MSc Human-Computer Interaction Applicants 2021/2022

Hi! I am from India, graduated in 2018 and have been working as a software engineer for 2 years now. I am thinking I'll apply to:

1) UCL
2) University of York
3) University of Nottingham

and 5 programs in the US (University of Washington, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, University of Maryland College Park, Rochester Institute of Technology, if anyone is curious).

It's good to meet more people in the same place as me. :smile:

Reply 2

Neja.

OP

That sounds great! If I was an international students I would definitely be applying to the US and Canadian universities as well but staying in Europe just makes a lot more sense. I will hopefully also be applying to KTH, Aalto University and possibly to some Dutch ones as well.

Have you attended any Open Days in the UK? Birmingham had some really useful sessions and their HCI programme coordinator is great.

Reply 3

Original post by Neja.

Hiya everyone, I would love to connect with some people who will be applying to Human-Computer Interaction masters programmes this application season!

I will be graduating from BSc Computer Science in May and I am currently considering:

- University College London (UCL)
- Newcastle University
- University of Bath
- University of St Andrews
- University of Birmingham
- University of Nottingham
- University of York

I saw UCL-specific thread for last year that was quite popular, so hopefully we can get this one going. :h:

What is your top choice? Which ones will you be applying for? Are you considering universities outside the UK as well?

Do you know if there is an interview or something like that for this programme?

Reply 4

Chloegu

3

Hi! I am an international student. I applied to:
1) City
2) UCL
3) University of York

Reply 5

Neja.

OP

I am pretty sure none of the Human Computer Interaction require interviews at all.

Reply 6

izzieileye

Hi guys! I am going to apply for the courses at UCL and City and am in the middle of writing my personal statement. The thing is I am a career switcher as I did a BSC in psychology and have become interested in UX quite recently. I have started to self- learn the typical programs but I am worried that I do not have enough experience so I would love some advice on how to write a personal statement for HCI without much experience! Thank you

Reply 7

basicmacaroon

11

Original post by izzieileye

Hi guys! I am going to apply for the courses at UCL and City and am in the middle of writing my personal statement. The thing is I am a career switcher as I did a BSC in psychology and have become interested in UX quite recently. I have started to self- learn the typical programs but I am worried that I do not have enough experience so I would love some advice on how to write a personal statement for HCI without much experience! Thank you

Hi! I have applied to both city and UCL too! Also Psychology undergrad. Experience wise I would focus on things you have done that gave you experience in transferable skills you could use when learning on the course, and then when using your course knowledge. For example psychology research projects, presentations and any work experience, it doesn't have to be UX/HCI specific as long as you can show how you can apply it to doing well on the course and your career. It's very good that you've started learning programs by yourself! This shows initiative and true interest in the subject so it is super worth mentioning. Any research experience outside classes would be good too if you have it, especially if working with people (who will be the users!).

These are the kind of things I focused on experience wise in my PS and I also wrote about how the course would develop this experience in a UX direction. I have an offer from city so far, so it would be nice to know what other people think of the course. Hope this makes sense! :smile:

Reply 8

Original post by basicmacaroon

Hi! I have applied to both city and UCL too! Also Psychology undergrad. Experience wise I would focus on things you have done that gave you experience in transferable skills you could use when learning on the course, and then when using your course knowledge. For example psychology research projects, presentations and any work experience, it doesn't have to be UX/HCI specific as long as you can show how you can apply it to doing well on the course and your career. It's very good that you've started learning programs by yourself! This shows initiative and true interest in the subject so it is super worth mentioning. Any research experience outside classes would be good too if you have it, especially if working with people (who will be the users!).

These are the kind of things I focused on experience wise in my PS and I also wrote about how the course would develop this experience in a UX direction. I have an offer from city so far, so it would be nice to know what other people think of the course. Hope this makes sense! :smile:

Hiya, you mention that you have an offer from City for this programme. I have applied to UCL and it was a struggle to write concisely to meet the 3k character limit for the personal statement. This contrasts quite a lot with the City application where you are allowed up to 15k characters. Do you recommend to use the full 15k or to write much less?

Reply 9

basicmacaroon

11

Original post by HowYaMean

Hiya, you mention that you have an offer from City for this programme. I have applied to UCL and it was a struggle to write concisely to meet the 3k character limit for the personal statement. This contrasts quite a lot with the City application where you are allowed up to 15k characters. Do you recommend to use the full 15k or to write much less?

Hi! I actually wasn't aware the limit for city was that much higher. I would recommend to keep it as concise as possible, but I'm not an expert. I would say as long as it doesn't extend past two sides of A4 it should be fine. I think mine was somewhere around the 5000 mark for city if that helps. I think there is also an option on UCL's site to upload as a separate document? I'm not sure if this has a 3k character limit too though. :smile:

Reply 10

Original post by basicmacaroon

Hi! I actually wasn't aware the limit for city was that much higher. I would recommend to keep it as concise as possible, but I'm not an expert. I would say as long as it doesn't extend past two sides of A4 it should be fine. I think mine was somewhere around the 5000 mark for city if that helps. I think there is also an option on UCL's site to upload as a separate document? I'm not sure if this has a 3k character limit too though. :smile:

Ah okay thank you! Also, when I applied to UCL I saw the supplementary personal statement section where you could add a document instead of enter it into the box itself. I think this was just a trick though? I remember that above it said, if you choose to add a supplementary PS then everything entered in the field will be deleted and not sent lol. So I think submitting a PS under 3k was important but I am not entirely sure.

Reply 11

SR22

Hi, international student here looking at HCI/UX programmes!
I've applied to UCL and the MSc. Cognitive Science programme at the University of Edinburgh in the UK, and a few other unis in the US. Recent undergraduate with an engineering degree in Computer Science, and currently working in a software company.

I've only just finished my applications and the wait is already killing me xD

Reply 12

Original post by SR22

Hi, international student here looking at HCI/UX programmes!
I've applied to UCL and the MSc. Cognitive Science programme at the University of Edinburgh in the UK, and a few other unis in the US. Recent undergraduate with an engineering degree in Computer Science, and currently working in a software company.

I've only just finished my applications and the wait is already killing me xD

Word of advice form experience, try not to dwell on it too much. As long as you can say to yourself, I done my best, then that's all that matters :wink:

Reply 13

SR22

Original post by HowYaMean

Word of advice form experience, try not to dwell on it too much. As long as you can say to yourself, I done my best, then that's all that matters :wink:

Thank you! I'm trying! I've done what I can and I want to forget about it until the decisions come in.
Wish I was a bear so I could just hibernate until March 😂

Reply 14

Neja.

OP

How are the applications going for everyone? :smile:

At least the UCL deadline is over and they can finally start assessing them.

Reply 15

winniwww

Does anyone know when UCL's going to start giving out offers after the deadline from past years? Looking at the thread from last year, I think even the first offer was given in May? And does anyone know how many people deferred their offer last year? I feel that there must have been a lot of deferrals last year due to Covid...

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 16

parinanaik

1

Hey! Has anyone managed to receive an offer from City University yet? (and if so how long did you have to wait for after you submitted your application) I didn't see a deadline date on their site so am assuming they hand out offers on a rolling basis

Reply 17

basicmacaroon

11

Original post by parinanaik

Hey! Has anyone managed to receive an offer from City University yet? (and if so how long did you have to wait for after you submitted your application) I didn't see a deadline date on their site so am assuming they hand out offers on a rolling basis

Hi, I got an offer from City University London roughly 4 weeks after sending my application :smile:

I was surprised at how speedy they were .

Reply 18

International21