex
Currently going through clearing for computer science. Have offers from these threes unis have have to make a decision today. Any input anyone has about theses unis would be helpful.
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Hey @Watermelon286 
Congratulations on your 3 offers, you have some brilliant options to choose from, so I’m sure whichever you go for, you will have a fantastic University experience!
If it helps, I can share some key info about studying Computer Science at Swansea University:
• 8th in the UK overall and Top in Wales (Times Good Uni Guide)
• Top 10 for Graduate Prospects (Complete Uni Guide 2021)
• Study in the £32.5m Computational Foundry on Bay Campus, which includes a Vision and Biometric Lab, Maker Lab, Future Interaction Technologies Lab, Theory Lab, Cyber Security Lab, User Lab and Visualisation Suite
• Our Project Fair allows students to present their work to local industry
• Strong links with industry including Google, Facebook, NHS, Tata Steel, Ford, Microsoft and many more
• Degrees accredited by the British Computer Society
If there is anything else you would like to know about Swansea University in general, please just ask and I will try and help!
Emily
Congratulations on your 3 offers, you have some brilliant options to choose from, so I’m sure whichever you go for, you will have a fantastic University experience!
If it helps, I can share some key info about studying Computer Science at Swansea University:
• 8th in the UK overall and Top in Wales (Times Good Uni Guide)
• Top 10 for Graduate Prospects (Complete Uni Guide 2021)
• Study in the £32.5m Computational Foundry on Bay Campus, which includes a Vision and Biometric Lab, Maker Lab, Future Interaction Technologies Lab, Theory Lab, Cyber Security Lab, User Lab and Visualisation Suite
• Our Project Fair allows students to present their work to local industry
• Strong links with industry including Google, Facebook, NHS, Tata Steel, Ford, Microsoft and many more
• Degrees accredited by the British Computer Society
If there is anything else you would like to know about Swansea University in general, please just ask and I will try and help!
Emily
Congratulations! Essex and Swansea are similar and far better than Oxford Brookes.
Check the modules and see if there is a course you think you will enjoy more, that is very important!
A part from that, I sort of wrote a similar message here: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?p=90409732&highlight=essex
As I wrote above, Essex and Swansea are similar, but Essex ranking is better in Computer Sciences that Swansea: according to the QS world ranking in Computer Sciences, Essex is 301-350 (Swansea 501-550), THE world ranking in Computer Sciences, Essex is 176-200 (Swansea 251-300).
The Essex BSc Computer Sciences is accredited by British Computer Society and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).
Check the modules and see if there is a course you think you will enjoy more, that is very important!
A part from that, I sort of wrote a similar message here: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?p=90409732&highlight=essex
As I wrote above, Essex and Swansea are similar, but Essex ranking is better in Computer Sciences that Swansea: according to the QS world ranking in Computer Sciences, Essex is 301-350 (Swansea 501-550), THE world ranking in Computer Sciences, Essex is 176-200 (Swansea 251-300).
The Essex BSc Computer Sciences is accredited by British Computer Society and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).
I dont know a great deal about Essex or Brookes but the one thing that will be different is the surroundings. Swansea is the biggest city by some way and is also right next to the sea which the others arent. In terms of rankings the Complete University puts Swansea 32nd Essex 41st and Brookes 48th. For Computer Science Swansea is ranked 23rd Essex 42nd and Brookes 61st. However rankings is not really a sensible reason for choosing a university.
There are many tings you need to consider
Which course do you prefer.
How close or far from home do you want to be.
How do you feel about bigger or smaller cities.
Do you want to be on a campus or based in the city centre.
As I say I know very little about the other 2 but what I can tell is what Swansea has.
It is based by the seaside and the campus is just over 2 miles from the city centre. It is taught on a new campus opened in 2015 and moved into the new Computational Foundry last year. There are very regular buses including a 24 hour service for most of the week.
The city houses top football and rugby matches. The university has a varsity every April against Cardiff University.
