What universities should I choose?

Hi, I'm currently choosing the UK universities to go to for Computer Science course. For my A-levels, I have Maths, Physics, Computer Science, Further Maths and predicted grades are A*A*AA in order.

The universities I'm considering are UCL, Warwick, Manchester, Bath, Bristol, Southampton, Edinburgh, St Andrews. These uni are just what I have in my list so please suggest any outside the list if you think I should consider as well.

I've looked at all the rankings but each table has different rankings so I don't really want to rely on that. I'm also particularly interested in the university's reputation.

Here are some of the questions I want to ask too:
- UCL has a good reputation but the student satisfaction is pretty low and I heard that it is quite disorganized so should I consider removing this choice or should I keep it?
- is Bath considered good for this course? I haven't seen many people talk about Bath when it comes to Compute Science.
- Edinburgh and St Andrews have are pretty high ranked but I don't know if I should really choose these as they are Scottish uni. Also, I know that Edinburgh has high reputation but does St Andrews reputable as well?

What do you like about CS Manchester? It is ranked number 5 on the tables, but in reality is not what you probably expect from such a reputable university. I don't know how rigged the ranking tables can be, anyway. Workload is intensity which is great, however poor teaching and the fact that some teachers can not speak English adds more strain, disregard attitude towards students.

How are graduate prospects, how many students get employed after the end of the course each year?

Hey! Nice to meet a fellow applicant to Comp Sci.
Overall I'd say you have chosen some highly ranked and reputed universities. Many of your choices are my choices too!
-I haven't yet heard anything bad about UCL... I left it because it was a bit too expensive for me and I didn't think I would be successful in getting an offer there. In general UCL is a really good university... Consider asking others applying there on the specific thread for UCL.
-I actually heard a lot about Bath for CS but it didn't have the course I wanted (only BSc and MComp available there). It does rank quite well for CS tho, but maybe not as good as some of the others you have considered.
-Depends on if you prefer uni in Scotland or England, but Edinburgh is really great for CS... Its very well known for that. St Andrews is also pretty well ranked subject wise but I'm not too sure about graduate prospects. Imperial College London has the best graduate prospects apart from Oxbridge, for CS.

Speaking of which, I also wanted to ask around about some particular universities reputations, like for student safety, satisfaction and employability. The uni I wanna know about include Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, York and Southampton.

Also, it is generally advised for atlas one of the five UCAS choices to be a 'safe choice', that is, a slightly lower ranked uni that you are more sure of getting an offer from. Could you tell me some good choices there for CS, if you have any idea?

I can tell you a bit about Liverpool if you like?

Hi, I'm currently choosing the UK universities to go to for Computer Science course. For my A-levels, I have Maths, Physics, Computer Science, Further Maths and predicted grades are A*A*AA in order.

The universities I'm considering are UCL, Warwick, Manchester, Bath, Bristol, Southampton, Edinburgh, St Andrews. These uni are just what I have in my list so please suggest any outside the list if you think I should consider as well.

I've looked at all the rankings but each table has different rankings so I don't really want to rely on that. I'm also particularly interested in the university's reputation.

Here are some of the questions I want to ask too:
- UCL has a good reputation but the student satisfaction is pretty low and I heard that it is quite disorganized so should I consider removing this choice or should I keep it?
- is Bath considered good for this course? I haven't seen many people talk about Bath when it comes to Compute Science.
- Edinburgh and St Andrews have are pretty high ranked but I don't know if I should really choose these as they are Scottish uni. Also, I know that Edinburgh has high reputation but does St Andrews reputable as well?

Rankings don't really matter that much nor does it tell you how good the departments are. You should be focusing heavily on the course structure, the level of support (you can gauge this from student reviews on whatuni etc), the opportunities within the campus an out of (e.g. hackathons, entrepreneurship challenge, work placements), the location and the environment (very important, you may end up hating the type of people that a uni attracts).

I can tell you a bit about Liverpool if you like?

Please do because I haven't looked at Liverpool too.

Sure, that would be very helpful, thank you.

Thanks for the helpful pointers... I'll keep those in mjnd.

Also worth mentioning, whilst big uni names will attract recruiters, they will not at all guarantee you a job, so do consider the course and opportunities there (especially year in industry). You'd often find that top unis focuses a lot more on theoretical computer sciences, whilst lower ranking focuses hugely on employment and building students experiences with projects and applicable modules (this is one of the reason why my uni has such a high employment rate for CS, despite not even being in the top 30 or 40).

