Which course would you choose?

I've been offered to study computer science MSc at Universities of Birmingham and Nottingham, essentially as a conversion from my arts background. At this slightly late point in my life, I need to catch up on core skills and gain employ-ability.

Birmingham's modules seem a bit generic, and there are no optional choices. Then again, I get the impression this could be a sign that they have a solid programme worked out that they don't want to deviate from.
https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/postgraduate/courses/taught/computer-science

Nottingham's course offers a few amount of interesting optional modules, like mixed reality, AI fuzzy logic etc. These seem interesting, but if I'm on a one year course, shouldn't I be more worried about getting the basics down?
https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/pgstudy/course/taught/2020/Computer-Science-or-Computer-Science-(Artificial-Intelligence)-MSc

Birmingham is rated a bit better in the Times and QS, while Nottingham is rated higher in the Guardian.

I would appreciate any thoughts from you guys!

Reply 1

username3477548

which uni do u like the most? how abt the city?

ranking isn't everything

Reply 2

Krood

Okay forget the ranking, I'm more trying to ask about the modules and strength of the course. Which would you choose, based on that? I don't know which I like more, I can come up with justifications for either.

As far as I can tell Nottingham and Birmingham come out about even in terms of campus / city environment strengths and weakness (in different ways). So I'm mostly calling it even, and that's secondary atm. I'm willing to be convinced if someone feels one is superior though.

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 3

Krood

If there's anyone here who studied at either Nottingham or Birmingham at BSc level, please leave your thoughts

Reply 4

username5383500

Original post by Krood

If there's anyone here who studied at either Nottingham or Birmingham at BSc level, please leave your thoughts

You may want to post threads in the Nottingham and Birmingham subforums specifically if you'd like to talk to students from those unis. They're unlikely to find you here.

Reply 5

Krood

Original post by AcseI

You may want to post threads in the Nottingham and Birmingham subforums specifically if you'd like to talk to students from those unis. They're unlikely to find you here.

I have... but would still be interested in a comparison.

Reply 6

username5383500

Original post by Krood

I have... but would still be interested in a comparison.

The problem with "comparisons" is you're unlikely to find students that have attended both courses. As a result, the only comparison you'll get is comparing the information on their websites, which it seems you've already done.

Based on the responses so far, this is more an exercise in asking better questions. You'll only be able to hear about strengths and weaknesses of the courses from students who have actually sat them. And that'll be a one sided response. The level of raw comparison you'll get is going to be little more than reading the pages and comparing them, which you're quite capable of yourself. Better questions might be along the lines of "which course looks better for someone with no experience" or "which course would give me a better chance of finding a job in this particular field". The answers you'll get won't be perfect, but they'll be answers. Because as it is, you're just asking for thoughts and comparisons. It's unclear what you actually want to know.

Reply 7

beyond21

Original post by Krood

you are picking a conversion course, so ranking doesn't matter. Better off going for Nottingham due to amount of modules it offered, in fact, most people tend to go for Nottingham MSc in CS-related due to the optional modules. If you are studying Birmingham you may find some modules very boring or simply not something you want to do and this means you are screw and probably end up demotivated to continue and waste of both money and time :smile:

Computer Science is a very broad area if you go with Nottingham, you will be covered programming, database ,system and network as core which covered all the things needed for a full-stack application/website. Birmingham one is a bit more theory, with data structure, machine learning,ai , etc. If you want to go to further study like phd then this might be for you otherwise I will stick with Nottingham. Nottingham has more choices to take that are relevant for a certain career path, whether you want to game developer, data science, cyber security, robotics,etc.

Reply 8

Krood

Original post by beyond21

Thanks, that's a fairly insightful answer to this niche question

I'd really like to get into NLP, and machine cognition (like true AI, machine reasoning kind of stuff) and it seems like Birmingham has some good professors in these fields -- but not so much in this conversion course, so I probably wouldn't have access to them.
Nottingham has the variety, but it mostly seems to only go as far as practical, applied current-industry standard fare rather than being totally groundbreaking. As a conversion course applicant maybe I'm aiming a bit unrealistically high with blue-sky AI research though.
Am I more or less accurate in these comments?

Do you happen to know anything about employ ability? Data/rankings are all over the place, but I read anecdotally somewhere that all Birmingham students of this course had jobs before they completed their courses. Right now I'm thinking NLP as a career direction.

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 9

Krood

Original post by beyond21

you are picking a conversion course, so ranking doesn't matter.

Just to pick up on this point... why do you say rankings don't matter for a conversion course?
Is this because the modules available are low-tier stuff? Will employers look down on it?