The city has a legendary nightclub street known as Wind Street with numerous bars and restaurants.
In terms of restaurants there is a 24 hour Mcdonalds and a Starbucks about 1 mile from the Bay Campus. Swansea has the UKs first Dennys.. You will find restaurants of many different nationalities including Thai, Portugese, Caribbean, South American, Turkish, Greek, Indonesian, Middle Eastern, Japanese, Italian, Chinese and Indian. There are TGI Fridays, Nando, Frankie and Bennys and numerous others.
In terms of shopping there is Wales largest Indoor Market awarded the UKs best indoor market along with an indoor shopping centre and out door shops. You will fine Debenhams, M&S, Next, Primark, Boots, Wilkos, Waterstones and loads more. For food there is a huge Tesco next to the bus station.
There are many tings you need to consider
Which course do you prefer.
How close or far from home do you want to be.
How do you feel about bigger or smaller cities.
Do you want to be on a campus or based in the city centre.
As I say I know very little about the other 2 but what I can tell is what Swansea has.
It is based by the seaside and the campus is just over 2 miles from the city centre. It is taught on a new campus opened in 2015 and moved into the new Computational Foundry last year. There are very regular buses including a 24 hour service for most of the week.
The city houses top football and rugby matches. The university has a varsity every April against Cardiff University.
The city has a legendary nightclub street known as Wind Street with numerous bars and restaurants.
In terms of restaurants there is a 24 hour Mcdonalds and a Starbucks about 1 mile from the Bay Campus. Swansea has the UKs first Dennys.. You will find restaurants of many different nationalities including Thai, Portugese, Caribbean, South American, Turkish, Greek, Indonesian, Middle Eastern, Japanese, Italian, Chinese and Indian. There are TGI Fridays, Nando, Frankie and Bennys and numerous others.
In terms of shopping there is Wales largest Indoor Market awarded the UKs best indoor market along with an indoor shopping centre and out door shops. You will fine Debenhams, M&S, Next, Primark, Boots, Wilkos, Waterstones and loads more. For food there is a huge Tesco next to the bus station.
I though people stopped using the complete ranking...it is one of the most random ranking system out there (Guardin is worst tho ).
).Original post by lucas02
I though people stopped using the complete ranking...it is one of the most random ranking system out there (Guardin is worst tho ).
).It is far more reliable than the qs rankings which favours older universities in larger cities and always has done
Original post by lucas02
I though people stopped using the complete ranking...it is one of the most random ranking system out there (Guardin is worst tho ).
).Which ranking system do u think is the most reliable ?
Original post by Watermelon286
Which ranking system do u think is the most reliable ?
To be honest, I do not love ranking systems. I do not think any ranking system really capture the real work going on in most universities and the transformative experience you get in a university...but I realise they do help taking a decision. Probably THE (time higher education) is more solid. Outside UK everybody (no idea why) uses QS.
I think Complete is properly bad, because they create a ranking using the "entry standards". So if a university ask for AAA is ranked better than a university asking for a BBB. However, entry standard is not a measure of quality bu simply quantity of students. For example, if a course has 50 places and 200 applications, they can increase the entry standard to preselect students. If you have 50 places and 40 applications, they will lower the entry standard to encourage more applications. Also, and more worrying, this does not take into account the high school system in UK, where many "privilege" people can afford private school where students are supported massively and perform better in average. So this ranking system is actually supporting discrimination. Also, how is the grades of the student coming to the university a measure of quality of the university? It's more a measure of quality of the high school than the university
. The second really bad thing of the Complete is the "good honours degree", which is linked to recent discussion about grade inflation, so universities that are more "generous" and award more 1st so that their ranking goes up.Original post by Watermelon286
Which ranking system do u think is the most reliable ?