I only have one close friend who did Electrical Engineering, and knew a few others who did Computer Science, too, and they said that it was a good course overall, a bit challenging at times, but overall, pretty good. Bear in mind that, in second year, a lot of students transfer in, so a smallish cohort could then become quite large, which is unique to Liverpool (I think). But they have pretty good jobs now, despite one of them not getting the best grades, and there are a lot of excellent careers events run by the department and careers service (they have this one specific careers consultant and she is incredible). I know that people got very good placements, such as at Disney or Nomura or IBM, if they took up this option, and even my friend who got a 2:2 got a really decent graduate job.

The campus is fantastic, in all honesty, and it's one of the major selling points of the university. It's all together, and all a ten minute walk away from the city, which has a really nice layout - the clubs are all in one square, a lot of museums and shops are clustered together etc. I can't think of a better city to be a student in (and I'm at a different university now, so I do have a comparison). Rent is a little expensive in first year, but after that, it's incredibly affordable, and most students live in one of two areas, which is nice for visiting your friends.

Let me know if you have any more questions!

Also worth mentioning, whilst big uni names will attract recruiters, they will not at all guarantee you a job, so do consider the course and opportunities there (especially year in industry). You'd often find that top unis focuses a lot more on theoretical computer sciences, whilst lower ranking focuses hugely on employment and building students experiences with projects and applicable modules (this is one of the reason why my uni has such a high employment rate for CS, despite not even being in the top 30 or 40).

Thanks for the useful info. Could you suggest some particular unis then that are really good with employability? Thanks in advance.

Some really good departments ones outside Imperial and Oxbridge: Manchester, Warwick, Bristol, Durham, Nottingham, Leeds, Birmingham, Southampton, Exeter, Edinburgh, Bath. Though many of them do have a very mathsy CS degree, so I would suggest having a read over their modules. Worth noting that many students going to these uni tend to be a lot more hardworking and career focused hence why they tend to have high employability.

Some good non-RG that has connection, placement opportunities and good prospects: Loughborough, Swansea, Strathyclyde, Notts Trent, Kent, Lancaster. Try looking for BSc Software Engineering or Computing if you do not want a lot of maths and want a more practical course. The quality of your work experience and projects you do is what's going to matter A LOT in order to secure a job afterwards

If you're dead set on being a developer I'd also heavily encourage looking into apprenticeship, as within 3yrs time you will be earning beyond £40k as a developer. There are now a lot of more apprenticeships in tech popping than previous years.

Hi, I'm currently choosing the UK universities to go to for Computer Science course. For my A-levels, I have Maths, Physics, Computer Science, Further Maths and predicted grades are A*A*AA in order.

The universities I'm considering are UCL, Warwick, Manchester, Bath, Bristol, Southampton, Edinburgh, St Andrews. These uni are just what I have in my list so please suggest any outside the list if you think I should consider as well.

I've looked at all the rankings but each table has different rankings so I don't really want to rely on that. I'm also particularly interested in the university's reputation.

Here are some of the questions I want to ask too:
- UCL has a good reputation but the student satisfaction is pretty low and I heard that it is quite disorganized so should I consider removing this choice or should I keep it?
- is Bath considered good for this course? I haven't seen many people talk about Bath when it comes to Compute Science.
- Edinburgh and St Andrews have are pretty high ranked but I don't know if I should really choose these as they are Scottish uni. Also, I know that Edinburgh has high reputation but does St Andrews reputable as well?

Hi, I'm currently choosing the UK universities to go to for Computer Science course. For my A-levels, I have Maths, Physics, Computer Science, Further Maths and predicted grades are A*A*AA in order.

The universities I'm considering are UCL, Warwick, Manchester, Bath, Bristol, Southampton, Edinburgh, St Andrews. These uni are just what I have in my list so please suggest any outside the list if you think I should consider as well.

I've looked at all the rankings but each table has different rankings so I don't really want to rely on that. I'm also particularly interested in the university's reputation.

Here are some of the questions I want to ask too:
- UCL has a good reputation but the student satisfaction is pretty low and I heard that it is quite disorganized so should I consider removing this choice or should I keep it?
- is Bath considered good for this course? I haven't seen many people talk about Bath when it comes to Compute Science.
- Edinburgh and St Andrews have are pretty high ranked but I don't know if I should really choose these as they are Scottish uni. Also, I know that Edinburgh has high reputation but does St Andrews reputable as well?