@harrysbar has been involved in careers and they use the Complete University Guide. Those who just go on old style reputation go on the QS. The problem is that many who do well on the QS do badly on the other rankings which actually assess things like entry standards, student satisfaction or teaching standards Manchester an old city university ends up with QS as 27th in the world. In cug it is 17th in the UK. St Andrews generally thought to be one of the UKs best is 100th in the QS but 3rd in CUG. Durham another hugely rated university is 78th in QS and 7th in CUG.
Original post by Watermelon286
Which ranking system do u think is the most reliable ?
I'd go with Brookes as their CS is doing some amazing work on robots and autonomous vehicles - and you are in Oxford!
Original post by Watermelon286
Currently going through clearing for computer science. Have offers from these threes unis have have to make a decision today. Any input anyone has about theses unis would be helpful.
is this for Jan 2021 ? If so I'll be there too hopefully in Swansea ! Do let me know.
I heard a lot of good reviews about Swansea !
(edited 3 years ago)
Original post by swanseajack1
@harrysbar has been involved in careers and they use the Complete University Guide. Those who just go on old style reputation go on the QS. The problem is that many who do well on the QS do badly on the other rankings which actually assess things like entry standards, student satisfaction or teaching standards Manchester an old city university ends up with QS as 27th in the world. In cug it is 17th in the UK. St Andrews generally thought to be one of the UKs best is 100th in the QS but 3rd in CUG. Durham another hugely rated university is 78th in QS and 7th in CUG.
...you do realise there is a difference between world ranking and UK ranking. For example Durham is 78th in the world according to QS, but if you check QS only for UK then the ranking is 12th.
Original post by lucas02
...you do realise there is a difference between world ranking and UK ranking. For example Durham is 78th in the world according to QS, but if you check QS only for UK then the ranking is 12th.
Yes and St Andrews is lower still. It says it all that St Andrews and Durham havent entered clearing but those favoured by QS like Bristol and Manchester have. Here are the UK top 9. Every one an old university in a big city and it goes on further down.
Oxford
Cambridge
Imperial
UCL
Edinburgh
Manchester
Kings
LSE
Bristol
Original post by lucas02
...you do realise there is a difference between world ranking and UK ranking. For example Durham is 78th in the world according to QS, but if you check QS only for UK then the ranking is 12th.
UK students are often not interested in world ranking because it won't affect them if they intend to work in the UK. All league tables need to be taken with a pinch of salt but yes careers services tend to use the CUG as overall the most useful one for UK students.
@watermelon you are never going to find people on TSR agreeing with which uni is best for CS - I would personally pick Swansea for the facilities on the Bay campus but it also depends on which location suits you better as Swansea is a long way West if that matters to you or not? Oxford is most central and also a nice little city but the main thing you should probably do is check the modules of all 3 courses and see which ones sound the most interesting to you.
Original post by spatula123
is this for Jan 2021 ? If so I'll be there too hopefully in Swansea ! Do let me know.
I heard a lot of good reviews about Swansea !
I heard a lot of good reviews about Swansea !
I think it’s for September 2020 ! I didn’t even realise they were doing January starts
Original post by harrysbar
UK students are often not interested in world ranking because it won't affect them if they intend to work in the UK. All league tables need to be taken with a pinch of salt but yes careers services tend to use the CUG as overall the most useful one for UK students.
@watermelon you are never going to find people on TSR agreeing with which uni is best for CS - I would personally pick Swansea for the facilities on the Bay campus but it also depends on which location suits you better as Swansea is a long way West if that matters to you or not? Oxford is most central and also a nice little city but the main thing you should probably do is check the modules of all 3 courses and see which ones sound the most interesting to you.
@watermelon you are never going to find people on TSR agreeing with which uni is best for CS - I would personally pick Swansea for the facilities on the Bay campus but it also depends on which location suits you better as Swansea is a long way West if that matters to you or not? Oxford is most central and also a nice little city but the main thing you should probably do is check the modules of all 3 courses and see which ones sound the most interesting to you.
Yeah you’re right, no one ever agrees on TSR. Looking at the courses Essex suits me best and is closer to my family. But I can’t help but get caught up with the fact Swansea is higher in ranking and seems to be “better” for compsci according to its stats.
When you say you’d pick Swansea for its facilities on bay campus. Do u mean the compsci facilities or the general facilities on the campus like food, sports e.c.t
Original post by Watermelon286
Yeah you’re right, no one ever agrees on TSR. Looking at the courses Essex suits me best and is closer to my family. But I can’t help but get caught up with the fact Swansea is higher in ranking and seems to be “better” for compsci according to its stats.
When you say you’d pick Swansea for its facilities on bay campus. Do u mean the compsci facilities or the general facilities on the campus like food, sports e.c.t
When you say you’d pick Swansea for its facilities on bay campus. Do u mean the compsci facilities or the general facilities on the campus like food, sports e.c.t
I was thinking more about the compsci facilities.
But choosing a uni is a very personal choice and not all about stats and ranking. Have you ever visited Swansea? If you feel that you would be happier choosing Essex because it's closer to home then that's fine, you should pick a uni you feel you would be happy at because that's the most important thing
Original post by Watermelon286
Looking at the courses Essex suits me best and is closer to my family. But I can’t help but get caught up with the fact Swansea is higher in ranking and seems to be “better” for compsci according to its stats.
If the course and location are better for you, that would seem to be a winning combination. However, being close(r) to family isn't always a good thing - university is about becoming independent, IMO. I do have a bias towards Oxford, although I assume that Swansea is cheaper and has sailing
.To be blunt, these are all pretty low-ranking universities for CS, so I'd ignore the relative rankings and go where you like the course and will be most comfortable.
(edited 3 years ago)
i saw around essex and it's a pretty good uni - nice looking, good accom (though it smells of sewage 
)
the course was okay. but i'm not doing computer science so that shouldn't be a worry!
) the course was okay. but i'm not doing computer science so that shouldn't be a worry!
Original post by harrysbar
I was thinking more about the compsci facilities.
But choosing a uni is a very personal choice and not all about stats and ranking. Have you ever visited Swansea? If you feel that you would be happier choosing Essex because it's closer to home then that's fine, you should pick a uni you feel you would be happy at because that's the most important thing
But choosing a uni is a very personal choice and not all about stats and ranking. Have you ever visited Swansea? If you feel that you would be happier choosing Essex because it's closer to home then that's fine, you should pick a uni you feel you would be happy at because that's the most important thing
Original post by Watermelon286
Yeah you’re right, no one ever agrees on TSR. Looking at the courses Essex suits me best and is closer to my family. But I can’t help but get caught up with the fact Swansea is higher in ranking and seems to be “better” for compsci according to its stats.
When you say you’d pick Swansea for its facilities on bay campus. Do u mean the compsci facilities or the general facilities on the campus like food, sports e.c.t
When you say you’d pick Swansea for its facilities on bay campus. Do u mean the compsci facilities or the general facilities on the campus like food, sports e.c.t
Choosing a university is more than just about rankings. What one person likes another dislikes. How near or far from home you would like to be is important. I have never been to Colchester so cannot really comment. I do know Swansea quite well and can tell you what I know about it.
Computer Science moved onto the new Bay Campus last year I think although it might have been the year before. Lots of big companies were involved in the computational foundry and it has very good industry links. Obviously it is very new. The new campus opened in 2015 and houses Engineering, Business, Maths and Computer Science.
To give you some idea I have included some videos but these were before the Bay Campus was built
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?
q=student+videos+of+Swansea&&view=detail&mid=62C23EC2735FFCEEFB0D62C23EC2735FFCEEFB0D&&FORM=VRDGAR
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=student+videos+of+Swansea&ru=%2fvideos%2fsearch%3fq%3dstudent%2bvideos%2bof%2bSwansea%26FORM%3dHDRSC3&view=detail&mid=37899C6FD1C6882B36FF37899C6FD1C6882B36FF&&FORM=VDRVSR
Swansea has an hourly train service from London Paddington and there are also National Express and Megabus links with London.
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